"Bella", believed to be one of the very last Dalbo dogs.
Picture from 1904.
At this page you will find the only three pictures of the extinct Dalbo Dog that is known. Hopefully I will upload better copies of the pictures later.
This Swedish Molosser become extinct in the first years of this century, but they began to dissaper
already in the first half of the 1800's. Gustav Kolthoff (1845-1913), a great zoolog, who himself did know these dogs from his own childhood,
did realize that the Dalbo-dog was vaneshing and did a trip, early in this century, in "Dalsland" and "Västergötland", the breed's earlier homeplace,
to try locate the remains of the breed. However, the conclusion he gave in 1913 was that the breed had become extinct.
The area of Sweden and south-east Norway where the Dalbo-dog were to be found.
The Dalbo-dog was a Molosser, his primary task were to guard and protect the livestock and also to guard the property of their owners, the same way
as the Molossers of southern Europe still are used. The first description on this breed was given by Sven Nilsson in 1847; "Broad head, deeply sunken between the eyes, the muzzle shorter
and broader that the muzzle of the wolf, big hanging ears. The tail and the back covered with long hairs. The bone large. The colour often black on the back and sides, while the belly, chest, legs and muzzle, all the way up to the ears,
pale yellow. The size of a wolf".
The British Zoolog Horace William Wheelwright did some travels to Sweden and wrote in 1865; "The only hound peculiar to the land which I know of, are the Dahlbo hound (now nearly extinct), a magnificent dog, rather like
an English Mastiff, of the size and colour of a wolf, which was formerly much used in these forests to watch the cattle when pasturing in the forest".
Mr. Horace Marryat wrote in his 1862-book "One Year in Sweden"; -and, just before starting, to wonder at the huge proportions of a Dalbo dog, a very lion, but most sociable".
When judging both these descriptions and also the pictures on this page we can clearly see that this was a breed of typical Molosser type, and it was between 75-80 cm. (29,4-31,44 in) at the shoulders. There are however different descriptions of
the temperament of the breed, some describing it as very friendly, while others uses words like "very fierce" on the breed.
The Dalbo dog are believed to be a very old breed but it is not known how and when the breed came to Sweden. It is possible that this breed was introducd to Scandinavia by the Vikings, who took all kinds of goods, also animals, with them back to
Scandinavia after their raids in Europe & eastwards. It is easy to believe that the Vikings very impressed by the fierce and strong Molosserbreeds of central-Europe and took them back with them to their villages in the north. In several old Viking-finds there are found
sceletons of both the common Spitz typed dogs and of other large and powerful dogs.
The 1857 painting by Fritz von Dardel.
The dog in the painting are recognized as a Dalbo-dog.
One of the oldest written evidence of the Dalbo-dog are from Blutherus "Oratio comiastica de Dahlia", dating 1632, where he praises the Dalbo peoples incredible strong dogs, who without a doubt attacks the predators and guards the livestock so
effective that the animals can pasture in the wilderness without a human shepherd, and without one single animal lost.
The oldest mentioning of the flock guardian of Sweden can be found in the old Sagas, the folk-tales, where "Egil Skallgrimson" meet some herders in the forest and asks them why they keep so large dogs to guard the livestock.
The first illustration of this breed are belived to be Govert Camphuysens painting from the beginning of the 1650's.
In the first half of the 1900's the Dalbo-dog was described by several old people who had themselves met or even had in their possession this old Swedish breed. Based on these descriptions a standard was set up on the Dalbo dog in the 1950's by Il Öhman, the person that
without doubt collected most of the available information on the breed, and saved it from being lost. At the end of this page you can read this standard.
At left a spiked collar from Dalsland Museum. At right a spiked collar found at Vargön (Wolf Island).
It is found about 100 spiked collars as the ones above, the oldest dating from before year 1000 A.D. This shows us that the flock guardians have existed in Scandinavia a very long time.
The largest of these collars show us that it have bee used of a dog that have been nearly 70 cm. (27,5 inch) around the neck.
A man from Vallerås, Bengt Hansson, did tell that the dog at his family's farm, "Halland", was bought from Norway, close to the border of Värmland, in the 1850's. This breed did exist on both the Norwegian and the Swedish side of the border but it's primary homeland was Dalsland in Sweden.
A close related, or maybe the same breed, type of dog did exist all over the central and eastern parts of southern Norway. You can read more about this Norwegian Molosser at the page of the Norsedogge.
The picture on the top of the page was taken in 1904, the place is Mellanrud in Dalsland. This dog, the bitch Bella, are believed to one of the very last pure Dalbo-dogs. As can be seen on the picture there can be no doubt about hers Molosser heritage. Wiliam Hamilton wrote in a letter to Wibon; "The breed in it's pure
state may well be almost extinct I believe, but there are several individuals of more or less crossed dogs to be found. I did see in my trip in Dalsland two very beautiful dogs of Dalbo type, located in Mellanrud but I do not know who owned them". It is likely to believe that these two dogs described are the same two as
pictured at this page.
"Frågan", related to "Bella" but believed to be only part Dalbo-dog.
The above dog "Frågan" was close related to "Bella" but when judging the picture it is believed that this dog not were a pure Dalbo-dog. He may well be a son of "Bella", and his father is most likely of another breed and another type.
As mentioned earlier on this page, the Dalbo-dog's primary work was to protect the livestock against wolf, bear, wolverine and bobcat but already in the mid 1800's most predators had vanished from the forests and the large mastiff-dogs as the protector were no longer needed. The old Swedish Molosser
was becoming rare but still some farmers were using them as guarding dogs for their home and property. The forementioned Mr. Kolthoff wrote that the dalbo-dogs he did see in 1868 were used as chained guard-dogs and so fierce that they seldom could be let loose. Mr. Kolthoff also wrote; "I my childhood I heard about two Dalbo-dogs at the Såtenäs property who
killed a woman and were therefore shot".
The Dalbo-dog as a livestock guardian was no longer needed and this, together with a rabies epidemic in 1854 and the 1867 hunger, are believed to be the reasons for the breed's extinction.
I have collected much more information about the Dalbo dog, but because of space & time limitations I will not put it up at this page now. Maybe later.
The complete picture of "Bella" from the top of this page.
Standard for Dalbohunden (The Dalbo dog)
Written by Il Öhman in the 1950's, based on descriptions by authors, other writers, and common people that had known the breed personally.
Overall description:
The Dalbo dog was a large and flexible dog. His body did show great strenght.
Head:
Broad and a clearly sunken between the eyes. A well marked stop. The muzzle broad and fairly short. The lips covered a powerful
bite, without hanging to much, but at no means tight-lipped.
Eyes:
Dark and fairly large.
Ears:
Medium in size, stiff at the beginnng, the rest hanging. No fringles.
Neck:
Muscular and large, medium long.
Body:
Long in the back. Chest and shoulders muscular and broad.
Legs:
Large boned, often with dewclaws.
Tail:
Long and fringled. Carried slightly curved.
Coat:
Thick and double coated. Back, legs and around the neck & throat longer hairs.
Colour:
1; Black with face, legs and belly yellow-grey, yellow-brown or red-brown. 2; Brown with some darker hair in the coat.
3; Yellow-grey with some darker hair in the coat. White patches not usual.
Size:
75-80 cm. (29,4-31,4 in) at the shoulder. Some speciments (local variants) 62 cm. (24,3 in).
