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In 1960, Egil Lorentzen
brought a pair of dogs to the Kamloops area, British Columbia from the
island of Senja, Norway. These dogs. both steel grey in colour, were
the male, Denny and the female, Tossy. For a long
time it was thought that these dogs were Lundehunds. Frank Mostad,
also a resident of British Columbia, whose family traces its roots
back to Mostad on the island of Vaeroy, looked into the history of
Lorentzen's dogs and found that the Norsk Kennel Klub had no record of
them. Senja is a large island in the Lofoten chain about 175 miles to
the northeast of Vaeroy. Vaeroy is a small island and is the
southernmost of the chain except for
Röst. The dogs in question could have been Senjahunds. From descriptions in the older literature they have no
close resemblance to the Lundehund. More recent dog books do not
mention the Senjahund.
This brings us to the
first purebred Lundehunds to come to Canada. Arnold Ovesen, of
Vancouver, B.C. imported Linesviken's Ask-Viking, N21592/86
(male) and Linesviken's Embla-Saga, N21600/86 in 1987. The
breed was not recognized by the Canadian Kennel Club at the time so he
registered them with the Norwegian Lundehund Club of America, Inc.
They were Numbers LM000031 and LF000032 respectively.
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Linesviken's Ask-Viking |
Linesviken's Embla-Saga |
The next Lundehunds were
acquired in 1990 by Frances Wagner who had bred Shetland Sheepdogs
under the Thicketwood prefix for 20 years. These dogs came to Nova
Scotia. First was a female, Heide Lunde's Mira Fern, bred by
Hedy Harrison of Lancaster, California. "Snowflake" came in March and
was followed in June by "Boe" (Ovesen's Thicketwood Bodi ),
whose parents were Arnold Ovesen's "Ask" and "Embla." Both were
registered with NLCA, Inc.
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Heide Lunde's Mira Fern and Ovesen's Thicketwood Bodi |
Shortly thereafter, the
Canadian Kennel Club instituted a Miscellaneous Class for breeds that,
in future, would be considered for full recognition. The Norwegian
Lundehund was one of the breeds on the list. Miscellaneous Class
certification allowed for participation in Obedience Trials but not in
Conformation competition although a dog could be entered For
Exhibition Only. Application was made later for full recognition of
the breed, a goal that was accomplished as of October 28, 1993. At
that time, application could be made on the basis of ownership of only
one or two dogs, plus the payment of an "Administration Fee" of $100.
The process for getting a breed recognized is more complicated
nowadays but still does not need numbers of dogs anywhere near what
AKC requires.
"Boe" had
succumbed to the
Lundehund Syndrome in February 1992. A litter had been born to
"Snowflake," sired by "Boe," in December 1991, prior to recognition
of the breed. However, CKC registered him posthumously so that the
litter could be registered. Lundehunds were on their way in Canada.
Five more litters have been born at Thicketwood since then, and at
least one other litter elsewhere in Canada. Arnold Ovesen's pair had
several litters, but "Boe" was the only one to have CKC registration.
The first two
Canadian champions, finished in 1997 and 1998 respectively, were
Nondas Thicketwood Bjarni and Trillium Thicketwood Gyda
in Nova Scotia, followed in 2001 by Ekko Kaya av Asen and
Asvald's Ekko of Bandit, both owned by
the Dobells of Kamloops,
British Columbia. Two more, Ch. Norwegian Ginger Snap and Ch.
Happyvale Pallyn Per Lofoten, have since been finished in British
Columbia. The current number of CKC-registered Lundehunds is
estimated to be between 12 and 15. There is one known owner in
Quebec, at least one other in British Columbia and an owner of a
neutered male in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
In February 2004 a
problem came to light arising from the NLCA, Inc. registration
records having been handed over to the Foundation Stock Service of
the American Kennel Club (AKC/FSS), a database service. This
service is for breeds not recognized by AKC and, because of this,
CKC does not recognize FSS papers. There had been no problem
obtaining CKC papers when registration was administered by NLCA,
Inc. Now that the Club's registry is up and running again (late
2004), Canadians can once again get CKC registrations for dogs
imported from the United States provided they are registered with
NLCA, Inc.
Photo Credits:
Linesviken's
Ask-Viking and Linesviken's Embla-Saga ---Frank Mostad,
1993
Heide Lunde's Mira
Fern and Ovesen's Thicketwood Bodi---Frances Wagner,
1990
© 2004 NLCA, Inc.
Rev. 7/05
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