Norwegian Lundehund

This small, rectangular Spitz breed seems average at first glance. They have a wedge-shaped head with medium-sized, triangular ears and a level back with a tail that hangs at a slight curve when it’s at rest. But, there’s a lot more to the Norwegian Lundehund than initially meets the eye.

The Norwegian Lundehund has a durable and dense outer coat with a softer undercoat. Their colorings are typically fallow to reddish-brown or tan, with black hair tips and white markings, or white with red markings. As they mature, they develop more black hair tips.

Though the Norwegian Lundehund resembles a typical Spitz, they have quite a few unique physical traits that helped them scale Norwegian cliffs.

The first unique characteristic of the Norwegian Lundehund is that they have a minimum of six toes on each foot, as well as elongated rear footpads. Their neck is also what’s referred to as “elastic,” which means that their head can bend completely backward to touch their spine.

Their shoulders are also incredibly flexible and allow their front legs to extend flat to the side (necessarily and helpful when scaling cliffs), and their ears can close and fold forward or backward to protect from dirt.

Though their exact beginnings are unclear, Norwegian Lundehunds originated on an archipelago north of the Arctic Circle. These dogs played a key role in Norway's northern coastal economy. They had physical adaptations—such as six toes and an "elastic" neck—that helped them hunt puffins among the steep cliffs in the area. For this reason, Norwegian Lundehunds were quite valuable, and people usually kept many of them.

But when the Norwegian government created taxes on the dogs and puffins became endangered, that all changed. Fortunately, the communities of Værøy and Lovunden offered seclusion and protection that saved the breed from extinction. A woman named Eleanor Christie then started building back the Norwegian Lundehund's numbers. And eventually, a Swedish geneticist created a strict breeding plan, which the Norsk Lundehund Klubb Breeding Council adopted. Norweigian breeders still follow his guidelines this day.