In Canada, the first pair of Lundehunds arrived in 1960, but there are only a small handful of the dogs there now.

The first American Lundehund (Haldis) was imported by Paul Ross in 1987.  Paul, a Britisher living in the U.S., had been trying to acquire a Puffin Dog for quite some time, but had not gotten anywhere with the Norwegian Club.  By a lucky accident, he contacted Julia McGrew.  She was a retired college professor who had taught at Vassar, currently living in Denmark, who raised Lundehunds.  She taught Paul much about the breed and sent breed authorities from Scandinavia to work with him.  As a direct result of their correspondence, the first Puffin Dog entered America and the Ross home.  Later, Christen Lang of Norway and Inger Kristiansen of Denmark personally delivered the next imports to this country:  Julia, Brynjar and Gustau.  Harvey and Judy Sanderson read about the dogs in a Dog World article published in September 1987.  They contacted Paul and visited him in the spring of 1988.  In June of 1988, they obtained their first dog: Urd-Sara.  In June 1988, they and Diane Ammerman formed the Norwegian Lundehund Club of America. Harvey and Judy traveled to Norway that September to meet with the Norway Club and received the Sanction of approval for the NLCA, Inc.  On the same visit, they received two more dogs: Aina and Pluto.

In the spring of 1989, the first Lundehund National Specialty was held.  The judges were visiting Norwegian Lundehund breeders:  Sophie Schonheyder, president of the Norway Lundehund Club judged the Sweepstakes, and Christen Lang was the judge of the regular classes.  Harvey tells me that Christen knew Lundehunds so well he could recite all pedigrees of the dogs by memory.  A dinner was held that weekend, attended by the Lundehund owners and also by the President, Secretary and Legal Officer of the AKC, who were all enthralled with this intriguing breed.  Since then, an Eastern Specialty and a National Specialty have been held almost every year, as more people acquired dogs, both from Norway and USA litters.  The five Perpetual Trophies of the NLCA, Inc. are named for the five dogs that preserved the Lundehund breed.  The lively Lundehund has created quite a sensation at Rare Breed shows everywhere.  Fjord Av Valpasen took BEST IN SHOW at three consecutive Rare Breed shows when he started in the show ring.  And Vanna Curtin’s Gunther went Best in Show at the 1996 Seattle ARBA Show.

© 2004 NLCA, Inc.    Rev. 3/04