The story and work of ISIC

 

ISIC is an abbreviation for the Icelandic Sheepdog International Cooperation.

 

Member nations are: Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, France and USA.

ISIC‘s main purpose is to help and encourage international cooperation in all matters that will benefit, preserve and protect the Icelandic Sheepdog.

Short history:

In 1994, after many years of work, the Icelandic Kennel Club, HRFÍ, and the Icelandic Breed Club, DÍF succeeded in convincing the Icelandic Parliament, Alþingi, that it was the nation´s responsibility to preserve the Icelandic Sheepdog as an inherent part of Icelandic culture.

Alþingi, the Icelandic Parliament, gave the Minister of Agriculture the mission of forming a committee in Iceland with the purpose of overlooking the future and preservation of the Icelandic Sheepdog as a national breed.

The HRFÍ chairman at that time, Guðrún R. Guðjohnsen, was on the committee. When the majority of the committee members thought they were ready for a final proposal the HRFÍ board did not agree. According to them, a lot of basic information necessary was lacking.

HRFÍ and DÍF looked for support abroad, mainly to Sweden, and with the help of the Swedish Breed Club, Islandhunden Sverige, the first international breed club support was given.  In January 1996, through a common document to the Nordic Kennel Union, signed by the breed clubs and representatives from Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Holland and Finland.

This was the real start of official international cooperation between responsible breed clubs and breed representatives and resulted in international seminars in Sweden 1996, Iceland 1997, the Netherlands 1998, Denmark 1999, Norway 2000, Finland 2001, Sweden 2002, Germany 2003, Denmark 2004, Denmark 2005, Denmark 2006, Denmark 2007, Denmark 2008, Iceland 2009, Finland 2010, the Netherlands 2011, Norway 2012, Denmark 2013, Sweden 2014, Iceland 2015, Sweden 2016, USA 2017, Denmark 2018, Iceland 2019, and through Skype 2020 due to Covid 19.

At the seminar in 1996, ISIC was formed and three people appointed for the executive committee: Guðrún R. Guðjohnsen (chairman), Hans-Åke Sperne (secretary) and Árni Eymundsson (treasurer).

In 2007 Árni Eymundsson left the committee and Wilfred Olsen was appointed in his place. In 2013 Hans-Åke Sperne left the committee and Katariina Jarkko was appointed in his place. In 2014 Guðrún R. Guðjohnsen and Wilfred Olsen left the committee, Ingbritt Sannel and Svend Brandt Jensen were appointed in their place. In 2015 it was decided, after the retirement of Guðrún R Guðjohnsen, that there should always be a representative on the ISIC executive committee from Iceland, the dog´s homeland, Guðríður Þ Valgeirsdóttir was appointed in that role.  In 2020 Katariina Jarkko left the committee and Helga Andrésdóttir was appointed in her place.

The current members of the ISIC executive committee are: Svend Brandt Jensen (in 2012), Ingbritt Sannel (in 2014) Guðríður Þ Valgeirsdóttir (in 2015) and Helga Andrésdóttir (in 2020).