The Swedish Lapphund () is a

breed of dog A dog breed is a particular type of dog that was purposefully bred by humans to perform specific tasks, such as herding, hunting, and guarding. Dogs are the most variable mammal on Earth, with artificial selection producing upward of 360 globall ...

of the

Spitz A spitz (; , in reference to the pointed muzzle) is a Dog type, type of domestic dog consisting of between 50 and 70 breeds depending on classification. There is no precise definition of 'spitz' but typically most spitz breeds have pricked ears ...

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * ...

from

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, one of three ''Lapphund'' breeds developed from a type of dog used by the

Sami people Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...

for herding and guarding their reindeer. The expression "the black beauty of Norrland" is very often attributed to the Swedish lapphund, which is most likely one of Sweden's oldest breeds.

Lineage

The breed falls under the

mitochondrial DNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA and mDNA) is the DNA located in the mitochondrion, mitochondria organelles in a eukaryotic cell that converts chemical energy from food into adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA is a small portion of the D ...

sub-

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

referred to as d1 that is only found in northern Scandinavia. It is the result of a female wolf-male dog hybridization that occurred post-domestication. Subclade d1 originated "at most 480–3,000 years ago" and is found in all

Sami Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ne ...

-related breeds:

Finnish Lapphund The Finnish Lapphund (or Finnish Lapponian Dog) ( ) is a hardy, easy going, medium-size dog breed, breed of Spitz type. Traditionally it has been used for herding reindeer. Although it is one of the most popular dog breeds in its native count ...

, Swedish Lapphund,

Lapponian Herder The Lapponian Herder ( Finnish: ''Lapinporokoira'' ) or Lapp Reindeer Dog or Lapsk Vallhund is a breed of dog from Finland, one of three Lapphund breeds developed from a type of dog used by the Sami people for herding and guarding their reindee ...

, Jamthund,

Norwegian Elkhound The Norwegian Elkhound is one of the Northern Spitz-type breeds of dog and is the National Dog of Norway. The Elkhound has served as a hunter, guardian, herder, and defender. It is known for its courage in tracking and hunting elk an ...

and

Hällefors Elkhound Hällefors Elkhound () is a Swedish dog breed. Appearance The Hällefors Elkhound is a medium-sized, rectangular Spitz with either a sickle or curly tail. Thick, harsh, and dense coat should always be yellow, ranging from fawn to reddish. T ...

. The maternal wolf sequence that contributed to these breeds has not been matched across Eurasia and its branch on the

phylogenetic tree A phylogenetic tree or phylogeny is a graphical representation which shows the evolutionary history between a set of species or taxa during a specific time.Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA. In ...

is rooted in the same sequence as the 33,000 year-old Altai dog (not a direct ancestor).

Description

Like all spitz dogs in general, the Swedish lapphund demands a stable upbringing and both regular mental and physical stimulation to perform at its best. As a working dog they show their versatility in a number of different fields. Many compete with success in such widely different disciplines as

obedience Obedience, in human behavior, is a form of "social influence in which a person yields to explicit instructions or orders from an authority figure". Obedience is generally distinguished from compliance, which some authors define as behavior infl ...

dog agility Dog agility is a dog sport in which a handler directs a dog through an obstacle course in a race for both time and accuracy. Dogs run off leash with no food or toys as incentives, and the handler can touch neither dog nor obstacles. The handle ...

trials, working contest, freestyle/heelwork to music,

Rally obedience Rally obedience (also known as Rally or Rally-O) is a dog sport based on obedience. It was originally devised by Charles L. "Bud" Kramer from the obedience practice of "doodling"—doing a variety of interesting warmup and freestyle exercises. Th ...

, and blood tracking. The Swedish Lapphund can also participate in herding events.

Herding Herding is the act of bringing individual animals together into a group (herd), maintaining the group, and moving the group from place to place—or any combination of those. Herding can refer either to the process of animals forming herds in ...

instincts and trainability can be measured at noncompetitive herding tests. Lapphunds exhibiting basic herding instincts can be trained to compete in herding trials.

References

{{Authority control FCI breeds Spitz breeds Herding dogs Dog breeds originating in Sweden Rare dog breeds

Lineage

Description

See also

References