Norwegian Lundehund Breed description: Character & Co

The Norwegian Lundehund is a very rare dog from the north of Norway that specializes in bird hunting.

The origin of the Norwegian Lundehund

"Lund" is the word for puffins on the northern Norwegian islands of Værøy and Røst. These breed in large colonies on these two and other offshore uninhabited islands.

It is known because the dog looks like a fox. However, the breed is extremely rare and serves as a hunting and family dog.

The inhabitants of these barren areas have depended on the puffin for meat for centuries. The norwegian Lundehund is a highly specialized hunter, able to retrieve birds from very steep and rugged cliffs. To get there, it had to squeeze through narrow crevices or caves. Accounts tell of patient Lundehunds retrieving one bird after another for their masters. During the 19th century, the inhabitants of Værøy and Røst preferred to hunt the birds themselves with nets. The Lundehund occasionally ran wild.

An enthusiast of the breed named Eleonora Christi had established a small breeding on the mainland. When the last of Værøy's dogs died of distemper in 1940, a new breeding line was started with four of her animals. Today, it is estimated that there are about 1300 Lundehunde in Norway. Another spelling for the name of this breed is Norwegian Lundehund.

The FCI lists this very unusual breed under Standard 265, Group 5 and Section 2: Nordic Hunting Dogs.

1. from the Lofoten Islands Værøy and Røst
2. is specialized in hunting puffins
3. has several anatomical peculiarities
4. very rare dog