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LUNDEHUND |
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This quaint dog
is believed by some to have survived the Ice Age by feeding on sea birds.
Its purity was assured by the isolation of Maastad and other Arctic islands.
As early as 1591, Schonnebol told of these dogs in his travels.
The puffin (lunde)
is a brightly colored bird which waddles on land, but fights fiercely
to protect its young. Puffins breed in large colonies, with nests built
deep in the rocky crevices on coastal islands in the Arctic seas. Nest
rob-bing is only for the
very brave or foolhardy person, as the birds fight desperately to protect
themselves with their vicious beaks and claws. Nevertheless, the young
birds were sought to be salted, preserved and eaten during Lent. It is
said they tasted enough like fish to satisfy even pious consciences. The
puffin down and feathers were also valued.
When the fledglings
were about 40 days old, the danger of the hunt was eased as the adults
abandoned their young to the ways of the world. All that was left to
battle was the folding, pleating and mutilating of oneself into the
crevices. No human was up to that. Enter the Lundehund—physically a
breed nonpareil—ideally suited to fit the job requirements.
The Puffin
Dog is a typical Nordic dog, but with several modifications to fit his
specialized job. His upright ears are placed so high and forward that,
upon pricking them, they afford the added protection of almost closing
to the front. This creates a shield from the constantly drip-ping
water and dust in the caves. He is able to mold his body to fit in narrow
passages because of the extraordinary range of motion in his joints.
The head can be bent backwards, almost touching its back, and the forelegs
can turn to the side at 90-degree angles.
The Lundehund
certainly has the most interesting feet in dogdom. Small-bodied for
agility among the rocks, the breed has been selected for polydactylism
(supernumerary toes), so that it has at least two large functional
dewclaws and up to eight plantar cushions per foot. The extra toes
aid in the clamber up the rocks after the puffin. The standard states
that there must be at least six toes on each foot and, of those, at
least five toes on the forefoot and four on the hind foot should support
the dog. On the front paw, five of those toes are triple-jointed,
similar to our fingers, and one toe is double-jointed. Four toes on
the rear foot have three joints, and one is split into two digits,
each with two joints, all giving the dog incredible grasping abilities,
even on the rocky climbs. These characteristics must be on the judging
table during competition. Parson
Petter Dass (1647-1708) wrote of the puffin hunt in a poem, Nordlandstrompet:
"A puffin
hatches an only egg,
it is hidden in the scree as inside a wall in the innermost caves of the rocks. A nest is built so near the other, that one bites the other's wing and feather in the crevices, where they hide. But the farmers who have a plan know well to intrude upon those puffins with loot, and that by trained dogs, which by formation are supple and small, so they can creep into the narrowest nook and pull out live puffins. When the dog snatches that puffin by the neck, which lies in front, whose life is for sale, it begins straightway to set out. At once the puffin, which sat behind grasps the foremost by the tail and goes together,
whereas one is left behind.
By this it happens that a single dog drags out at once from the darkest ground twelve, thirteen—even fourteen and more, and supplies its awaiting master with so much booty, as he can handle, whereby his profit may flourish." |
