I am looking for pictures and comments on the different hunting dogs used for big game in the Scandinavian countries of Europe.
Help me out gentlemen.

Finnish Spitz, Norwegian Elkhounds, etc????

Here is a link where you can get some info of hunting dogs in Finland:
http://www.kennelliitto.fi/EN/etusivu.htm

Another,

based in Norway,

www.thetroutbum.com

When I hunted in Sweden we used all kinds of dogs. Elk hounds for moose,terriors for rabbits,dochshund for roebuck,
Here's a photo of me with a Finnish spitz.
Bare with me this is the first time I've tried to post a photo here. [EMAIL]documents and settings\Evelyn Alsup\my documents\myscans\2007-03(mar)\scan,jpg[/EMAIL]

Sorry I guess it's going to take me some time to figure this photo sharing out

quote:

Originally posted by Akshooter:
[EMAIL]documents and settings\Evelyn Alsup\my documents\myscans\2007-03(mar)\scan,jpg[/EMAIL]

This address (apart from the fact it should be included within [IMG] [/IMG} clauses) is probably pointing to your local computer (local drive). That won't work. It needs to be available on the Web in a location where a webserver can service requests for it. Find a picture posting site and post it there. Then get the URL for the jpg file and post that here.

- mike

Here is a picture of my son and a Norwegian "graahund" (Elghund/moosedog?)!

Dont laugh of me. I dont know the english name of these dogs..

quote:

Originally posted by 9,3x74R:
Here is a picture of my son and a Norwegian "graahund" (Elghund/moosedog?)!

Dont laugh of me. I dont know the english name of these dogs..

Norwegian Elkhound, and I have witnessed them running our deer with great success. Amazing dogs. I wish they came smaller?

quote:

Originally posted by JTH:
Here is a link where you can get some info of hunting dogs in Finland:
http://www.kennelliitto.fi/EN/etusivu.htm

I do not know what some of these breeds are, but would love to learn and also see some pictures.

Just like 9.3X74R, I have no idea about the English names of these dogs:
Karelia Beardog (or bearhound?):

Jämtland Dog:

Finnish Pointed-ear? (thats probably something totally different in english):

Norwegian Grey Elkhound:

The Norwegian grey and black as well as the Swedish white, are definately not ELK hounds.
Elk is as you all know, the American whapiti deer, wich is something quite different than the Norwegian /Swedish / Finnish ELG ( moose ).

Neighter I have been able to find the correct English name for these dogs, but directly translatet it is Norwegian black moose dog ( hound ) , respectively the Norwegian grey and the newest, the Swedish white.

It is an common misunderstanding confusing the Nordic ELG with the American ELK.

Anyway, these dogs are fantastic hunters and work very hard both as leach dogs and as free running.

The grey are known to be the toughest, but the blacks can also be some mean suckers, while the white generally are the one with the most gentle temper and the less noisy of the three.

The official site for these dogs in Norway are: www.elghundforbundet.no

It is recognized that although the Norwegian Elkhound is in English that it is actually a moose hound and the Elk in question is the European Moose. This is the name given it by the American Kennel Club.

It was the favorite dog of a local Nowrwegian family the Whistings from the South Pole fame. Although I believe it was not the dogs they ate on the return trip from the South Pole.

By the way....keep up the posts. I am in love with these Nordic dogs and the information you are giving me. I would love to find one of the smaller ones that can hunt the deer here with me.

I know quite a few people use Laikas in the region as well (especially in Finland). Besides german pointers and jagdterriers these must be one of the most versatile dogs around. In their native territory (Russia, mostly siberia and archangelsk region, but also in lesser numbers all over Eastern, Northern Europe and probably entire russian federation) they use them on anything from small furred game up to bear and birds. They are medium build, strong, but not as muscular as Norwegians. They are extremely lively and intelligent, and almost hyperactive. One of their most amazing skill is orienteering.
We used to use german jagdterriers and dachshunds, but now all of them have been replaced by Laikas. We use them on Moose, Boar and Red deer driven hunts mostly, but also for tracking. Some guys have even trained theirs for Bear, Lynx and Wolf.
As you might have guessed by the length of my post, I'm absolutely amazed by these dogs.

Western-Siberian Laika:

Russian-European Laika:

There is also a Eastern-Siberian variant, but I couldn't find a picture.

My personal favoritt, used free running, on moose is the swedish jämthund. It is a bit larger then the Norwegian grey.
I have a couple of wirehaired dachshounds that I have great success with, used on roedeer and deer.
There are a couple of bigger ones as well that are common on such hunting. It's some of the Basset breeds. Not the Basset hound, but there are 4 basset breeds that are ligther.
You can also look up the breed; "drever". This is also a common dog for hunting deer and such.
Sorry, I cant help you with pictures because of a very slow conection.

I am looking for a dog to track and push deer from timber and forest. It would be good in the 12 pound range, even smaller for the thickets.

For that purpose I would suggest a German Hunting Terrier.
It is an allround hunting machine that will drive deer and boars all day!

