Finnish Lapphund

The Finnish Lapphund is a hardy, easy-going, medium-sized dog of spitz type, traditionally used to herd reindeer. It is one of the most popular breeds in Finland but is not numerous outside the Nordic countries.

History

The breed began as the reindeer-herding dog of the Sami, the indigenous people of the far north of Finland, Sweden, Norway and Russia. The Sami have used herding dogs for centuries. The Finnish Lapphund is closest to their long-haired dogs, which were often favored for winter herding.

Norwegians and Swedes were among the first to think of standardising the dogs of Lapland, before World War II. After the war a distemper outbreak put those dogs at serious risk. In Finland the first standard was set in 1945 for a short-haired dog called the Lappish Herder, and another followed in the 1950s. When the Finnish kennel associations merged in the 1960s the dogs were reassessed and split into two breeds: the shorter-coated Lapponian Herder, defined in 1966, and the longer-coated Finnish Lapphund, defined in 1967.

Around then, snowmobiles changed Sami herding, and preference shifted toward the shorter-haired dog. The Lapphund stayed popular as a companion; in 2014 it ranked sixth in Finland.

The first American litter was born in 1988. The United Kennel Club recognised the breed in 1994, and the American Kennel Club gave it full recognition in the Herding Group on June 30, 2011. It reached the United Kingdom in 1989 and Australia and Canada in 1995.

Appearance

The Finnish Lapphund is strongly built, with pricked, very mobile ears. Males stand 46 to 52 cm at the withers and females 41 to 47 cm, though the standard values type above size. Weight ranges from 15 to 24 kg; a typical 49 cm male weighs 17 to 19 kg.

The double coat is profuse, with a short, fluffy undercoat and a longer topcoat. It resists water and extreme cold, and on most males it forms a mane around the head and neck. The tail is covered in long, thick hair and curves over the back, though it may hang when the dog stands still.

Any color is allowed so long as one is dominant. Black with tan legs and face is among the most common; cream, red, brown, sable and wolf-sable also occur. Many dogs have a ring of lighter hair around the eyes that looks like spectacles.

Temperament

The Lapphund is an easy-going dog. It takes part in agility, obedience, rally, carting, mushing, flyball, tracking and herding events, and dogs that show herding instinct can be trained for herding trials.

Care and health

Despite its thickness, the coat needs only modest care: brushing once a week, and daily during shedding seasons.

Generalised progressive retinal atrophy, an inherited eye disease that can cause blindness, occurs in the breed, appearing between one and eight years of age. A genetic test exists for one form, and breeders increasingly test before mating. In 2001, 2.5 percent of Finnish dogs were affected. Cataracts affect 3.4 percent of Finnish dogs but are rare in the UK and the United States. Other conditions noted are epilepsy, hypothyroidism, degenerative myelopathy and Pompe disease.

Facts on this page were checked against Wikipedia and may have changed since.