When almost 20 years ago pure German Shorthair and English Pointers as well as Scandinavian Hounds came to Central Europe through the Norwegian and Swedish Mushers, hardly anyone noticed these dogs - except for a few insiders. Since mostly Pulka drivers used pure German Shorthair or English Pointer, one assumed at that time that these dogs were suitable due to their size and their weight maximally for the 4-dog class. After the impressive victory of Roger Leegard and his Scandinavian dogs in 1995 at the then most difficult European stage race, the Alpirod, this prejudice was refuted. Slowly, but steadily, this type of dog prevailed on the Central European racecourses; and at the latest after the historical winning series of Egil Ellis in the 1998/99 season and the following years, where he won all important open races in Alaska, the Scandinavian Hound passed his breeding and performance test.
Regardless of this, the targeted crossing with hunting dogs in sled dog sport is not an invention of the nineties, but was already practiced in Alaska at the beginning of the 20th century. Due to the isolation of the North American racing circus on the one hand and the strict quarantine regulations in Scandinavia on the other hand, different breeding directions have developed.
In Scandinavia it has been a tradition for over 50 years to race with German Shorthair and English Pointer. At the beginning of the 80's the first Alaskan Huskies were imported to Scandinavia. But many of the Scandinavian mushers noticed that if they wanted to beat the Alaskan mushers one day, they had to come up with something new; something the mushers didn't have in Alaska. At this point the hunting dogs came into play and they remembered the old, but still valid sentence: "breed the best to the best". They mated the best Scandinavian German Shorthair and English Pointer with the best imported Alaskan Huskies and got a new type of sled dog: the Scandinavian Hound. Dogs like Labben, Finbeck, Gretzky, Mike, to name just a few, are names that, like the Alaskan Huskies Lingo, Rex, Killer, Victor, Sailor, Gunner, have brought out a multitude of great dogs and will continue to determine breeding in the years to come.
The Scandinavian Hound is characterized by his outstanding athleticism and his unbridled joy of running. They are extremely friendly dogs with a very pronounced social behaviour. Even in large groups there are hardly any conflicts. The bond to humans is very strong with this type of dog. Through the wish to always please his musher, an easy trainability is given. The ability to learn fast is strongly pronounced, so that negative experiences in the team are stored e.g. by biting over when overtaking also fast. This behaviour is not to be described as "soft", but has to do with intelligence.
The Scandinavian Hound is a robust, healthy type of dog with very good paws. At temperatures down to -25°C these dogs do not have any problems with the cold. Before breeding with these dogs one should deal as a Musher first intensively with the different breeding directions and argue. There are lines that produce extremely large and strong dogs or those that produce a very high percentage of unlimited dogs.
The influence of the Scandinavian dog is now spreading to North America. This type of dog certainly represents an enrichment in sled dog sport due to its versatile and uncomplicated nature.
Source: Dagmar Krieger / Luzi Bernhard
