Canis Islandicus

I would like to compile a few descriptions of the Icelandic dog from the late modern period (18th and 19th centuries) that I have not previously mentioned in my blog. Mark Watson provides an excellent summary in his book The Iceland Dog 874-1956. I was unable to find all the original texts, but where I succeeded, I have included links behind the book titles.

The Icelandic dog (Canis familiaris Islandicus) was the only dog breed in Iceland during the 18th and 19th centuries and naturally attracted the interest of foreign visitors. It is frequently described in historical texts, both in connection with travels to Iceland and in encyclopedias. Its physical characteristics are often detailed, such as erect ears (though descriptions are not always consistent), a thick coat in a variety of colors, and a curled tail, as well as its roles and uses. It is noteworthy that the Icelandic dog is often compared to the Greenland dog.

1791 Encyclopedia Britannica

"The first species is the pastoralis, or shepherd'-s dog; which is the same that isused at present, either in guarding our flocks, or in driving herds of cattle. This kind is so well trained for these purposes as to attend every part of the herd, be it ever so large; confine them to the road; and force in every straggler, without doing it the least injury....The Iceland Dog is the only one that has not his ears entirely erect; for their extremities are a little inclined; and Iceland, of all the northern regions has been longest inhabited by half civilized men."

1792 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM or Zoological System of the celebrated Sir Charles Linnaeus

"The ears are erect, with pendulous points; and the hair is universally long, except on the snout, which is short."

1813 JOURNAL OF A TOUR IN ICELAND IN THE SUMMER OF 1809, by William Jackson Hooker

Among the domestic animals in the island, the dog deserves the first place, not only as the companion and solace of the natives as we 11 as the guard of, their houses, but as being of essential service in their agricultural pursuits, by keeping the horses from eating the grass intended for hay, and by collecting the sheep scattered over the mountains, and driving them to the milking places. Hence they abound throughout the country, and few huts are unprovided with one or two of them. The Fi a a r h u n du r of the Icelanders (Canis lslandicus of some authors) if it has not sufficient characters to rank it as a species, is at least a very strongly marked variety; differing in many points from any of the dogs I have elsewhere seen but most nearly approaching the figures and descriptions that we are given of the Greenland
dog.
It is rather below the middle size, well proportioned in its parts, having a short and a sharp nose, much resembling that of a fox and small erect pointed ears, of which the tips only, especially in the young animal, hang down. The hair is coarse, straight, and thick, very variable in colour, but most frequently of a greyish brown; the tail long and bushy, and always carried curled over the back."

1811 TRAVELS IN THE ISLAND OF ICELAND during the summer of the year MDCCCX. By Sir George Steuart Mackenzie

"The dogs which are generally seen in Iceland, bear a strong resemblance to those of Greenland. Like them they are covered with long hair, forming about their necks a kind of ruff. Their noses are sharp, their ears pointed, and their tails bushy, and curled over their backs. Their predominant colour is white; yet they vary considerably; and some are entirely brown or black. Very few of them can be induced to go into the water; and though some are of service in guarding the cottages and flocks, and preventing the horses from eating the grass intended for hay, yet the greater number appear very useless. Scarcely any family, however, is without one or two of them."

1829 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES AND AUTHENTIC ANECDOTES OF DOGS. By Thomas Brown

"This variety of the dog bears a strong resemblance to that of Greenland, differing, however, in the hair and woolly fur not being quite so long. His head is nearly of the same shape, with pricked ears, slightly turned downwards at the tips. His general colour is white, with large patches of black over different parts of the body. In some few instances they are found altogether black

The Iceland Dog is frequently of great use to the natives, especially while travelling in winter through the snowy, trackless, and extensive deserts with which that country abounds, as he is oflen their only compa* nion in these excursions. His instinctive sagacity is of much service to his master while journeying through those regions, for he will forewarn him of a coming storm by skipping and yelling ; and if far from a village, will frequently discover a snug shelter among the rocks for hinpiself and his fellow-traveller. If he is forced to attempt the passage of an unfordable current he sets up a most hideous howling."

1840 THE NATURALISTS LIBRARY MAMMALIA. VOL. X. Sir William Jardine

"The Norwegian emigrants to Iceland seem to have carried a race of dogs to its shores which at present is not found in the parent country. The head is rounder, and the snout more pointed, than the preceding. In stature, it is not larger than that of Kamtschatka, and in fur like the Esquimaux; the ears are upright, and the lips flaccid; the colours white and black, or white and brown. This race is somewhat allied to the following, and therefore may have been obtained from the Skrelings or Esquimaux, by the adventureres who first visited Greenland.''   

