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I have been over to Sweden three times & have hunted with several of the spitz breeds. On brown bear, they tend to use the Laika's with the West siberian Laika being favored but like among us, everybody has their preferred breed. The Laikas I hunted with would not impress a houndsman at all. They are very hot nose & will not stay with a running bear over 1/2 hour. They do however have the grit to stay bayed on big bear. They are successful when they make drives & most of the bear are found by winding.
They have two different breeds of Norwegion elkhounds & the smaller version is the one I have seen in the states the most. Some of these dogs actually have a pretty good nose & will trail a moose a long ways. Like said above, they want the dog to stay back & bay & not pressurre the moose into breaking so the hunter can slip in & shoot the moose.
Swedes are defitently dog people & almost everyone has a hunting dog of some kind.
On a side note, Sweden harvest more moose then any other country.

Cajun wrote:I have been over to Sweden three times & have hunted with several of the spitz breeds. On brown bear, they tend to use the Laika's with the West siberian Laika being favored but like among us, everybody has their preferred breed. The Laikas I hunted with would not impress a houndsman at all. They are very hot nose & will not stay with a running bear over 1/2 hour. They do however have the grit to stay bayed on big bear. They are successful when they make drives & most of the bear are found by winding.
They have two different breeds of Norwegion elkhounds & the smaller version is the one I have seen in the states the most. Some of these dogs actually have a pretty good nose & will trail a moose a long ways. Like said above, they want the dog to stay back & bay & not pressurre the moose into breaking so the hunter can slip in & shoot the moose.
Swedes are defitently dog people & almost everyone has a hunting dog of some kind.
On a side note, Sweden harvest more moose then any other country.

Mike, Good post.

For many locales in the great North I think it is completly impractical to have dogs run for hours...wolves and the immense terrain make it so.

A hotter nosed, fast dog might be more favorable in these instances

Parts of Ontario Canada are as described. I wouldnt feel good about cold nosed, vocal hounds running 10-25 miles into the Woods and trying to catch up in that land with no connecting roads..

Great stuff guys! Dpetty right on the money about The Mountain State and its history with the Elkhound.