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Icelandic Sheepdog breeders

The Icelandic Sheepdog is a Nordic herding spitz from Iceland, placed by The Royal Kennel Club in the Pastoral group.

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Advertise your Icelandic Sheepdog puppies, litters and stud dogs

Do you breed Icelandic Sheepdogs? List your kennel on caninebreeder.co.uk so buyers searching for Icelandic Sheepdog puppies for sale, and owners looking for an Icelandic Sheepdog stud dog, can find you. With the breed still on the Imported Breed Register, a clear listing helps interested buyers reach you directly. A free basic profile shows your kennel name, location, website, social media, breeds and licence details, with your litters and stud dogs in their own sections; Premium adds your phone number and email, a photo gallery and health test certificates. Add your listing or see pricing.

No breeders are listed here yet, so the first profiles get the page to themselves.

  • Free basic profile: your breeder or company name, website, social media, location, breeds and industries.
  • Litters and stud dogs advertised in their own sections, never mixed with puppies for sale.
  • Premium showcase for your services and prices, previous customers, awards, video, gallery and health certificates, with your phone and email shown to buyers.
  • Sponsored articles about your breed or industry, written and published by our team.
  • Featured placement at the top of this page, labelled as sponsored.

Create your free breeder profile Advertise a litter Advertise a stud dog

Is it free to advertise here?

Yes. A breeder profile and your litter and stud dog adverts are free. Premium profiles, featured placement and sponsored articles are optional paid extras; see pricing.

Do I need a licence to advertise puppies?

In England you need a dog breeding licence from your council if you breed three or more litters in 12 months or breed and sell dogs as a business, and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own schemes. Licensed breeders show their licence number and issuing council on every advert. Puppies must be at least eight weeks old before they go to new homes.

Is my listing already here?

We add licensed breeders from councils' public registers. Search for your kennel name; if it is listed you can claim it and edit everything.

About the Icelandic Sheepdog

The Icelandic Sheepdog is a Nordic herding spitz from Iceland, placed by The Royal Kennel Club in the Pastoral group. The RKC says its ancestors came to Iceland in the ninth century with settlers from Scandinavia, and the breed appears in the Icelandic Sagas. It herded flocks in rough country and hard weather, and in the 19th century contagious disease almost wiped it out. One dog was registered with the Kennel Club as a foreign dog in 1905, yet the breed is still on the RKC Imported Breed Register, which holds imported breeds until the RKC judges them well enough established to join the main Breed Register, hence the "(Imp)" in its name. Compare it with other Nordic herding breeds such as the Norwegian Buhund, Swedish Vallhund and Finnish Lapphund, or browse all pastoral breed breeders.

Size and build. The RKC lists the breed as medium-sized, and the breed standard describes a sturdy spitz just under medium size, longer in the body than it is tall, with pricked ears and a tail curled over the back. The ideal height at the withers is 46 cm (18 in) for dogs and 42 cm (16.5 in) for bitches, and males and females should look clearly different. Double dewclaws on the hind legs are listed as desirable.

Coat and grooming. There are two coat varieties, short and long. Both have a fairly coarse outer coat over a thick, soft undercoat that copes well with bad weather. One colour should predominate: a shade of tan from cream to reddish brown, chocolate, grey or black, always with some white; tricolour and pied dogs are also allowed. The RKC suggests grooming once a week and notes that the breed sheds.

Exercise. The RKC puts exercise at up to an hour a day and says the breed can live in a small house with a small to medium garden, in town or country. For its working roots, see heritage herding breeds; RKC policy lets Imported Register dogs enter agility and other activity events straight away.

Temperament and suitability. The standard describes a cheerful, friendly, inquisitive and playful dog with a gentle nature. It barks readily, which helped with livestock work, and will warn you of visitors without being aggressive, so expect a vocal companion. The RKC calls the breed gentle, intelligent, lively and confident, and gives a lifespan of over 10 years.

