Norwegian Lundehund

Lively and devoted at home, often reserved with strangers.
A Norwegian Lundehund
Photo: Andrva
Adult male
6.8–8.2 kg
15–18 lb
Adult female
5.4–6.8 kg
12–15 lb
Lifespan
12–15 yrs
Class · Companion
also Sport

What it's like

In temperament the Lundehund is alert, lively and attached to its household, but often reserved with strangers and independent in outlook. It is a quick, agile climber and remains a rare breed outside Norway.

Day to day
Activity
A good daily walk and play
Intelligence
Learns readily, likes games
Handler demand
Needs an experienced owner
With people
Affection
Affectionate on its own terms
Loyalty
Sticks close to its people
Independence
Decides for itself
Around the home
Sensitivity
Needs a calm, predictable home
Voice
Barks to alert, then settles
Prey drive
Chases; needs managing
Breed explains only about 9% of how individual dogs differ in behaviour1. Meet the dog. A good breeder breeds for temperament as well as health, and matches each puppy's personality to the right home2,3.
Is a Norwegian Lundehund right for you?
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Living with one

It has a double coat, an outer coat over an undercoat. Most of the shedding comes when the seasons change. Plan on a brush once a week, plus daily brushing through the seasonal moult. It needs plenty of exercise compared with other breeds.

Size and growth

A Norwegian Lundehund is a small dog, about the weight of a grown Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Males end up clearly heavier than females.

It is a small, rectangular spitz with a wedge-shaped head, upright triangular ears and a tail carried in a loose curl over the back or hanging low. The coat is dense and rough over a soft undercoat. It is usually fallow to reddish-brown with black-tipped hairs and white markings. Its joints allow unusual movements: it can tip its head back until the crown nearly touches its spine and stretch its forelegs out flat to the sides. Its ears can fold shut, which is often said to keep out water and dirt.

Puppy growth

Reference curve · community data appears as owners log
By about 3 months, a male Norwegian Lundehund puppy is already as heavy as a grown Chihuahua. They grow fastest between 3 and 4 months old.
Fully grown
10 mo
Both sexes, at 99% of adult weight7
Male
Female
Shaded: expected range
02.557.5102m4m6m9m12m18m
02.557.5102m3m4m6m9m12m18m
Age
Male
Female
2 months
2.0–2.5 kg 4.4–5.5 lb
1.9–2.4 kg 4.2–5.3 lb
3 months
2.7–3.3 kg 6.0–7.3 lb
2.3–2.9 kg 5.1–6.4 lb
4 months
3.7–4.5 kg 8.2–9.9 lb
3.0–3.7 kg 6.6–8.2 lb
5 months
4.5–5.4 kg 9.9–11.9 lb
3.4–4.3 kg 7.5–9.5 lb
6 months
5.1–6.1 kg 11.2–13.4 lb
3.8–4.8 kg 8.4–10.6 lb
7 months
5.5–6.6 kg 12.1–14.6 lb
4.1–5.1 kg 9.0–11.2 lb
8 months
5.8–7.0 kg 12.8–15.4 lb
4.3–5.4 kg 9.5–11.9 lb
9 months
6.0–7.2 kg 13.2–15.9 lb
4.4–5.6 kg 9.7–12.3 lb
10 months
6.2–7.5 kg 13.7–16.5 lb
4.6–5.8 kg 10.1–12.8 lb
11 months
6.3–7.6 kg 13.9–16.8 lb
4.7–5.9 kg 10.4–13.0 lb
12 months
6.4–7.7 kg 14.1–17.0 lb
4.8–6.1 kg 10.6–13.4 lb
15 months
6.6–8.0 kg 14.6–17.6 lb
5.1–6.4 kg 11.2–14.1 lb
18 months
6.8–8.2 kg 15–18 lb
5.3–6.6 kg 11.7–14.6 lb

Lifespan

No vet study has measured how long Norwegian Lundehunds live yet. The 12–15 years shown is a general figure without a published source.

Where it comes from

The Norwegian Lundehund was bred for centuries on the remote island of Værøy to climb sea cliffs and pull puffins from their nesting crevices, a winter food for the islanders. Extra toes, flexible neck and shoulder joints and closable ears seem to have suited that work. The breed passed through severe bottlenecks in the 1940s and 1960s, and by 2017 it was being outcrossed to three other Nordic spitz breeds8,9.

The Norwegian Lundehund lost its purpose when islanders began catching puffins with nets, and later when puffin hunting was restricted. With no work left for it, the dog dwindled until it survived mainly around the small settlement of Måstad on Værøy. Norwegian enthusiasts began an organised breeding effort in the twentieth century, and today's dogs descend from the few that remained after distemper outbreaks.

Breed standard

The Norwegian Lundehund is judged against standard no. 265, in group 5, Spitz and primitive types4.

Questions people ask

General guidance for dogs rather than a measured Norwegian Lundehund figure: most females have a first season somewhere between six and fifteen months, and cycles then settle to roughly every 180 days. Smaller breeds tend to start earlier and larger ones later, so a small breed is most likely at the early end.

Compare with related

Alaskan Klee Kai
Non-sporting · Small
Japanese Spitz
Spitz & primitive · Small
Volpino Italiano
Spitz & primitive · Small
Shiba Inu
Spitz & primitive · Small
Or compare the Norwegian Lundehund with any breed you choose
Track your own Norwegian Lundehund
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Sources

Uncited on this page: Lifespan — no reviewed source yet, so it is a general reference figure rather than a published one.
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Parts of this page were written by AI ·