Home / Questions / Icelandic Sheepdog
Yes. Icelandic Sheepdogs are among the easiest breeds to train, and the record is unambiguous: trainability is rated 5 out of 5 in our breed data, the top of the scale. The Icelandic Sheepdog combines that score with a Sharp, energetic, devoted and quick to learn temperament and very high energy, which is the exact recipe for a dog that learns cues in a handful of repetitions and then starts offering behaviors before you ask. Training an Icelandic Sheepdog is rarely about whether it can learn; it is about keeping up, staying consistent and giving a quick mind enough work across its 60 to 120 minutes of daily exercise. Most owners teach the core cues in days, and the honest challenge is the opposite of the usual one: this dog learns your habits, including the sloppy ones, just as fast.
With a train score at the top of this site's scale, the Icelandic is an outstanding pupil: quick to learn, eager to work and unusually people focused for a spitz. Socialize widely so the reserved streak stays comfortable. Reward based structure with variety produces excellent results in herding, agility, obedience and trick work. The breed holds AKC recognition, so its standard is set in the United States as well as in its homeland. From Iceland, the Icelandic Sheepdog is a small herding breed whose traditional work was to move sheep and cattle with eye, bark and body, working all day beside the shepherd or farmer.
Placed against its physical record, the score reads like this: an Icelandic Sheepdog of 20 to 30 lb and 16 to 18 inches, with trainability at 5 out of 5, is a student whose body is part of the lesson, big enough that leverage and timing matter, or small enough that owners must get down to its level instead of looming. Its lifespan, 12 to 14 years, reframes the effort too: the first year's teaching is amortized over a decade of daily use, which is why this site treats a mid score as an investment profile, not a warning. Its social ratings read Good with children for children, Usually good with dogs for other dogs and Reserved with strangers for strangers. Trainability never acts alone: it is filtered through that energy, that size and that temperament every single day, which is why two breeds with the same score can feel so different to teach.
The generalization trap catches bright breeds hardest. An Icelandic Sheepdog does not learn sit; it learns sit in the kitchen, for you, when the treat pouch is visible, and files each variation separately until someone teaches it otherwise. Handlers find themselves outpaced: the dog is ready for the next step while the human is still rewarding the last one.
The priorities are a quiet cue for a vocal herder, recall, a settle, lead manners, and cooperative care for the coat. Harsh methods damage a sensitive dog's confidence; warmth, clarity and interesting work build the famous partnership, a small Viking colleague that seems to anticipate the day's plan. Twelve to fourteen years puts senior status around ten: twice yearly checks, joint friendly exercise and continued light duties.
Puppies are plush, busy charmers; adults are keen, devoted partners with a herder's conscience and a comedian's timing. Few breeds bond harder or work harder, per the overview, and this one adds a performer's delight in company.
Start with the first name on that shortlist, the Shetland Sheepdog, and the difference is already instructive: two breeds can share a build, a coat and a working past and still sit a full point apart on trainability, because the score follows the breed's recorded temperament and drives, not its silhouette. The Icelandic Sheepdog's 5 out of 5 should therefore be read as a measurement of this breed alone. Cross shoppers get more from comparing the full records side by side than from any single number, which is why each name on the shortlist carries its own page on this site. The Icelandic Sheepdog's 5 out of 5 is its own: plan lessons from it, not from a lookalike's reputation, because two similar breeds can be very different students.
Give the week a rhythm instead of relying on daily inspiration. The Icelandic Sheepdog learns the rhythm itself within a fortnight, and a dog that expects training as a normal feature of certain days stops treating every session as a negotiation. Keep rest days genuinely restful: consolidation happens off duty, and a 5 out of 5 breed returns from them sharper, not rustier.
For completeness, the record's remaining lines: the record's color line for the Icelandic Sheepdog reads: Standard colors: tan, black, chocolate-brown or gray, all with white markings. Its coat is recorded as Thick, double, and its apartment rating is Not ideal. Its health watch list, Hip dysplasia, Eye conditions and A hardy breed overall, intersects with training more than owners expect: exercises, positions and session lengths all get adapted around those conditions, especially after senior status arrives around age 10 years. A training plan that reads the whole record, not just the trainability line, is the one still working in the dog's tenth year.
Read the record as a trainer does. Trainability 5 out of 5; energy 5 of 5; barking 4 of 5; grooming 3 of 5; shedding 4 of 5. Height 16 to 18 inches and weight 20 to 30 lb decide the physical side of the work, from jump heights to how much dog is pulling on the other end of a loose lead lesson. Senior age arrives around 10 years years, and training does not retire when it does: older Icelandic Sheepdogs keep learning, more slowly and with joints in mind, for the whole of their 12 to 14 year span. Budget the treats, schedule the 60 to 120 minutes, and the record's other numbers take care of themselves.
Yes, with the honest caveat that off leash reliability is earned in stages and never assumed. The Icelandic Sheepdog's own numbers frame it: trainability 5 out of 5 alongside energy 5 out of 5 is a specific combination, and it produces a specific kind of student rather than a generic one. Build recall in fenced spaces, then on a long line, then in low distraction areas, paying every return like it matters, because to a Herding breed with very high energy, the environment is always bidding against you. Some individuals in some breeds never earn total freedom near livestock or roads, and an Icelandic Sheepdog is no exception; a long line is a respectable permanent answer where the risk says so.
The day the puppy comes home. For the Icelandic Sheepdog specifically, a Herding dog with very high energy and 60 to 120 minutes of daily exercise, that plays out in short daily lessons rather than in occasional long drills. Young Icelandic Sheepdogs are learning in every waking hour whether anyone is teaching or not, so the only choice is whether the lessons are yours. Start with name recognition, recall to a whistle or cue, toilet routine, crate comfort and gentle handling, all paid in food and play. Formal cue lists can wait a few weeks; the habits cannot. A breed rated 5 out of 5 keeps what it learns early, in both directions, for a 12 to 14 year life.
The basics, sit, down, stay, recall foundations and loose lead walking, take most Icelandic Sheepdog owners a few weeks of short daily sessions, because the breed's trainability is rated 5 out of 5. In the Icelandic Sheepdog's case the setting matters as much as the method: bark level 4 out of 5, shedding 4 out of 5, and a home routine built around a dog of 20 to 30 pounds shape what practice actually looks like. A fully reliable adult dog, calm in public and steady around distractions, is a first year project in any breed. The Icelandic Sheepdog's timeline bends with its energy, 5 of 5: exercised dogs learn in the morning what tired evenings undo, so schedule sessions after exercise, not instead of it.
Last updated: November 10, 2026