The Dalbohund (Dalbo-dog) is an extinct breed of dogs. Most likely it became extinct before 1910-15.
Some specimencs or cross dogs may have existed after this time, but if there were any, the expeditions that
searched for survived specimens did not manage to locate any of them. Neither did anyone step forward in the
appeals for locating any specimens.

It is not known when the Dalbo-dog came to Sweden, or if it developed there.
We know that already the Vikings had large flock guardians before they started their trading routes and raids.
We also know that the Swedish Vikings went on raids and trading routes following the Russian rivers to the east
(Norwegian and Danish Vikings went to the west and to the south). Using the Dnieper and Volga rivers the Swedish Vikings
reached as far as the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea. The used smaller boats than the Norwegian and Danish "longship", and
between the rivers they did drag the boats by using horses or simply by using men, either the crew of the Vikingship or
enslaved locals. We also know that the Swedish Vikings settled in Russia. These Viking immigrants were called "Rus" (the word
used on the Swedish Vikings by the Finnish people) and it was actually the Swedish Vikings that formed what later became Russia.
It is most likely that the Swedish Dalbohund and the Russian Mastiff, the Medelyanskaya Sobaka, were related.
Examining the existing photos and paintings of the Dalbohund and the Medelyan supports such a relationship.
But if the Vikings did bring Swedish dogs to Russia, that became the ancestors to the Medelyan, or if it was vise versa,
that they brought Russian Mastiffs to Sweden is unknown. But considering that the Vikings had large flock guardians before
their travels abroad it is clear that the Medelyan did not serve as a foundation to the Dalbohund. But we can also expect
that the Swedish Vikings did bring dogs from the east to their native country, dogs that was bred into the already existing
flock guardians. Eastern Europe, Russia and the countries around the Caspian Sea and Black Sea can offer many breeds
suitable for that task.

Viking areas, trading & raiding routes, settlements & explorations. Click on the picture to enlarge
The Swedish Dalbohund and the Norwegian Nauthund/Fehund started most likely from the same breed-base, the livestock guarddogs of the early scandinavians, before the Viking age. The foundation for these dogs were the Cimbrian and Teutonic molossers, brought to Scandinavia by migration. Starting from the same breed-base, the Swedish Dalbohund was influenced by the eastern breeds, while the Norwegian Fehund got blood from the British Mastiffs. Norwegian Vikings travelled to the west; England, Scotland, Wales and Irland, and to the European continent, bringing valuable goods and livestock to Norway. Later Norway became a province of Denmark, for nearly 500 years, from 1380 to 1814 (the two contries was in fact in a union with each other, but it did functions as if Norway were a province of Denmark) and we know that the Danish used mastiffs imported from Britain in the wolf hunts, and maybe, just maybe, some of these mastiffs was brought to the Danish province Norway, which had an even more severe problem with wolves than Denmark had. But it is likely that only the dogs bred into the already existing breed-base at an early stage (like dogs brought  to Scandinavia by the Vikings and traders at that time, and in the few centuries after), had any influence on the total population. If any dogs were bred  into the population at a late stage, like the mastiffs used in Denmark for wolfhunt in the 16-1700's, it would have influence only on local  populations, because of remote areas, and little to none contact between the isolated valleys between the high mountains and long fjords. But, as Öhman suggests, even the Dalbohund could have received a shot or two of blood from the British Mastiff. We should take into consideration that Bohuslän were Norwegain until about 1700, and as we know Bohuslän is bordering Dalsland. And if so, also as in Norway, if infused at a late stage, it would have influence only on local populations. And here is what differs the Swedish Dalbohund from the Norwegian Nauthund/Fehund (Norsk Dogge). Starting from the same breed-base, -the original Nordic flock guardian described in the sagas as the large black bear-dog of the Vikings, the Swedish breed got blood from  the eastern flock guardians, brought from the east by the Vikings, but at the same period of time they also got some blood from  the British dogs, brought via Norway or directly. This makes the Swedish flock guardian slightly more of mountain-type, while the Norwegian Nauthund got a larger amount of blood from the British Mastiffs, introduced by the Vikings and possibly in the centuries after, making it more of Dogge type that its Swedish cousin. This is a likely scenario when examing the pictures, drawing, paintings and descriptions of the two breeds. I have also myself examined saved furs from Dalbo-dogs, which supports this scenario. We must also look at the possibility that both the Norwegian and the Swedish breed also were quite much influenced by continental European mastiff breeds. Nevertheless did the Swedish breed still show more influence from the British and European dogs than from the eastern, and we must not forget that the sagas tells us that the Norwegian Vikings also did bring dogs from Irland. We can read that these dogs were large and furious, but the stories tells us not if these dogs were of mastiff-type or pre Irish Greyhound-type (Irish Wolfhound). The reason for both the Norwegian and the Swedish breed showing more influence from the mastiffs than the eastern breeds is most likely that their original form were mastiff-typed dogs brought from the European continent at a very early stage; the dogs of the Cimbrian people. This is the reason that early descriptions by people that actually met these Nordic flock guardians compare them with both British Mastiffs and Newfoundland Dogs.
		At left you will find the cover of the Swedish magazine "Hembygden" from 1955. In this issue of the magazine Il Öhman wrote her first article about the Dalbo-dog; Vakt och Vige - Bidrag till kännedom om dalbohunden. The front cover shows two Cão da Serra da Estrela, and Il Öhman wrote the following in her article; “Most resembling the dalbohund is the recent Portugisian Cao Serra da Estrela, though the dalbohund had a shorter and broader muzzle”. As we see Il Öhman was of the opinion that the Estrela Mountain Dog is the dog breed that most resembled the Dalbohund, only broader and shorter in the muzzle. We must then notice that the Estrela Mountain Dogs of 1955 was of the type that is pictured at the cover of Hembygden, with that length of coat, and not the length that you can find today in many Estrela Mountain Dogs of show type.

