Alaskastadirs Korpur

Korpur, Alaskastadirs Korpur, is the second male Icelandic that has lived with me. Like many true American Icelandics, he has ancestry from all over the world. He has Danish, Norwegian, Dutch, American, Canadian and Icelandic ancestors. Of course all of our Icelandic Sheepdogs go back to Iceland. So no mater where their more recent ancestors came from, all of the ancestors came originally from Iceland. So where did the first Icelandics come from? The Vikings took dogs from their Scandinavian homes with them when they originally settled Iceland more than a thousand years ago. In the early centuries there were most likely three breeds of dogs in Iceland. The middle sized breed was very similar to modern Icelandic Sheepdogs. Purists may not want to admit it but probably in those early years there was some interbreeding between the three breeds which may account for the diversity we see today. There were no breed standards or kennel clubs for around one thousand years. Farmers bred their best herding dogs together and produced a reliable, friendly, intelligent, self-reliant, tractable herding dog.

Korpur is an amazing dog. He has earned his Rally Novice title and his Canine Good Citizen both from the American Kennel Club, AKC. He is so beautiful that he turns heads whenever he is out in public. Like all my dogs, he goes to classes at Sportsmens' Dog Training Club where I volunteer as an instructor and also take classes.

Korpur is a black, white and gray dog with some rust colored highlights in his hair. He has produced some amazing offspring that show virtually every possible color. He has had offspring with his coloring and also black tricolor pups, tan pups, sabled pups, cream pups, etc. He has excellent hips.

He also has two unusual traits: a korkur tail and dews on the ground. A korkur tail is a double curled tail that resembles a corkscrew. You can see the extra twist in the photo of Korpur. The tuft of hair sticking out from the center of his tail is from that extra curl. Although rare, there are several dogs in the US that also have this trait. Huld also has a korkur tail. A dog with a korkur tail is good for breeding to a dog with a more relaxed tail in order to tighten up the tail curl in their puppies. Most of Korpur's pups have a better tail than their mothers have.

Icelandics must be sure-footed. Life in Iceland is hard. The terrain is icy and rough because of the latitude, the volcanic rocks. Dogs that have dewclaws are more agile, studies from the AKC have shown. I believe that dogs with those des near the ground are even more agile, more able to negotiate the uneven terrain.