Page 276 - Showsight February 2013

Meet the NorwegiaN LuNdehuNd
By Sharon Pederson
M eet the Norwegian
Lundehund, AKC’s
latest entry into
the Non-Sporting
Group (January 1,
2011). With a large
number of unique physical anomolies that
developed due to the extreme environment
in which they lived and worked, it can be
a challenge to understand this breed. The
heading in so many breed books, “Form
Follows Function”, is no better illustrated
than in the Lundehund.
When observing a Lundehund coming
toward you, their rotary gait tends to sur-
prise the observer. It only makes sense if you
clearly understand the breed is built for ver-
tical travel, not horizontal. The homeland
for the Lundehund is an archipelago north
of the Arctic Circle, the Lofotens. The flex-
ibility required to navigate the steep cliffs
results in an elastic shoulder, allowing the
dog to spread its legs to keep its balance
while crossing the treacherous scree and up
the cliff in search of puffins, a small marine
bird that provided food for the native farm-
ers and the comfort and warmth of down
for the rest of Europe.
The Lundehund has many unique attri-
butes but the one singular trait that sets the
breed apart from all other dogs, is the fact
that Lundehunds have six toes on each foot.
Add too, that the fifth digit on the front
foot acts as an opposable thumb and should
be appropriately long so that it can provide
support when the dog stands. Judges should
inspect each foot individually to confirm
the number of toes and note the correspond-
ing pads. The central pad on the back foot
has elongated over time (in an evolutionary
fashion) so that it acts as a brake when the
Lundehund is going down the cliffs. There
are two ways in which to inspect the feet
and toes. One may do so by picking up the
individual feet for inspection or ask the
handler to show them the dog’s feet. In the
first scenario, the judge inspects each foot
while going around the dog, taking care
to life each foot off the ground making the
pads visible. Under the second scenario,
the handler would pick the dog up so that
the judge can easily approach the dog and
quickly go over the feet. Being well- versed
on the Lundehund’s feet is critical for any
judge and particularly at Specialties where
they include a Special Attraction of BEST
FEET. Special consideration/reverence is
given to the recipient of this award because
of the importance of the feet in the breed.
The height range for a Lundehund is
12"-14" for bitches and 13"-15" for dogs
though it should be noted that these are
guidelines; there are no disqualifications in
the AKC standard of the Norwegian Lun-
dehund. Weight should be in proportion
to the dog’s height, bearing in mind that
what is being sought is an agile dog that is
capable of squeezing itself into the entries
of puffin caves and be able to turn itself
around in order to exit with at least one
puffin in its mouth.
If you can imagine what it would be
like to watch Lundehunds climbing and
digging to get to the puffins you should
have no problem imagining them doing
the same thing in your kitchen cupboard,
but this time looking for a hidden treasure
(in this case I allowed one of mine to enter
a corner cabinet where she promptly depos-
ited her bone then came back to claim it a
day later). Living with a Lundehund is a
wonderful and charming experience given
you approach life with a sense of humor and
forgiveness. Lundehunds are terribly clever
and class A problem solvers. It is extremely
difficult to outwit a Lundehund so it’s sug-
gested that you try only when absolutely
necessary lest the Lundie begin to lose
their trust in you. Trust is a big issue and
difficult to regain if lost. The most impor-
tant thing to a Lundehund, after food, is
closeness with its people, both literally and
figuratively. Food is mentioned because of
the strong drive for survival and the role
food plays. In the frozen north of Norway,
the Lundehund would eat whatever pre-
sented itself. Today a high protein and low
fat diet is what is recommended, preferably
grain-free, then the dog will follow that
with whatever presents itself (dessert?). It
is not uncommon to find your Lundehund
grazing on blackberries straight off the vine
or taking the leaves from something in a
flower bed and enjoying a nice “salad” or
scrambling to get the accidentally dropped
piece of cheese.
In addition to the high protein/low fat
diet, veterinarians recommend testing the
albumen and total protein levels with some
frequency, perhaps quarterly. There is a pre-
disposition to suffer from a protein-losing
enteropathy which may be more responsive
to treatment if you catch it early on in its
development. There is some belief that all
Lundehunds are susceptible to the protein
losing enteropathy because just fifty years
ago the world’s population was a mere six
dogs. Found in the Lofoten Islands, five of
these original six were siblings, making for
a very tight gene pool.
“...the one singular trait that sets the breed apart from all other dogs, is the fact that
LuNdehuNds have six toes oN each foot.”
272 • ShowSight Magazine, February 2013