1863: ICELAND: ITS SCENES AND SAGAS. By Sabine Baring Gould

"The Icelandic dog (Canis familiaris Islandicus) has been already briefly described in the Introduction: its head is just like that of a fox; it is small, has sharp eyes, short legs, a profusion of hair, a ruff round the neck, a tail curled over the back, and it is generally of a white, dappled, or tawny colour. In Iceland the different kinds of dogs are distinguished by different names. The sheep-dog is fjárhundr; the hound, veithihundr; the dog which can follow scent, rakkr ; the poodle, lubbr ; the house-dog, bærhundr ; and the lap-dog, mjóhundr. The farm, at the door of which Grimr and I reined up, is celebrated for its breed of dogs. The price of a puppy is about a dollar, but the traveller had better not purchase one, as it will not live in England. A skipper, who visited Iceland yearly, informed us that he had brought a dog with him to Leith on his return from every cruise, but that he had never been able to rear any, with the exception of a pup bom on the voyage."

1875: ULTIMA THULE OR, A SUMMER IN ICELAND, by Richard F. Burton

The Fjarhundr or shepherd-dog (C. Islandicus), according to Mackenzie, is of the Greenland breed ; the " prick-eared cur " certainly resembles the Eskimo, sometimes with a dash of our collie. Formerly they were far more numerous than men ; and old authors mention several breeds — "lubbar" or shag-dogs ; dýrhundar, deer or fox hounds, and dverg-hundar, dwarf hounds or lapdogs. Foreign animals are now rare; the common sort is a little "pariah," not unlike the Pomeranian; stunted, shortbacked, and sharp-snouted, with ruffed neck and bushy tail, or rather brush, curling and recurling. The colour is mostly brownblack, some are light -brown, deep-black, white, and piebald. Those brought to Reykjavik appear shy, savage, and snappish as foxes. Formerly they were trained to keep caravan-ponies on the path ; now they guard the flocks, loiter about the farms, and keep cattle off the "tún." Good specimens easily fetch $6; a horse may be exchanged for the most valuable, those which, they say, can search a sheep under nine ells of snow. They are accused of propagating amongst their masters, hydatic disease and intestinal worms (Tænia echinococcus) ; and this consideration induced the Althing, in 1871, magno cum risu of the public, who asked why the cats were not assessed, to impose an annual dog-tax of $2 per head upon all exceeding a certain number on each farm — it will cause the premature death of many a promising pup. Half of the amount is the perquisite of the Hreppstjórar, the other moiety goes to the Treasury. The danger would be less if the dogs were not so often allowed to lick the platters clean, and to perform other and similar domestic duties."

1887 HUNDEN OG HUNDERACERNE (THE DOG AND DOG BREEDS) by Viggo Moeller

"The ICELAND DQG resembles the GREENLAND DOG, but is smaller, more slenderly built and more long-legged. It is somewhat under medium size, being only 10¼-15 ½ inches tall, and if anything should be described as small.
The head is comparatively larget with a broad, high -domed skull, rather pointed muzzle and tight lips. The ears are large, broad at the base, pointed (triangular) and upright. The eyes are small, round and dark in colour. Head and neck are carried high. The body .is lightly built, with a comparatively short back, broad in front, deep chest. Belly drawn up. Legs slender, well set and well shaped. The foot is long with small, curved claws. The bushy tail is carried curled up over the back. The coat is of medium length, longest on the haunches, the tail and the underside of the belly, and it lies close to the body. On the muzzle and legs it is short, and there is no plumed fringe on the front legs. The colour is commonly brownish or greyish and dirty white or yellowish. A usual colour distribution is: back black, underside of the body and limbs white, with the latter colour also on the underside of the tail and its tip, and as a collar around the throat. For this type of dog the Icelanders have a special name: strútóttur, i.e. with a collar around the throat. Dr. Krabbe has obtained a couple of stuffed specimens of this type for the museum of the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural High School of Denmark. The breed is well defined on the whole, though not quite pure near the commercialcenters to which foreign dogs have been imported. Dr. Fitzinger describes various types of Iceland Dogs and distinguishes between Fjaar•hundar, Dyr-hundar, Dvaerg-hundar and Lubbar, but now there is only one breed.
Dr. Krabbe, who has visited the island for the purpose of studying domestic animals there, has given an interesting description of the Icelanders' dog-keeping. I take the liberty of quoting the following from his article in Tidsskrift for Landoekonomi (Journal of Agronomy): As will be known, the Icelanders' chief occupation apart from fishery is sheepraising, particularly for those who do not live immediately on the coasts. The dogs are not used to watch the sheep, for all summer they roam freely. Only the milch ewes are gathered close to the farms. All the rest are driven up into the mountains to graze and are not taken home before autumn. But the dogs are excellent at rounding up the sheep and particularlz at fetching them down from inaccessible hills. They also make themselves useful by keeping the horses collected on journeys and by keeping the live stock away from the tún (home meadow)....."

Picture: Interior of Shepherd's Hut, Iceland eftir Bayard Taylor, 1862