Regards
Stig

quote:

Originally posted by 333_OKH:
I am looking for a dog to track and push deer from timber and forest. It would be good in the 12 pound range, even smaller for the thickets.

What about a norwegian Beagle? It is a mix between the english and american breed. They are used mostly as a dog for HareHunting (norwegian rabbitmutant :-) ) But in the southern parts of norway they are also quite good dogs on roedeerhunting. The only negative thing is that they chase to fast in light terrain. They are breed with just one aim and it is not about the looks of the dog but solely on hunting abilities.

quote:

Originally posted by 333_OKH:
It is recognized that although the Norwegian Elkhound is in English that it is actually a moose hound and the Elk in question is the European Moose. This is the name given it by the American Kennel Club.

It was the favorite dog of a local Nowrwegian family the Whistings from the South Pole fame. Although I believe it was not the dogs they ate on the return trip from the South Pole.

Quite correct... my grandfather bred Norwegain Elkhound's and I had one he gave me when I was a kid. Great dogs but high strung! Great for pulling sleds and good eating too!

Which dog is the one with an extra toe, to climb rocks ?

quote:

Great for pulling sleds and good eating too!

hmm, do you eat elkhounds?? And as a sleddog, I would say it's next to useless, compared to an alaskan huskey, but no worse that most non sleddog breeds of course.

Bobby, the dog with the extra toe is the lundehund wikipedia Lundehund

It was used to hunt puffins in the old days when that was legal, on the same page there is links to most of the other nordic dog breeds.

We have a beagle for hunting roe, red and hare. Hoping to use it both on a leash and loose.

Do you want a dog that bays the animals? Or that chases while barking, or quiet on a leash? Barking on a leash? Lots of differnt ways to use the nordic dogs, even the in the elkhound breed it elf there are lines that move more to leash vs loose. By the way, the temper on the elkhound has been drastically improved, atleast in Norway, by good breeding. We use both the gray and the black ocationally on my moosehunting team, but mostly we use a wirehaired dachs.

Johan

8-12 pounds, barks while chasing,

8-12 pounds is a very small dog, almost all the hunting dogs of the nordic spiz type is much bigger than that, most are also meant to bay the animal, not chase it. Ofcourse some dogs will chase etc. The only dog of this type I can think of that meets your demand is the finnish spiz, or finnish pointed ear that Pric65 called it , but this is mainly a bird hunting breed, meant for capercallie, but also squirls and martens. I have no idea what kind of lines you have of this breed i the states but I guess you could spend quite some time chasing all kinds of no game speices with this dog... Personaly I think they are beautifull dogs with a lively personality, but I would get one with birdhunting in mind. Not saying that thay wouldn't chase biggame, many birdhunters have crawled carefully towards a bay, just to disover their spiz, baying a moose....

For the use you are talking about we i norway use dachs, terriers, dachsbracken, bassets, drevers, beagles end similar breeds. We have a rule that says that breed that are higher that 41cm at the shoulder can't be used for chasing roedeer or reddeer. Also it is sensible to have a shortlegged dog, that don't chase the animals at a too high speed. Atleast when we are not talking about huge driven hunts like the more southern parts of europa has.

How big is your huntinggrounds? A beagle or drever, atleast the swedish/norwegegian lines can chase deer all for 8-10 hours Not much use if you just have a small spot to hunt, and are you more that one person hunting??

Also are you thinking of importing a dog from scandinavia? If not, you must consider the qualities of the lines and breeds you got in the US. And then I can't really help much.

By the way, why such a small dog? I kinda like big dogs myself, the reason we got a Beagle is that it's my sisters dog, she is only 13. I would go for a elkhound if you really like the breed, and have breeders that has okay huntinglines close to you.

Johan

Not really Scandinavian, but close. My DD retrieving a seal. Wonder if seal can be defined as big game ?
http://hundur.com/modules.php?set_albumName=album07&op=...clude=view_album.php

308, yes the breed doesn't pull a sled well...

http://www.justfurfun.org/doghtml/norwegian_elkhound_sled_dog_team.htm

Having worked as a handler for one of the best mushers in Norway (Arne Karlstrøm), I'm not impressed
He had 40 alaskan huskys. Much better sleddog....


Johan

The Norwegian moose dog is an over 6000 years old breed of hunting-dog. Using them to pull sleds or for "agility" training is an insult.

Unfortunately the idiots in the American kannel club don`t know what they are doing, first they named the dog wrong in the US (thus spreading the wrong name to the rest of the world), then they started breeding too large dogs in the US based on looks...

If you`re not using the Norwegian mose dog for hunting - kill it. Don`t contribute to destroying the race.

Tordenskiold

That was a harsh comment, in a way I agree, but I think that you can use your hunting dog for both agility, sledpulling, dogshows, carring packs, etc etc.. all the stuff you can use a dog to, but it should be a hunting dog first.. Then there are a thounsands other things that you can do with your dog..

I used my English Setter for pulling, carring, sleepingbagwarmer, etc.. I think that just made him a better hunting dog.

Breeding pure showlines..... No thanks!!

Johan

currently have papilions so we need a new breed