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12-11-2020
Column: Living with Dogs - THE NORWEGIAN LUNDEHUND
Column: Living with Dogs - THE NORWEGIAN LUNDEHUND
They are around 35cm tall and weigh 6 to 9kg and were used for retrieving puffins (sometime known as sea parrots) from steep vertical cliffs. These birds were an important source of food for the farmers who lived there.
The Lundehund has unique characteristics not found in other dog breeds; they have six toes on each paw, with two toes pointing inwards like a human thumb.
The extra toe provides traction and grip when navigating steep and slippery rocks. They can bend or flex their head towards their back, which when combined with their extremely flexible shoulder joint, enables them to turn around in a tight spot such as a rock crevice. Muscles of the dog’s ears can bend and cover the ear canal protecting it from sea spray and dirt.
The breed existed early in the second millennium and most households had two to 12 dogs; individually they were considered more valuable than a cow.
When farmers started using nets to catch the puffins the dogs became less popular and the government imposed high taxes on owning a

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