One of the many colours of the
Icelandic dog. Black with a lighter stomach, brown eyebrows, cheeks and
hind feet, and a white chest.
The Icelandic Sheepdog
is a medium-sized dog with pricked ears and a well curled tail, with
wolf-claws on it's hind legs. His mood is expressed by his constantly
moving ears and his intelligent and lively dark brown eyes. His body is
rather small and compact, and the dog is light and agile on foot. His coat
can be varied in length, either long or rather short, but always thick and
extremely weatherproof (but with a great variation). There is a thick,
warm undercoat that keeps the dog dry in all weather
conditions.
The people of Iceland seem to be crazy for colours, at
least we appreciate it so much that all domestic species are colourful,
and the dogs are no exeption. The most common colours are from reddish to
yellowish brown, black, liver and wheaten, although completely
one-coloured dogs are undesireable. The commonest colour combinations are:
White markings on the chest, blaze, collar, socks and tip of tail, a black
mask, or lighter shading on breast, abdomen, back of thighs and underside
of tail. Black dogs must be tricolour. At the shoulder this breed measures
38-48 cm and weighing 10 - 15 kg (20-30 lbs). This breed has one special
characteristic, which is the wolf-claws on the hind legs. They should
preferably be double (it was said that those were the best sheep-dogs),
but single claws are acceptable too. This was an overwiew, but of course
this dog has a breeding standard
too.
Yellow (gulur) with a
black mask, dark hairs on the back,
spotted