An elegant, short coated breed, the Lapponian Herder is a unique product of Finnish history. The Reindeer Dog, as it is called by devotees, is clearly longer than high in body, strongly angulated and muscular, and has a deep and capacious chest. He represents a trotting type of dog with his lengthy body and angulation, his gait appearing indefatigable. The most common colour is black and tan which is common in many other breeds as well; a black dog with brown (or grey) markings in the chest, feet and cheeks, and "double eyes". There is often a small spot of white in the chest and the paws. Another common colour is bark brown, either solely brown or consisting of different brown tones with lighter tan markings than seen on a black dog described above. Completely grey or "bear black" (black coat with lighter undercoat) with grey markings also exist.

Besides having a steady position as the reindeer-owning Sami's assistant, the Reindeer Dog is also more and more used in herding other animals, especially cattle and sheep.
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