A Summary of the Icelandic Kennel Club’s History
1969 - On 4th September, at Hotel Saga in Reykjavík, twenty-nine enthusiasts and breeders of the Icelandic Sheepdog met together and founded The Icelandic Kennel Club.
The Chairman of the Preparatory Commission was Sigríður Pétursdóttir and it was she who set the first meeting.
The first board members were: veterinary surgeon Gunnlaugur Skúlason, President, Jón Guðmundsson from Fjall, Treasurer, and Sigríður Pétursdóttir, Secretary, other members of the Board were Ólafur Stefánsson and Magnús Þorleifsson.
The first board meeting was held on 15th September and the first proposal on the agenda was the preparation of a breed standard for the Icelandic Sheepdog.
1973 - On 25th August the Icelandic Kennel Club held the first dog show in Iceland in Hveragerði.
The judge was Jean Lanning from England and she had to apply for a dispensation to be able to judge at the show as it was not an internationally recognised show.
In all there were 60 dogs entered, the most represented breed was the Icelandic Sheepdog with 23 dogs.
It is safe to say that this dog show attracted a lot of attention in Iceland, on top of everything else a caricature was done of the dog show by the state television company in a comedy show broadcast by them on New Year’s Eve that year.
1974 - At the Annual General Meeting, proposals were put forward for the setting up of organised obedience classes for dogs and their owners, there were mixed feelings about the idea.
1977 - Icelandic Kennel Club members started discussing the idea of setting up breed clubs for the individual breeds but nothing was finalised that year.
1978 - The first club newsletter was issued, the forerunner of the club’s magazine „Sámur”.
That same year discussions began with regard to the Icelandic Kennel Club joining the FCI (Fédération Cynologique Internationale).
1979 - The Icelandic Kennel Club applied for entry into the FCI and was invited to send a delegate to their Annual Congress, this they did and the Icelandic Kennel Club became an Associate Member of the FCI.
That same year they were also invited to join the NKU (Nordic Kennel Union).
The Icelandic Kennel Club could now display the FCI logo on their pedigrees which, in turn, gave them international recognition.
The first breed club within the Icelandic Kennel Club was founded, it was Deild Íslenska Fjárhundsins or DÍF, the Icelandic Sheepdog Breed Club, and they were soon to be joined by others.
The Icelandic Kennel Club became increasingly busy with the founding of the breed clubs.
The Irish Setter Club, which had been an independent club based in Reykjavík, now joined the Icelandic Kennel Club.
After the dog show held that year, a lot of interest was shown in making it a yearly event.
1980 - The first club newsletter was published and given the name „Sámur”, it was named after the dog belonging to Gunnar from Hlíðarenda from the Icelandic sagas; he came from Ireland and was said to be as clever as a man.
Danish veterinary surgeon, Jens Eric Sönderup, came to Iceland, on behalf of the Icelandic Kennel Club, to give advice on breeding matters. He mainly looked at Retrievers as „the owners of other breeds did not take advantage of the opportunity”, as was recorded in the Icelandic Kennel Club Board’s minutes at the time.
That same year the Icelandic Kennel Club saw fit to warn people against taking puppies younger than eight weeks old away from their dams and ran an advertisement in the daily papers to this effect.
1981 - The NKU Annual Conference was held in Iceland for the first time.
At the Annual General Meeting, it was decided to apply for a telephone line for the club and at the same meeting, a committee of three people was formed to work out a fair price for dogs, e.g. for insurance companies in the event of loss or injury.
Just before the end of the year, the Icelandic Kennel Club applied to the Ministry of Agriculture, for permission to import frozen sperm from a Labrador male abroad, the application was denied.
1982 - The first Icelandic judges were approved. Sigríður Pétursdóttir qualified as a Show judge for all Spitz breeds in Group 5 with the exception of the working breeds and the Retriever breeds in Group 8.
Tómas G. Ingólfsson qualified as a Field Trial judge for dogs in Group 7.
1983 - After four years of planning, the first boarding kennels were opened at Arnarstaðir just outside Selfoss.
The Icelandic Kennel Club started obedience training classes for dogs and their owners; this was the forerunner of the present Icelandic Kennel Club Dog Training School.
That year the Icelandic Kennel Club started negotiations with the Reykjavík Council to allow conditional dog ownership in Reykjavík. This followed a particularly appalling case where the Police in Reykjavík shot a terrified 10 month old Labrador puppy in front of its owners in their front garden.
1984 - The Reykjavík Council agreed for the first time to allow dispensations to the ban on dog ownership in Reykjavík.
