Aug 15 • Breed of the Week
Norwegian Lundehund
This week we are going to talk about one of the rarest, but apparently least popular on the AKC list of official breeds, the Norwegian Lundehund. This Norway native is also considered one the oldest and most primitive of the dog breeds in the world. There are various statements on how old the Norwegian Lundehund is as one source says there is archaeological evidence of skeletal remains that go back to the Viking Age and a lineage that goes back thousands. Another source states that the furthest back is mentions of a dog with such skill being written down as far back as the 1400s or the year 1591. Regardless of which one is correct it is clear that this dog has been around for a while.
These dogs have quite the fun and unique job which caused them to evolve to have some fun and unique physical features. The Norwegian Lundehund can literally be translated to “Puffin Dog” as their job was to hunt puffins in Norway all along the steep cliffs. In order to adapt well to their job they were selectively bred to have 6 functioning toes on EACH paw, be able to have their legs fan out at 90º like an airplane, fold their ears shut forward or backward to protect against water and debris and be able to flex their head back onto their spine for quick about face maneuvers in small caves.
They not only were responsible for finding and retrieving puffins but also they were watchdogs and helped herd small livestock where their unique capable stability comes into play again on the rocky terrain. Much like with other types of jobs the Norwegian Lundehund became obsolete once nets and other methods were introduced plus the Norwegian authorities had a dog tax which made having a dog made life more expensive and families often had multiple Norwegian Lundehund at this time.
In the 1960s the Norwegian Lundehund had barely survived a wave of distemper only for another wave of distemper to come through and almost wipe out the breed again. This left the Norwegian Lundehund with 6 that were purebred where only 4 were used to repopulate the breed and those 4 were related. This “genetic bottleneck” as it is called in the sources was and is a concern for Norwegian Lundehund enthusiasts. This level of inbreeding has caused some health issues as one might imagine and this includes low fertility and something called intestinal lymphangiectasia which basically is a digestive disorder that does not allow your body to absorb the nutrients one needs from food. Essentially a dog with this disorder can starve to death no matter how much they eat.
Not all hope is lost though on both the genetic front and the occupation front.
Genetically, the Norwegian Kennel Club along with some other groups, are going to cross breed the Norwegian Lundehund males to females from the Norwegian Buhund, Icelandic Sheepdog and the Norrbottenspets and offspring will be bred back to Lundehunds until they look like themselves again but healthier.
Occupationally, the Norwegian Lundehund are used at airports to help find bird nests and remove their eggs in order to minimize bird collisions with aircrafts as that was apparently becoming an issue.
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Norwegian Lundehund
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