Icelandic Sheepdog health tests

The RKC Icelandic Sheepdog page currently lists no recommended pre-breeding health screening for the breed and no breed-specific breeding restrictions. It advises breeders and buyers to check back often, because this may change as new evidence and research appear. The RKC has no DNA testing package tailored to this breed, although individual DNA tests are available through its testing service. The breed is in Breed Watch Category 1, meaning no breed-specific points of concern have been flagged for show judges beyond those the breed standard already covers.

The absence of a listed scheme is not a health guarantee. The breed standard asks for faults to be weighed by their effect on the dog's health, welfare and ability to work, and males should have two normal, fully descended testicles. Because the breed is on the Imported Breed Register and not yet established in the UK, keeping the gene pool broad matters: ask for the coefficient of inbreeding of a planned mating and where the parents' bloodlines come from. Any tests a breeder has chosen to do and recorded with the RKC can be checked on the Health Test Results Finder. If you have a health concern, talk to your vet or contact the breed health co-ordinator through the RKC's Health and Breeding Support Team.

Health and registration points for the Icelandic Sheepdog (RKC):

  • Recommended pre-breeding health screening: none listed at present
  • DNA testing: no breed-specific RKC package; individual DNA tests available
  • Breed-specific breeding restrictions: none at present
  • Coefficient of inbreeding: can be checked with the RKC's online inbreeding calculator
  • Breed Watch: Category 1
  • Register status: RKC Imported Breed Register

Choosing an Icelandic Sheepdog breeder

With no RKC-listed health screening for the Icelandic Sheepdog, you have to rely more on the breeder's openness. A careful breeder should tell you about the health and age of the parents, grandparents and any earlier litters, explain why they chose this mating, and give you the coefficient of inbreeding. Because the breed is on the Imported Breed Register, ask where the parents and their bloodlines came from. Meet the mother with her puppies where they were raised. Under Lucy's Law, third-party sellers in England may not sell puppies under six months old, so buy directly from the breeder or adopt from a rescue centre. A council licence is needed in England to breed three or more litters in 12 months and sell any of the puppies, or to run a business that breeds and advertises dogs for sale. The RKC's Find a Club service lists the Icelandic Sheepdog Club of the UK (Provisional) as a source of breed advice, and our buyer safety guide covers deposits and scams.

Questions to ask an Icelandic Sheepdog breeder:

  • Can I meet the mother, and the father if he is nearby?
  • What health checks have the parents had, and are any results recorded with the RKC?
  • What is the coefficient of inbreeding for this litter?
  • Is the puppy short-coated or long-coated, and how much barking and shedding should I expect?
  • Will the puppy be RKC registered and microchipped, and will you help if it ever needs a new home?

Icelandic Sheepdog questions

Why is the Icelandic Sheepdog listed as '(Imp)'?

It is on The Royal Kennel Club's Imported Breed Register, which holds newly recognised imported breeds. Under RKC policy, dogs on this register can compete straight away in obedience, agility, working trials, rally, flyball, heelwork to music and handling. Showing is limited to certain classes, such as Imported Register classes, once an interim breed standard has been published, and ordinary breed classes open only after the breed moves to the main Breed Register, which happens when the RKC considers it well enough established.

Do Icelandic Sheepdogs bark a lot?

The breed standard describes a herding spitz that barks, a trait that was useful for moving livestock, and a dog that alerts you to visitors without being aggressive. Expect a vocal dog, and plan early training around barking if you have close neighbours.

How much grooming and exercise does an Icelandic Sheepdog need?

The RKC suggests grooming once a week and up to an hour of exercise a day. The breed has a thick double coat in short and long varieties, and it sheds.

What health tests should Icelandic Sheepdog parents have?

The RKC currently lists no recommended pre-breeding screening for the breed, and it is in Breed Watch Category 1. Ask the breeder what health checks the parents have had, how healthy their relatives have been, and what the coefficient of inbreeding for the litter is. Check the RKC breed page from time to time, as its advice may change.

More for Icelandic Sheepdog owners and breeders

Official sources