Swedish Lapphund

About the Swedish Lapphund

The Swedish Lapphund is among Sweden's oldest breeds, used by the Sami to herd and guard reindeer across Lapland long before anyone wrote a standard for it, and archaeological finds put dogs of the type in Scandinavia thousands of years ago. It herds by voice and is a good deal more talkative than most spitz breeds.

Dogs stand 45 to 48 cm, with prick ears, a curled tail and a profuse standing double coat in solid black or bear-brown, sometimes with small white marks. The breed is willing, sensitive to its handler and considerably more biddable than its northern appearance suggests. A stud should be sound, sociable and typical in coat, which ought to stand off the body rather than lie flat.

Glycogen storage disease type II, sometimes called Pompe disease, was first identified in this breed and has a DNA test that a stud owner should have used. Ask also for hip scores under the BVA/KC scheme and for a current eye certificate, since progressive retinal atrophy and hereditary cataract are the eye concerns reported. Numbers in Britain are very small, so ask about the coefficient of inbreeding.

Health & breeding

We check every hip, elbow, eye and DNA result you give us against the Royal Kennel Club’s public records by hand, and we record who checked it and when. The Royal Kennel Club’s public records may not include all the screening a dog has had, so a dog with no Royal Kennel Club record showing is not necessarily untested.