Are IS, in general, good with kids? Yes ,I know several sheepdogs that "Babysitt" My male dog Kragi is very good but sometime´s I wonder if he would let the kid´s jump him to death rather than stand up and go away.......... and my female Eldhammars Freyja is more like, very good with them but as soon as they are to hard on her she disaper .(come´s to me )
Most spitz/husky type breeds that I know of are not what I would call obedient dogs - in other words, if let off leash, they look over their shoulder at you as they wave their tails goodbye and head for the wild blue yonder. In general, would you say this would be typical of the IS breed? It depends on how you raised your puppy! my Freyja is very bound to me and work with sheeps only with me I got her as a puppy (typical female) Kragi on the other hand goes off with any person who does something interesting ,got him to care for when he was 3 yo old (I´m at least he´s 4th owner) with he´s old & bad habbit´s that are very hard to work through. start with a puppy and make it good from the beginning Are the dog aggressive? Not agressive breed Can you keep them with other breeds? yes of course as in sheepround up the dogs from every farm is gathering the sheep´s with their owner´s 20- 30 dogs and it come´s out very well, in this group it´s rareæy pure breed IS as they are only between 3-400 pure breed dog´s in the country. And border collie is becomming more popular by sheep farmer´s as they are very cheap dog´s to by. Thansk for your time, -- Laree PS - Stan Hirson has a great video of his IS at her first sheep herding trial on his video web page. She is one happy little dog - I don't think she's doing exactly what she's supposed to be doing but she's doing it with great joy. for hundred´s of years the Icelandic sheepdog was not used to" gather and come with" the sheep´s or cow horses the dog was used to clear off the hayfields the hay field was/is around the house/stable and in summer time the live stock was up in the mountain to graze but some always come home to try to graze the hayfield and the dog´s work was to chase every intruder off the field. This was before the fencing day´s but it is still very rich in them "to clear off the field" Regards Malin www.kolugil.tk
