Here you can take a look at a few articles like my personal opinions, theories, research, training tips and other things that I find relevant to the Icelandic Sheepdog.
Dewclaws
Here is my theory of the inheritance of dewclaws in the Icelandic Sheepdog. Since so little research has ever been done on the subject I thought that I would do my own research and here is the result of that research. I have included the original I did in 1996 as well as newer drawings and charts that give a more detailed look at family lines today. I found the info from the Finnish club invaluable as a chart since they more or less have info for every single dog. It gives a more realistic look at the lines than do the older charts that were missing info on certain dogs. I have also included drawings of the different types of dewclaws. For the first theory I only gave drawings of my own dogs and therefore I only had doubles to compare and to show how different they actually were. I still believe today that the dog with the strongest ones on the drawing are few and far between and each year and generation we grow farther and farther away from these ideal dewclaws.
I decided to write an update as well to include as my opinion on the results I've collected through the past few years as opposed to the original. As you will see I still believe my theory holds true but newer research has lead me to conclusions to questions I had myself in my original theory.
Dewclaw theory original 1996 - 2.76 mb
Dewclaw theory update 2006 - 1.89 mb
Evaluation Assessment
When I started breeding I wasn't totally satisfied with the critiques given to dogs at shows. They are valuable in themselves but they usually only give a very short opinion of the best traits or overall essence of each dog. I felt that to make an educated decision of which male actually contributed something to my female that a more precise detailed report was needed. So I designed a breed specific assessment form for an adult dog. The idea is to fill out an assessment for your own dogs (the ideal would be for a couple judges to do it for you) and then find a mate that compliments the faults of the female and vice versa.
Evaluation assessment form - 1.15 mb
New January 2008
I also had a drawing of teeth and bite that I used and I realized that I forgot to add it to the page when I put up the evaluation form. So here is the diagram that I talk about in the form itself.
Historic Description of the Icelandic Sheepdog
I decided to include my favourite description of the Icelandic Sheepdog. This description is found in Mark Watson's book The Iceland Dog 874-1956, it is a detailed description written in the year 1900 by Danish Dr. Christian Schierbeck. Since most of the mixing of other breeds started to take place around and after 1930 I feel this description must be of the breed as it appeared in it's purest state back then, even before Mark Watson found the breed. I find it to be one of the most accurate and in depth descriptions of the dog itself rather than just the keeping of dogs in Iceland. There are many articles and descriptions in Mark Watson's book and many drawings before and after the 1900's but none touch me as this one does. I found it to be written by a dog lover with great detail to the characteristics and special traits that made his dog Sámur special.
It also in my opinion gives a better "picture" of the breed than do the many drawings done in earlier times because those are an artist's interpretation and they can be so different from the actual thing. Possibly the artists doing the drawings or the authors writing other articles have only seen one particular dog during a trip in the country and it may not be a purebred one or some dogs could have had their ears or tails down due to their mood, just as the artist saw them. I would think that trying to remember the essence of a dog afterwards to draw must certainly give room for error or uncertainty. Dr. Schierbeck on the other hand actually travelled a lot with the intent of looking at the dogs in particular and he describes in great detail his own dog. It makes me think that some of our dogs are still very much the same as the dogs way back then although many of these traits are quickly disappearing unfortunately. Some of my dogs have more of the traits than others but I always make it a point to try to breed for what I believe to be the "old" Icelandic. I have included photos of my own dogs (and a friend´s dog) to illustrate what I think Dr. Schierbeck was talking about. I have written his article totally unchanged and in blue are the sections I think pertain especially to one or more of the photos. In red are my own comments about my dogs or the photos. Enjoy!
Vore Hunde (Our Dogs) - 2.47 mb
Are we on the road to destruction
Well I've been working on this for awhile and it's even been ready for posting many times but I chickened out each time and I thought maybe I shouldn't! Then a part of me says I HAVE to, my passion for the breed is dwindling not for the lack of love for the breed but for the lack of being able to find dogs to breed from without compromising all of my standards for the good of the breed. It really is becoming an impossible task.
This article is solely my own opinions about the sad sad destruction of the breed during the past decade. The differences in the breed are so shocking and have become so depressing from the time I got my first ISD that I can't even begin to fathom the severity of this tragedy and I don't see a road back without the commitment of more breeders who have the guts to acknowledge the truth and try to reverse the devastation. Maybe the saddest part is that most breeders today think the breed has improved greatly, they truly believe they have never been better, even the judges comment on how much "improvement" we have made in the dogs at the shows but what has improved exactly? Does the fact that they are more similar to other dog breeds make them BETTER? What about all the traits that are disappearing and what about all the "dirty little secrets" about the health or other recessive traits (like hanging ears for example) that the judges don't need to know about but that have saturated the breed so much that the average breeder thinks nothing of taping up ears anymore in order to WIN. Anyway, I hope I don't personally attack anyone (I tried to keep a general air to the article) and I assure those who read the article that I in no way mean a negative attack on Pieter Oliehoek and his study either, I just mentioned his name so others can learn of his study and also because most know who he is because of his work.
Please read this with an open mind, remember the comparison I use is only one ancestor but certainly the most genetically unique one and thus is the easiest to prove how far from the roots we actually have come if we can open our eyes to the possibility that we need to go back in time rather than forward in order to save our breed from destruction. Please hear my cry for the breed's future, if in deed it will have one.
Are we on the road to destruction - 2.2 mb