This was taken as a significant victory by dog owners, the Council could no longer deny the ever increasing numbers of people owning or wishing to own dogs in Reykjavík. This dispensation was to run for four years to be followed by a referendum to vote on whether it would be continued or not.
1987 - The Icelandic Kennel Club began working in cooperation with the Search and Rescue Dog Association of Iceland.
The Search and Rescue Dog Association train dogs and their handlers to work in avalanches, mud slides and ruins.
The Icelandic Kennel Club started training instructors for puppy and obedience training classes.
That year marked a turning point in dog matters in Reykjavík with the first indoor dog show which was held on 13th September in the indoor riding hall in Víðidal. The guest of honour at the show was Mr. Davið Oddson, the then Mayor of Reykjavík, he was presented with the Icelandic Kennel Club’s Gold Medallion for his efforts on behalf of the city’s dog owners.
The Board of the Icelandic Kennel Club started putting together plans for a Disciplinary Committee and decided that, after nearly 20 years it was about time to become stricter regarding members adhering to the Icelandic Kennel Club’s rules and regulations.
The agents for Pedigree pet foods expressed an interest in working together with the Icelandic Kennel Club and offered to sponsor all their dog shows.
1988 - A referendum was held regarding dog ownership in Reykjavík. There were 68.525 people on the electoral register; the turnout was very poor with only 8.777 people casting their vote. The Icelandic Kennel Club took this as an indicating that the population of Reykjavík had no objections to dog ownership in the city. Of the 12.8% who cast their votes, the results were as follows: 39.4% wanted the rules to remain unchanged, 60.15% wanted a change in the rules and 0.4% were invalid.
1989 - The Icelandic Kennel Club celebrated its 20th Anniversary year by holding three dog shows, there were 200 dogs shown at the Anniversary Show which was held at Laugardalshöll in Reykjavík.
1990 - A number of dogs were x-rayed to assess whether they had hip-dysplasia.
In May of that year, the Reykjavík City Council and the Icelandic Kennel Club signed the lease for the club to have the use of Sólheimakot and two outhouses in Mosfellsbær; this included the use of a large area of very beautiful land surrounding these buildings. The agreement was that the Icelandic Kennel Club would not pay rent as such but would pay for all the upkeep of the property and it was to be used for dog obedience training. The Icelandic Kennel Club Dog Training School moved its head of operations to Sólheimakot and the building was formally handed over on 18th August.
1991 - The long-awaited quarantine station in Hrísey was opened. The Icelandic Kennel Club had for a long time stressed the necessity of having quarantine facilities to enable the importing of dogs to Iceland.
1993 - The Northern Regional Club was founded in Akureyri with the view to founding other regional clubs around Iceland.
The regulations regarding breed club shows were changed making it easier for the breed clubs to hold their shows.
The first „Dog Day” was held in the summer of that year.
1994 - The Icelandic Kennel Club held its 25th Anniversary and celebrated by having the first International Dog Show, held in Akureyri, where the CACIB was awarded for the first time in Iceland.
Four breeds of dog were banned in Reykjavík; they were Rottweiler, Dobermann, Pit Bull Terrier and Akita Ino. The Reykjavík Department of Health wanted these breeds to be banned from the city as they considered them to be dangerous.
The Icelandic Sheepdog Breed Club (DÍF) had its 15th Anniversary and celebrated by holding a club show in Sólheimakot and making preparations for a conference regarding the Icelandic sheepdog.
The Gundog Club was founded within the Icelandic Kennel Club on 18th August that year.
1995 - The Gundog Club held their first field trial tests, for Pointing Dogs on 22nd April and for Retrievers on 18th August.
2011 - The Icelandic Kennel Club became a full member of the FCI!
The above are extracts of the history of the Icelandic Kennel Club over the years, though some years are not represented it does not mean that nothing happened during that time, the events that are recalled took months, sometimes years of planning before they could become a reality.
As you can see, the principal objective of the Icelandic Kennel Club was the protection and preservation of the Icelandic sheepdog, as it still does today, but the Icelandic Kennel Club soon became the only representative of dogs and their owners in Iceland, whose rights had been suppressed for many years. This conflict has been reminiscent of the battle between David and Goliath; there was originally an enormous amount of prejudice towards dog ownership, both in the negative attitude of the authorities and among a large proportion of the general public.
Over the years the Icelandic Kennel Club has scored a significant number of victories but the battle isn’t over yet, there is still a long way to go and if there is one thing that the club’s history has shown us it is that the old saying „Together we stand, divided we fall” still holds true.
