The swedish lapphund is best known as the Sami's ('Lapp' is an old word for Sami) herding dog, but for thousands of years its main occupation has been hunting and to act as a watchdog. It was relatively recently that the Sami began to keep reindeer and therefore needed a herding dog, and the swedish lapphund is still a hunter rather than a herder. There are several hundred year old descriptions of lapphund that hunted bear, wild reindeer, otter and squirrels, and sometimes even moose and different types of forest birds.

The swedish lapphund almost died out during the early 1900's, but was luckily saved by Mary Stephens from Småland, southern Sweden.
The first dog ever registered with the Swedish Kennel Club was a male black swedish lapphund with a natural bobtail (a trait found in several scandinavian spitzes) and today the breed can be found in the club's logo.

The swedish lapphund should be slightly rectangular in shape, rather reserved and lively. The head is somewhat longer than it is broad, with sharp stop and filled out muzzle. The eyes should be expressive. The ears are short, pointed and slightly rounded. The neck is of medium length and powerful. The body is well collected, with straight back, slight tuck up and well developed chest. The front legs are straight while the hind are well angulated. The tail is curled over the back when the dog is alert. The coat is rather long, forming a thick ruff around the neck, and longer on the backsides of the legs and tail.