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.

Photo Credits:
The Taylor's Lundehund,
Sunny.
© 2004 NLCA, Inc. Rev. 3/04
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