by sight. The Norrbottenspets are a totally different anatomic
BENGTSON, CONTINUED FROM PAGE 34
type than Scenthounds or Sighthounds. Why can’t AKC simply
see Spitz breeds in the Hound Group … and that’s why the
have a Spitz Group?”
Norrbottenspets has been classified this way as well.
f “The breed is a Spitz and has nothing in common with
If it’s confusing you that the “Nobs,” as I have heard these
Sighthounds: not ancestry, function, manner of hunting, or
little dogs called in Scandinavia, now belong to the same subeven type of movement.”
group as the racing breeds, you are not alone. I was flabbergastf “The shape and anatomy of this breed, as well as its
ed when I realized that it was, in fact, not a typographical error
function, have nothing to do with Sighthounds. Its place in
on AKC’s website that listed the Norrbottenspets together with
the Spitz Group is well justified. Placing it in any other Group
Sighthounds as “breeds eligible for AKC lure coursing.” Seekwould signify a lack of cynological knowledge.”
ing the advice of experts, I sent an email to a couple of dozen
f “Being the happy owner of a Norrbottenspets, I was
Swedish and Finnish judges who are approved to judge the
very surprised by the idea of placing them among the SightNorrbottenspets and asked what they thought. (Not saying a
hounds with coursing titles ... Let the
word about my own feelings, of course.)
Norrbottenspets remain a hunting dog
Fifteen of these judges responded imthat points out the bird by barking to
mediately, including both international
The Norrbottenspets
the hunter to shoot it (or other game,
all-rounders who are well known in the
even elk). This way of hunting sepaUS (Dr. Göran Bodegård, Renée Sporre[is] a little Nordic
rates them from the Sighthounds and
Willes, Dan Ericsson and others), as well
spitz breed that’s
tells you what Group they belong to.”
as specialist judges and hunters whose
used for hunting
That’s just a few quotes — there
focus is very much on this type of breed.
were
several more. If AKC makes such
The general reaction among these
forest birds.
a strange decision when designating
judges was total disbelief. Not one of
Group affiliation for a breed, what
them believes that the Norrbottenspets
chance is there for the rest of us? I
is a Sighthound. That’s an easy decision
guess it doesn’t matter so much what Group any breed beto make, of course, because the “Nobs” were created in the
longs to, but going the extra step of placing a breed in a subvast forests of Sweden and Finland, where there is absolutely
group that this breed has no relationship to … Why would
none of the open space that Sighthounds require to hunt as
AKC do that?
they have done for thousands of years — to course, catch
and kill live game.
What the ANA Says
The Judges Speak
Here are a few comments from the Norrbottenspets judges
that explain their consternation:
f “I have judged Norrbottenspets for a long time and hunted with them for 30 years. It’s strange that anyone would try to
get Norrbottenspets involved in lure coursing, since the breed
hunts in a manner that’s completely different from Sighthounds. ‘Nobs’ use both nose and ears, while Sighthounds almost exclusively use their vision. I would find it really strange
if I found a Nobs that followed game [like a Sighthound] when
lure coursing. The Nobs find their birds by scent and mark
their position by barking; if the bird takes off, the dog stops
and listens to figure out the bird’s location by scenting and
then starts to bark again. The barking is considered as cooperation with the handler/hunter. I’m sure eventually it would be
possible to find a Norrbottenspets that ‘follows’ on the ground
and to direct breeding toward this goal, but that would take
a lifetime — and of course trying to do this would change the
breed’s natural manner of working!”
f “Hounds are hunting dogs who chase their prey; Scenthounds use their nose (and have pendant ears), Sighthounds
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I also emailed the American Norrbottenspets Association. The
ANA President says the club wants the Norrbottenspets to
be a Sighthound. She writes, “[A] Grouse may flush and the
dogs take chase; as the birds fly through the air, they keep it
in sight and bark along the way, so the hunter is ‘informed’ of
their location … We are pleased that the AKC will place them
in the Hound Group and recognizes them as Sighthounds.”
In other words, because the Norrbottenspets keeps the
bird “in sight” it’s a Sighthound? I’m not sure I can follow that
reasoning. However, there are already five Norrbottenspets
that have received Senior Courser status, and many people
accept the Portuguese Podengo Pequeno as a Sighthound, so
why not the Norrbottenspets? If the ANA actively advocated
for the breed’s Group status, that may explain why AKC acted
as it did. On the other hand, this raises even more interesting
questions about why they would allow something like this to
happen with these other breeds in the first place.
For the record, the American Sighthound Field Association,
which predates AKC’s involvement in lure coursing, does not
accept the Norrbottenspets in their lure coursing trials. The
National Open Field Coursing Association doesn’t either. DIR