The Norwegian Lundehund or Norsk Lundehund is a small Spitz-type breed originating from Røst and Værøy municipalities in the north of Norway. The name of the dog literally translates as Norwegian Puffin Dog since the word “Lunde” means Puffin (this dog is primarily used to hunt these birds and collect their eggs), and “Hund” stands for dog or hound in Norwegian. Nobody knows exactly how much this breed is actually old, but scientists had estimated, based on the fossil remains of the Varranger dog from northern Lapland, who had the identical jaws, that it might be somewhere around 5.000 years. This fact puts Lundehund into the group of oldest primitive dogs in the world. However, the first mention of the breed, the way it looks like today, is dating back to the late 16th century. Today, this dog belongs to the Nordic Hunting Dogs group in the class of primitive dog breeds. Continue Reading →