1969 - On 4th September, at Hotel Saga in Reykjavík, twenty-nine enthusiasts and breeders of the Icelandic Sheepdog met together and founded The Icelandic Kennel Club.
The Chairman of the Preparatory Commission was Sigríður Pétursdóttir and it was she who set the first meeting.
The first board members were: veterinary surgeon Gunnlaugur Skúlason, President, Jón Guðmundsson from Fjall, Treasurer, and Sigríður Pétursdóttir, Secretary, other members of the Board were Ólafur Stefánsson and Magnús Þorleifsson.
The first board meeting was held on 15th September and the first proposal on the agenda was the preparation of a breed standard for the Icelandic Sheepdog.
1973 - On 25th August the Icelandic Kennel Club held the first dog show in Iceland in Hveragerði.
The judge was Jean Lanning from England and she had to apply for a dispensation to be able to judge at the show as it was not an internationally recognised show.
In all there were 60 dogs entered, the most represented breed was the Icelandic Sheepdog with 23 dogs.
It is safe to say that this dog show attracted a lot of attention in Iceland, on top of everything else a caricature was done of the dog show by the state television company in a comedy show broadcast by them on New Year’s Eve that year.
1974 - At the Annual General Meeting, proposals were put forward for the setting up of organised obedience classes for dogs and their owners, there were mixed feelings about the idea.
1977 - Icelandic Kennel Club members started discussing the idea of setting up breed clubs for the individual breeds but nothing was finalised that year.
1978 - The first club newsletter was issued, the forerunner of the club’s magazine „Sámur”.
That same year discussions began with regard to the Icelandic Kennel Club joining the FCI (Fédération Cynologique Internationale).
1979 - The Icelandic Kennel Club applied for entry into the FCI and was invited to send a delegate to their Annual Congress, this they did and the Icelandic Kennel Club became an Associate Member of the FCI.
That same year they were also invited to join the NKU (Nordic Kennel Union).
The Icelandic Kennel Club could now display the FCI logo on their pedigrees which, in turn, gave them international recognition.
The first breed club within the Icelandic Kennel Club was founded, it was Deild Íslenska Fjárhundsins or DÍF, the Icelandic Sheepdog Breed Club, and they were soon to be joined by others.
The Icelandic Kennel Club became increasingly busy with the founding of the breed clubs.
The Irish Setter Club, which had been an independent club based in Reykjavík, now joined the Icelandic Kennel Club.
After the dog show held that year, a lot of interest was shown in making it a yearly event.
1980 - The first club newsletter was published and given the name „Sámur”, it was named after the dog belonging to Gunnar from Hlíðarenda from the Icelandic sagas; he came from Ireland and was said to be as clever as a man.
Danish veterinary surgeon, Jens Eric Sönderup, came to Iceland, on behalf of the Icelandic Kennel Club, to give advice on breeding matters. He mainly looked at Retrievers as „the owners of other breeds did not take advantage of the opportunity”, as was recorded in the Icelandic Kennel Club Board’s minutes at the time.
That same year the Icelandic Kennel Club saw fit to warn people against taking puppies younger than eight weeks old away from their dams and ran an advertisement in the daily papers to this effect.
1981 - The NKU Annual Conference was held in Iceland for the first time.
At the Annual General Meeting, it was decided to apply for a telephone line for the club and at the same meeting, a committee of three people was formed to work out a fair price for dogs, e.g. for insurance companies in the event of loss or injury.
Just before the end of the year, the Icelandic Kennel Club applied to the Ministry of Agriculture, for permission to import frozen sperm from a Labrador male abroad, the application was denied.
1982 - The first Icelandic judges were approved. Sigríður Pétursdóttir qualified as a Show judge for all Spitz breeds in Group 5 with the exception of the working breeds and the Retriever breeds in Group 8.
Tómas G. Ingólfsson qualified as a Field Trial judge for dogs in Group 7.
1983 - After four years of planning, the first boarding kennels were opened at Arnarstaðir just outside Selfoss.
The Icelandic Kennel Club started obedience training classes for dogs and their owners; this was the forerunner of the present Icelandic Kennel Club Dog Training School.
That year the Icelandic Kennel Club started negotiations with the Reykjavík Council to allow conditional dog ownership in Reykjavík. This followed a particularly appalling case where the Police in Reykjavík shot a terrified 10 month old Labrador puppy in front of its owners in their front garden.
1984 - The Reykjavík Council agreed for the first time to allow dispensations to the ban on dog ownership in Reykjavík.
