Kátur frá Goðdölum

He was an 8-week-old puppy when we picked him up in Goðdalir in early September 1996. He didn't have any papers nor did his parents, but it is known that his grandmother was a purebred Icelandic bitch. Although it cannot be proven how purebred Kátur was, he exhibited many characteristics of the Icelandic sheepdog. He was tricolor, short-haired, had pointed ears and a curling tail with a white tip. He had brown spots over his eyes, which gave the impression that even when he was sleeping in front of the house, it looked from the distance like his eyes were open. I knew little about the Icelandic Sheepdog at that time, but I often looked at Gísli Pálsson's book and the pictures in it and compared the looks and colors of the dogs to Kátur's appearance.

Kátur was a delightful character, wise and much like a human in spirit. Calm by nature and a very tolerant herding dog. He drove sheep out of the yard and kept the horses away from the house, because at the time it wasn't all fenced off like it is today. When he was left behind to guard the farm and the house he took this role seriously and jumped up when he saw us coming home and ran around the house to show us how diligent he had been in keeping the area clean and undisturbed by sheep.

Kátur was always with us, accompanying us 18 times riding across Kjölur, a 200 km route each time, wide fields of lava and three glacial rivers that we had to cross each trip; Blanda, Ströngukvísl, and Svartákvísl. Once the river Blanda was very turbulent and quite difficult to cross on horseback. Kátur was a good swimmer but this day he got under one of the horses just in front of me when we crossed the river. He was underwater for a while and when he finally got up, the water carried him further down the river. After a while he managed to get up the river bank on the right side of the river. He shook off the water and set off. He looked at us: Did anyone have any worries?

Kátur always made sure everyone was with us during the ride, he was running back and forth to check on the number of people. When we stopped at one of the resting points, which he knew as well as the horses, he would immediately lie down, curl up and sleep. When the call to "get back in the saddle" was made, he would jump up and bark. Finally, we were on the move again, he could hardly wait, he was so excited. These were beautiful moments that we shared on the mountains.

In 1998, we went on a weekend trip to the Westfjords, and of course, Kátur got to be with us. He slept with us one night in the old Tercel by the roadside on Þorskafjarðarheiði and one night in a tent in Breiðavík. We visited the waterfall Dynjandi, the art museum of Samúel Jónsson, and Látrabjarg, and took the ferry across Breiðafjörður. An unforgettable trip that Kátur so significantly enhanced with his good presence.

Kátur was very affectionate and loyal, especially to my husband and they took good care of each other. Once, they went early in the morning to check on the horses in the summer pasture. I knew about their plan, but my presence wasn't needed, so I got to sleep in. My husband was saddling a horse that we had just bought for the horse rental. The horse was nice and comfortable, but what we didn't know at that time was that it was impossible to ride it alone. My husband had gone up a steep hill in the back of the farm when the horse took off and ran down the hill at full speed. Nobody knows exactly what happened but the horse managed to kick off his rider and left him behind in the hill - unconscious. At the time I had come into the kitchen to get some coffee when Kátur burst into the open back door and tried to tell me something in his very own language. He was very agitated, went back out and looked at me through the kitchen window. I followed him out and asked what was going on and he looked up to the hill. Then finally I saw my husband stumbling slowly down the hill. I took the car to drive out to him as far as I could to pick him up. He was relieved to get inside, very sore all over his body and badly bruised for a long time after. Káturs behaviour had been amazing, he was very worried and had pulled me out of the house to get help for his master.

Kátur was a good friend and companion and it was a great sadness when he got run over by a car on a fateful day in 2004 and injured so badly that he could not be saved. We will never forget this wonderful dog and the memories live on with us!

Kátur July 1996 - May 2004