Grooming the Icelandic Sheepdog
Hello Folks,
I must say that this is one of the most common questions I get about our dogs, what kind of grooming do they require and if they shed? and if they cause allergies.

So I thought it worth a area on the site to discuss this in detail for those who are looking at the breed in general or are going to get a puppy from us.

Question One: Do they Shed?
Answer: Yes, the Icelandic Sheepdog does Shed, its is a Northern Breed and no matter what its coat length, Short or Long, it is a Double Coated Breed.

This means that it will shed out its full undercoat spring and fall and will also shed smaller amounts during the whole year. If you are used to shedding breeds, then most folks have no issues, if you are used to non-shedding breeds, then the ISD will appear to shed quite a bit.

Question Two: Allergies-Do they cause Allergies?
Answer: Yes, they can and do cause allergies in folks that normally have allergies.

Question Three: Bathing. Do you Bath an ISD or Not?
This is a interesting Question, some folks say that the ISD does not have a doggy smell and that they should not be bathed as this ruins their coat.

As for myself, I do find the dogs have a doggy smell, all my puppy owners over the years have agreed with me, that while not as strong as some breeds, they do indeed smell like dogs, and I firmly believe that you need to bath your dogs when its coat is dirty!

I also recommend to all my puppy owners that you consider taking your Icelandic Sheepdog to a professional groomer to be bathed and blown out a couple times of year but mainly during shedding season, as this will cut down on the hair in your house, the amount of time you will need to groom daily and therefor allow you to enjoy your time with your Icelandic Sheepdog More!

I personally bath my dogs when they are dirty(and boy do they love to roll in fresh sheep poo) Muddy, its spring an they get muddy running around, and of course I bath them for the shows and for when they go to visit in regards to being a therapy dog.

Grooming and Coat Type.

While I often see it written that both the long and short coat are easily cared for and require little work, I am sorry to say that has not been my experance.

I have both Long coated Icelandic Sheepdog and Short Coated Icelandic Sheepdogs, and there is no doubt in my mind what-so-ever, that the short coated ISD is much easier to groom and keep groomed.

While a well kept Long Coated ISD is stunning, their coat does requrie a good deal more work then a short coat does. It just takes a lot longer to groom out and of the two coats, the long coat if not looked after will get knots and if the knots are not looked after, they will matt.

On average, a short coat takes a few min a week in Grooming
On average, a long coat takes around a hour a week in Grooming.

Now that is if you are doing all grooming at home, if you are willing an able to commit to sending your long coated dog out three or four times a year to be fully groomed an bathed, it will cut your weekly work time down to about 20 min or so.

Just a note about the long coats, in our breed, we are to have a slightly harsh outer coat, and I have found that if the long coats do in fact have the proper "harsher" coat type, they are easier to keep.

If they have a soft coat, they are alot harder to keep, so if you sink your hand into the coat, and think, this is the most soft coat ever, or if the breeder says that the coat is SO SOFT, while it might feel great to the hand to touch, the odds are good, you will be spending a great deal more time grooming!

An Icelandic Sheepdogs Coat should feel slightly hard on top, with a soft thick undercoat
Grooming Tools for your Icelandic Sheepdog
Basic Tools needed for home grooming of your Icelandic Sheepdog, you will need a good quality pin brush, a nice double sided steel comb(one large end and one finer end) Nail Clippers, spray bottle with water/conditioner and a ideally a nice grooming table, but any solid surface with a non-slip mat on top will work (rubber bath mat on your washing machine top or on your table top etc) so that you have the dog at a nice even level to you for work comfort.
I don't have photos of them but I also have my straight and thinning scissors.
Basic Grooming for your Icelandic Sheepdog
I bathed Oppa and let her air dry so she was already clean for this grooming session. First using the pin brush I brushed though her coat with the lay of the hair, so that there were no clumbs.
Then I brushed her agaist the lay of the hair to help pull out any loose undercoat. Once that is done, I start with my steel comb, and you start at one area, and draw a line with the comb, and then as with all long coat and double coated breeds, you need to line comb. First I do the area with the large end of the steel comb and then finish with the fine end comb.

Nails need to be trimmed normally every two or three weeks.
The dogs tend to have long tuffs on their paw pads, these are bad in winter for getting painful snow balls, and in the summer they make it slick on the grass etc, so I highly recommend trimming up the paws of the feet for the safety of your dogs.