Here is one of my pets...Aslan is Top RAM on our farm. I am of Norwegian Ancestry but am not allowed to export to the US any of the old Norwegian sheep my relatives raise in Norway so we raise Icelandic sheep.
When the Norwegian Vikings settled Iceland in 870 they brought from Norway a breed of chicken, cow, dog, goat, horse, and sheep which for the most part have not bred with any other breed for 1200 years so they are the original purebreds. Our sheep have their breeding lines documented back to 1830 in Iceland.
What is distinct about them is that because Iceland until this century was mostly geographically isolated, any variations in genetics and recessive genes stayed in the breed instead of being dispersed as in land ranging breeds. Because of this the breed has a genetic possiblity of 189 different combinations of pattern and color genes, both males and females can be polled (no horns) or horned and even have a recessive gene for multiple horns (up to 8 horns), a trait that they have in common with the Jacob and Manx Loughton sheep of Great Britain.
But since others are posting pictures of their dogs...out dog is also Icelandic, an Icelandic Sheepdog. Since none of the animals the vikings brought to Iceland were predators, the dogs have no hunting instinct and instead are very at home among the horses, cows, goats and sheep. They do not herd the sheep by nipping and driving the way a border collie does, they instead talk to the sheep by barking to get attention and then thinking they are one of the sheep expect the sheep to follow them.
The Icelandic sheepdog is rare with only about 3500 worldwide. They are in the northern Spitz family and are most closely related the Norwegian Buhund. The genetics are just as unique as the sheep in that there is a gene for color (with most being white pattern and some color), a gene for tri-color, a gene for long or short hair, and most all show single or double dew claws, often called wolf claws as it is a primitive trait.
On our farm we also have a 3 other dozen sheep, a horse, miniature donkey, goat, fish and cats.
Shawn38865.8840625
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