The Icelandic sheep dog in Great Britain

As mentioned in my previous blog post, The Kennel Club in Great Britain, has recently recognized the Icelandic Sheepdog as a breed.

I also wrote about Vaskur from Þorvaldsstaðir, who performed exceptionally well at the Crufts show in 1960. I was certain that the breed had been recognized at that time, as Vaskur was allowed to participate in the show.

However, I felt I needed to dive deeper into the matter. It is important that the information is correct, especially when sharing the history and facts about this remarkable breed. I wanted to be sure that I was not spreading incorrect information about the Icelandic Sheepdog and its history in Britain.

I read articles, books, and other sources I had on hand, but in the end, I contacted The Kennel Club to get clarification on the situation at that time. It only took half a day to receive a very detailed reply from a staff member at the Kennel Club's library, for which I am extremely grateful, and I plan to share part of it here.

The Kennel Club is the oldest dog kennel club in the world, founded in 1873. The Icelandic Sheepdog will soon become the newest recognized breed in Britain. However, several Icelandic Sheepdogs have been registered before.

The dog Chuck was registered as an Icelandic Collie (in Britain, sheepdogs are often called collies) in October 1905. This was in the registration category "Any Other Variety Foreign or Colonial Dog," meaning the breed had not been recognized in the way we understand it today. This was simply a category for anything people wanted to register, and there were no confirmation processes in place.

Registration in the "Any Other Variety" category was abolished in 1970. This register includes unique or rare dogs of various breeds that were never bred from. This applies to Chuck and the few Icelandic Sheepdogs that were registered in the same way in later years.

Chuck was registered in the Kennel Gazette (see photo above) in November 1905 as a dog with "unknown pedigree." His owner was Mr. E. Swain, and the date October 2nd is listed with the registration. It is unclear whether this was Chuck's birth date or the day Mr. Swain acquired him. Typically, this date represents the birth date, but it raises questions about how Mr. Swain could not know at least one of the dog's parents if Chuck had been born a month earlier. Chuck was not registered as an imported dog, even though he likely should have been.

In Guðni Ágústsson's proposal for the systematic breeding of the Icelandic Sheepdog in Iceland from 1993, it states:

"In 1905, the Icelandic dog 'Chuck' was recorded in The English Kennel Club, and at the same time, the breed was recognized as such in England, and a breeding standard was issued, translated from Danish. Icelandic dogs have very rarely appeared at shows there, but Vaskur from Þorvaldsstöðum was the best in his class and competed for the title of 'Best in Show' at Crufts in 1960, when he was seven years old."

There is much in this that is simply incorrect, and I would like to correct it here and now, although I cannot change this proposal.

Chuck was not recorded in the pedigree, but he was registered in the "Any Other Variety Foreign or Colonial Dog" category.

The breed was not recognized as such in England; that did not happen until 120 years later.

The Kennel Club did not issue a breeding standard in 1905, but in the book Dogs of All Nations by Count Henry De Bylandt, a breeding standard for the Icelandic dog is presented in four languages (French, English, German, and Dutch). It is likely that this standard was translated from Danish, but it is not entirely clear where Bylandt got it from when he published the book in 1897.

Vaskur from Þorvaldsstöðum did not compete for the title of "Best in Show" in 1960, as he competed in the "Any Variety Not Classified at this Show" category and came first in that category. However, this did not give him the right to compete for "Best in Show," as the "Any Variety" category was a mixed category rather than a breed-specific category.

A few years after Chuck was registered, two Icelandic Sheepdogs appeared at dog shows in Britain, also in the "Any Other Variety" category, in 1923 at the Birmingham National and 1925 at the Kensington Canine Society.

These dogs were owned by Gwendoline Wingfield Digby, a well-known breeder at the time who specialized in another Spitz breed, the Keeshond. She imported both dogs directly from Iceland.

They received significant media attention as novelties, as Icelandic Sheepdogs had never been seen at British dog shows before. In the book The Iceland Dog by Mark Watson, there is a picture from the newspaper Our Dogs showing the registration of these dogs:

Mrs. G. Wingfield Digby. Langa of the Borgafiord
(Icelandic Sheep Dog) b. June 1921. Br. Mr. E. Einarsson. Pedigree unknown.
Mrs. G. Wingfield Digby. Hvita of the Borgafiord
(Icelandic Sheep Dog) b. July 1922. Br. Mr. A. Sigurðsson. Pedigree unknown.

In Watson's book, there is also an article in which Digby writes about Icelandic dogs:

"In Iceland we found a dog of different type to any we had seen before, which was very interesting, as I had not seen it mentioned in the few textbooks I had been able to get hold of, although I have since read and seen pictures in travel books of exactly this type. Also, the dogs must have been peculiar to their country for a great number of years, as they are mentioned in Shakespeare. They are small—at least, they seem very small for a sheepdog, although, of course, everything up there is smaller than the rest of Europe—exceedingly alert, active, and very fast, well-built, with curly tail, broad chest, fine-drawn legs and muzzle, prick ears, and a strong coat, which always should look very shiny and well-kept. The dog does that for himself. If they come in dirty, they clean themselves in about ten minutes. In Iceland, I have seen men work these dogs over the river at a great distance from themselves by waving their arms. We noticed they were absolutely devoted to their masters, and some of them simply could not bear us—strange sort of people they had never seen before—coming anywhere near their belongings. When their masters sat down, the dogs immediately came and sat down and leaned against them. A curious fact is that they are never allowed in the house in Iceland. I suppose simply because the lack of accommodation is so acute there, but I find them to be quite the best of house dogs. They will learn anything, as they are so anxious to please, perfectly devoted and good watch dogs, and they are very strong and healthy. The colours are black and white. Black should predominate, or brown and black. I also saw them over there of a beautiful golden or chocolate color, with yellow eyes, but certainly, the greater number I saw were black ones with white on them."

It was fascinating to receive this information, and I hope that the recognition of the Icelandic Sheepdog will lead to it gaining the deserved admiration and increased popularity in Britain in the coming years, as it has found its place there over the centuries, as Shakespeare proved.