Gotland Hound

The Gotland Hound (Gotlandsstövare) is a beautiful scent hound with strong hunting instinct, bred for hunting hare and fox. The breed is friendly with lively personality and needs regular exercise. It is a very rare dog breed, even in Sweden.

About the breed

This Swedish scent hound breed derives from continental hounds of East European type.

The Gotland Hound is rectangular in body, elegant but with an impression of strength and endurance. The coat is smooth, close lying and hard in texture. The colour is always yellowish red with slight, symmetrical white markings.

Ideal height at the withers for males is 52 cm with an accepted variation from 48 to 56 cm. Ideal height for females is 48 cm, with an accepted variation from 44 to 52 cm. 

The Gotland Hound has a strong hunting instinct and is intended for hunting in forests and fields. The breed is mainly used for hunting hare. It requires a lot of exercise, training and stimulation. The breed is not suitable as a companion dog only.

NKU Group: n°6 - Scent hounds and related breeds

The breed is recognized by the Nordic Kennel Union, NKU, but not by the international kennel organization, FCI.

SKK breed standard (sv)

The breed standard has not yet been translated into English.

The Gotland Hound had its first standard accepted in 1920, but it was only valid for 10 years. In 1930 it was decided that it should be interbred as a yellow variety of the Smålandsstövare, but later, in 1934, the yellow variety was instead to be interbred with the Hamiltonstövare.

It was a well-known fact that occasional yellow puppies were born in litters of Hamiltonstövare and these were kept and registered although the colour was not accepted in the standard. The yellow variety was called Gotland Hound as most of the dogs were found on the island of Gotland.

Several attempts were made to have the "yellows" revived as a breed, but it was not until 1989 an inventory was made. Enough dogs with breed characteristics were found to give the yellows a chance.

The breed was given recognition in 1990 for a period of ten years. The evaluation was extended to the end of 2004 and from 2009 the yellows were again registered as a breed of their own, with 50 registered that year and under the name of Gotlandsstövare.

It is still the numerically smallest of the Swedish scent hound breeds.

  • Gotlandsstövare
  • Gotland Hound
  • Gotlandsstøver
  • Gotlanninajokoira