The breeds · northern
AKC Foundation Stock Service · UKC Northern Breed · FCI standard 135
Swedish Lapphund.
FCI utilization: reindeer herding dog, nowadays mainly kept as an all-round companion dog; the history line adds hunting and watchdog work for the nomadic Laplanders. UKC: originally used by the nomadic Laplanders for herding reindeer; the breed's abilities as a guard and herder made it useful in the reindeer trade; today mainly a companion. SKK (Sweden): originally a herding, hunting and guard dog of the Sami, today mainly a companion. Wikipedia (English): one of three Lapphund breeds developed from a type of dog the Sami used for herding and guarding reindeer. Wikipedia (Swedish): traditionally the Sami reindeer herder, hunting dog and farm dog..
Breed sets the odds. The parents set the dog. Every number here shows its source, its spread and how sure we are. Nothing on this page is a prediction about one dog.
The body
What the breed is built like. Registry standards give an ideal, not a range.
Height at the shoulder
FCI ideal (16.9 in) and UKC ideal (17 in) differ, so center is blank and both stay in the text. Low and high span FCI, UKC, SKK and the AKC page (breed-wide band counted in both sex rows). cm to in: 40 cm = 15.7.
Weight
Sources differ; low and high span SKK, Wikipedia and the AKC page (breed-wide bands counted in both sex rows). kg to lb: 14 kg = 30.9, 16 kg = 35.3.
Coat
Shedding
AKC breed page trait score, 1 to 5: a breed-club tendency, never a measurement.
Heat tolerance
Derived from the coat description (heavy double coat = 2). No measured data.
The dog at home
What the breed asks of a day. The first thing most homes get wrong.
Exercise need
Energy
AKC bands, not measured.
Grooming load
AKC breed page trait score, 1 to 5: a breed-club tendency, never a measurement.
Grooming
No Royal Kennel Club grooming band was read, so grooming_load is left out.
The work
What it was built to do in the field, and what a test or trial asks of it.
Role
Editorial views are shown beside the standard, labelled; where they disagree both stand (Chad, Oct 8 2026).
Primary game
Stock worked, not game.
Also used on
Hunting use is stated by SKK and Swedish Wikipedia only; FCI and UKC name herding and watch work.
Field trial standard
Cold water
Derived from the coat plus the breed's work in northern weather. No cold-water work is described by any source, so 4 and not 5.
How common the problems are
Evaluated dogs skew toward breeding stock; the numbers are still the best there are.
Most common disorders
SKK states presence and testing, not prevalence. No Swedish club survey figures were read.
More
akc bands
Fourteen AKC bands in one row; the selector reads each by name. Breed-club ratings: a tendency, never a measurement.
What to ask a breeder for
The health clearances the breed’s own club and registry name. Reference only: what to ask for, never a statement about any dog’s health.
- SEprcd progressive retinal atrophy DNA test of parent dogs before breedingDNA · Svenska Kennelklubben (Swedish Kennel Club), Svensk lapphund breed page, read in translation
How to read this page
Every value carries a label. Measured means peer-reviewed data on many dogs. Studied means peer-reviewed, smaller or indirect. Breed club means a club or registry states it. Editorial means expert opinion with no measurement behind it. Where two good sources disagree, both are shown and neither is averaged.
Published when the entry rests on the best information available from no fewer than three independent sources, checked by a second pass that did not write it. 3 sources on this page. Found something wrong? Tell us and the correction is logged with its date.
- Also called
- Svensk Lapphund, Svensk lapphund
Every breed, read the same way.
The breed index grows as entries clear the standard. Gun dogs first.
All published breedsYour swedish lapphund, on the record.
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