I was looking for period norse dogs and discovered the Lundehund. The dog also ties in with some interesting Norse homesteader's activities:puffin catching. I thought it was interesting enough to be shared, and this seemed like the best place to put the article.....

The Lundehund is the worlds most rare pure breed dog, not so much on account of it's moderate number, but more because of the fact that a series of rare adoptability traits is gathered in one and the same breed. Some traits are only to be found sporadically in other breeds. Which other breed can display so many distinctive traits.
It has at least six toes on each foot, Can shut the ears so the auditory meatus becomes protected against dust and moisture, It has joints at the nape of the neck, which enables it to bend it's head right down unto its back, which is immensely useful when the dog has to turn round in narrow passages. Furthermore it has very moveable shoulder-joint, so that the foreleg can be moved out at right angles to the side.
As mentioned the feet have six toes on each foot. One the forelegs the five toes have three joints, the sixth ha- two joints, almost like man's thumb. Some times in the past one of the toes must have divided into a double-toe. But on the hindlegs two of the toes have got two joints. It seems that here a toe with two joints must have divided. The extra toe on the foreleg has fully developed bending muscles and extensors, which, together with the movable shoulder joints, give the Lundehund the distinctive movement of the forelegs while running, one says it is "waving" with its forelegs.

The Lunde - also called the puffin - is a bird of the razorbill family. It has the peculiarity, that it breeds in large colonies in caves and underground passages in steep mountain hills, many birds breed in each passage. They live in large numbers on the coast of Norway, especially from Lofoten and northwards. The breeding - season is about 40 days, and when the young ones are about 40 days, they must shift for themselves. The Lunde arrives at the birds' cliffs in March-April and leaves again in August. Among the old norsemen the Lunde was considered to be a delicacy, but to catch the bird was not easy, The Lundehund was able to, it crept into the narrow passages and caves, pulled the birds out and delivered them alive to its master. The catching of the Lunde has been of great economical significance for, the poor fishermen, as the downs were just as fine as eiderdown and therefore gave good income when sold. It was not unusual for a dog to catch about 30 puffins in one night, and when each hunter had 2 - 3 dogs with him, it was large quantities one got. For that reason it was natural, that they took their best friend - the dog - into use for this, and therefore, small tough dogs were bred, which could be a help to them. In this way that breed came into being, which we today know as the Lundehund.
It should be mentioned, however that there is a great distinction between those dogs, which were used in Lofoten and those on the coast of Finmarkin. Today only the Senjahund and the Lundehund (by many called the Maastadhund) are left, and those two breeds have no resemblance at all.
The Lundehund is Norway's oldest pure-bred dog. Some people think that it survived the last ice-age. At the time Rost and Veroy were ice-free. It is said, that the Lundehund is not at all of the same species as our other dogs-Canis Familiaries -, but is a descendant from the primeval dog- Canis Forus-. Maasted on Veroy, where the Lundehund was originally bred, has probably got its name after a king from the Viking period, king Maas. He ran a farm with large sheep and goat-breeding, and at that time the Lundehund was very likely both a bird-dog and a sheep-dog. Maastad is (and has always been) very isolated, there fore the Lundehund has been able to survive without being mix- ed with other breeds, and has eventually become unsurpassed in regard to hunting puffins. Even dogs, which for many generations were born inland and have never seen a birds-cliff nor puffins, instinctively know how to catch the bird the first time they take part in hunting.