Now for an entry about a breed I knew very well when I was growing up:
The Norwegian elkhound is one of the wolfy-looking dogs from which the shepherd dogs of middle Europe … have been evolved, and is probably a more dependable dog than any of them, having been bred for the specific uses of hunting big game, and left free of the refinements and stultifications demanded by the more effete market, which is largely dependent on the whims of wealth and caprice.
The elkhound, in short, looks like a small, stocky, wide-faced German shepherd dog, standing about 22 inches instead of 26 or 27, but wearing the same strong, rough working coat of grizzled buff and brown, or wolf colors. He is a rare dog in the United States, but in northern Europe plays an important part in the life of the people of the mountainous and wooded country.
He is used to some extent as a carrying and draft animal, but is unsurpassed in the rough and tumble of the hunt for such big game as bear,wolves, and elk (the “moose” of northern Europe), and is so keen of nose and so tractable that he can easily be trained to the more subtle arts of hunting the capercailzie and black grouse.
The only one the artist ever saw was the single specimen shown in the Westminster show of 1918, and no dog in the whole show made him more envious of his owner. For what Mark Twain characterized as “the purposes of a dog” this strong, friendly, and primitive-looking animal seemed a most perfect creature. He was alert, bright, and self-reliant, but willing to extend a reserved welcome to a new acquaintance.
–Ernest Harold Baynes and Louis Aggassiz Fuertes, The Book of Dogs: An Intimate Study of Mankind’s Best Friend (1919)
This National Geographic Society Published this text, and while I find the description of this breed’s temperament and characteristics accurate, I don’t find their classification of the breed is exactly right.
There are three breeds of elkhound– two from Norway (the gray and the black) and one from Sweden (the Swedish Elkhound or Jämthund). These dogs are hunting spitz breeds. They are likely related to the Finnish spitz, which is more commonly used as a bird dog and small game hunter.
These dogs are also probably quite closely related to the Karelian bear dog, which is closely related to the Russo-European laika. That means that the elkhounds are more closely related to the laikas of Russia, not the German shepherd or any of those dogs.
However, it is possible that Norwegian elkhounds were crossed in German shepherds. I’ve read that this may have happened, simply because the German dog experts believed that there was a relationship.
The Norwegeian Elkhounds also are probably related to a herding spitz called a buhund, but the buhunds are meant for herding, not hunting large game. However, compare these buhunds with the black Norwegian elkhound.
It is likely that the two dogs have a common ancestor that separated into herding and hunting populations. The two dogs may have exchanged genes for a time, for I remember my grandpa’s Norwegian elkhound loved to herd horses.
So it is possible that this breed is a relative of the Mid-European herders, but I think it is more prudent to put them with the laikas.
Interesting find.
“It is likely that the two dogs have a common ancestor that separated into herding and hunting populations. The two dogs may have exchanged genes for a time, for I remember my grandpa’s Norwegian elkhound loved to herd horses.”
You know, as I think about it, elkhound type hunting behaviors and tasks, chasing and cornering large animals and then (like in the YouTube clip you posted a while back)circling back around them and trying again if the moose tries to chase them, may be closer to some of the herding skills than is the case for other hunting dog tasks, so this makes a certain amount of sense.
you have a wonderful site!