This was taken as a significant victory by dog owners, the Council could no longer deny the ever increasing numbers of people owning or wishing to own dogs in Reykjavík. This dispensation was to run for four years to be followed by a referendum to vote on whether it would be continued or not.
1987 - The Icelandic Kennel Club began working in cooperation with the Search and Rescue Dog Association of Iceland.
The Search and Rescue Dog Association train dogs and their handlers to work in avalanches, mud slides and ruins.
The Icelandic Kennel Club started training instructors for puppy and obedience training classes.
That year marked a turning point in dog matters in Reykjavík with the first indoor dog show which was held on 13th September in the indoor riding hall in Víðidal. The guest of honour at the show was Mr. Davið Oddson, the then Mayor of Reykjavík, he was presented with the Icelandic Kennel Club’s Gold Medallion for his efforts on behalf of the city’s dog owners.
The Board of the Icelandic Kennel Club started putting together plans for a Disciplinary Committee and decided that, after nearly 20 years it was about time to become stricter regarding members adhering to the Icelandic Kennel Club’s rules and regulations.
The agents for Pedigree pet foods expressed an interest in working together with the Icelandic Kennel Club and offered to sponsor all their dog shows.
1988 - A referendum was held regarding dog ownership in Reykjavík. There were 68.525 people on the electoral register; the turnout was very poor with only 8.777 people casting their vote. The Icelandic Kennel Club took this as an indicating that the population of Reykjavík had no objections to dog ownership in the city. Of the 12.8% who cast their votes, the results were as follows: 39.4% wanted the rules to remain unchanged, 60.15% wanted a change in the rules and 0.4% were invalid.
1989 - The Icelandic Kennel Club celebrated its 20th Anniversary year by holding three dog shows, there were 200 dogs shown at the Anniversary Show which was held at Laugardalshöll in Reykjavík.
1990 - A number of dogs were x-rayed to assess whether they had hip-dysplasia.
In May of that year, the Reykjavík City Council and the Icelandic Kennel Club signed the lease for the club to have the use of Sólheimakot and two outhouses in Mosfellsbær; this included the use of a large area of very beautiful land surrounding these buildings. The agreement was that the Icelandic Kennel Club would not pay rent as such but would pay for all the upkeep of the property and it was to be used for dog obedience training. The Icelandic Kennel Club Dog Training School moved its head of operations to Sólheimakot and the building was formally handed over on 18th August.
1991 - The long-awaited quarantine station in Hrísey was opened. The Icelandic Kennel Club had for a long time stressed the necessity of having quarantine facilities to enable the importing of dogs to Iceland.
1993 - The Northern Regional Club was founded in Akureyri with the view to founding other regional clubs around Iceland.
The regulations regarding breed club shows were changed making it easier for the breed clubs to hold their shows.
The first „Dog Day” was held in the summer of that year.
1994 - The Icelandic Kennel Club held its 25th Anniversary and celebrated by having the first International Dog Show, held in Akureyri, where the CACIB was awarded for the first time in Iceland.
Four breeds of dog were banned in Reykjavík; they were Rottweiler, Dobermann, Pit Bull Terrier and Akita Ino. The Reykjavík Department of Health wanted these breeds to be banned from the city as they considered them to be dangerous.
The Icelandic Sheepdog Breed Club (DÍF) had its 15th Anniversary and celebrated by holding a club show in Sólheimakot and making preparations for a conference regarding the Icelandic sheepdog.
The Gundog Club was founded within the Icelandic Kennel Club on 18th August that year.
1995 - The Gundog Club held their first field trial tests, for Pointing Dogs on 22nd April and for Retrievers on 18th August.
2011 - The Icelandic Kennel Club became a full member of the FCI!
The above are extracts of the history of the Icelandic Kennel Club over the years, though some years are not represented it does not mean that nothing happened during that time, the events that are recalled took months, sometimes years of planning before they could become a reality.
As you can see, the principal objective of the Icelandic Kennel Club was the protection and preservation of the Icelandic sheepdog, as it still does today, but the Icelandic Kennel Club soon became the only representative of dogs and their owners in Iceland, whose rights had been suppressed for many years. This conflict has been reminiscent of the battle between David and Goliath; there was originally an enormous amount of prejudice towards dog ownership, both in the negative attitude of the authorities and among a large proportion of the general public.
Over the years the Icelandic Kennel Club has scored a significant number of victories but the battle isn’t over yet, there is still a long way to go and if there is one thing that the club’s history has shown us it is that the old saying „Together we stand, divided we fall” still holds true.