Spiked collars from Norway. Two different types.

As written earlier at these pages, the Dalbo-dog primary task was to protect the livestock against the predators.
At this work the spiked collar that protected the dogs throat and neck was of most importance. How important the spiked
collar was is understood when we listen to "Nyman", who told that his father, when it was severe "wolf-periods",
had to sharpen the spikes three or four times each winter.
But we can also read that smaller dogs, mostly of spitz-type, used for hunting and other tasks, did use spiked collars as well,
for protection against the predators. Spiked collars of all sizes have been found all over southern Sweden and Norway.
 

Painting by Johannes Flintoe, showing a smaller dog with erect ears wearing a spiked collar. Johannes Flintoe was a Norwegian painter, and the painting shows the Norweian summer residents for the livestock, where they could graze on the nutrisious mountain grass. The "budeie" (female) and "gjeter" (shepherd) spent the whole summer together with the livestock in the montains, the "budeie" milking the cows and making cheese and "prim", and taking care of the "seter" (the houses), while the "gjeter" drove the cattle from the cow-house to the grazeland, and also guarded them, often together with one or several dogs. Often young un-married men came from the villages in the valley up to the "seter" in the mountains, where they visited the "budeie". These "seters" often became a place for partying, dance and fun, as can be seen in above painting by Flintoe.

The Dalbo-dog was at very early times common in a large part of southern Sweden, but in later times it was primary in
Dalsland that it was still to be found, hence its name Dalbohund. But, the name the farmers used themselves on their
Dalbo-dogs was Fähund, which simply means cattle-dog. The Dalbohund was never called, like molosserdogs.com claim,
Viking Dogge, Scandinavian Dogge,  Swedish Mastiff, Dalbo Dogge and Viking Mastiff. These names are modern
"made up" names from the fantasy of the mentioned website's owner. The mentioned website have copied/stolen information
from Molosserworld, added some fantasy, made-up and untrue information and names. More about this issue can be read
at the pages of the Nauthund/Fehund (Norsk Dogge/Norsedogge).

Several persons in Sweden have played an important role in gathering information and pictorial evidence of the extinct
Dalbo-dog, information that would have been lost if it has not been gathered by them at an early stage.
The most noted and important Dalbohund researchers have been the following:
Gustav Kolthoff (1845-1913)
C. Otto G. Wibom
Björn von Rosen (1905-1989)
Il Öhman (1912-1997)
Gunnar Brusewitz (1924-2004)

Gustav Kolthoff  a great zoolog, who himself did know these dogs from his own childhood, did realize that the
Dalbo-dog was vanishing. Early in the 1900's he travelled, searching in "Dalsland" and "Västergötland", for the remains
of the breed. However, the conclusion he gave in 1913 was that the breed had become extinct.

Wibom was the second that did an effort for the Dalbohund. In 1914 he sent an appeal to the residents in the area where the
Dalbo-dog was to be found at earlier times, that anyone with knowledge about survived specimens would be so kind to
step forward. This appeal was sent to Älvsborgs, Gotenburgs and Bohuslän. The appeal resultet in one single negative
answer.

Il Öhman was the next known and inportant Dalbohund-researcher. In the 1950's she did a tremendous work, travelling
in southern Sweden collecting the tiny bits of information about the Dalbo-dog that was still left. This information was
mostly collected from very old people that either had heard stories about the dogs from their parents or grandparents,
or from a few that actually had first hand experience about the Dalbohund from their childhood.
Il Öhman was the most important Dalbohund- researcher and a large part of the information about the old flock guardian from
Sweden comes from her dedicated work.

Björn von Rosen was the fourth Dalbohund-researher of importance. In 1960 his research was published in the
Swedish dog magazine "Hundsport". Björn von Rosen and Il Öhman discussed the Dalbohund and cooperated to a
certain degree. In 1971 the photos of the Dalbohund shown at these pages was found, and Il Öhman and Björn von Rosen
was the persons that examined and classified the photos as Dalbo-dogs. Later some other photos that maybe shows
Dalbo-dogs have been found, but the 1904/06 photos are the only ones that certainly shows true Dalbo-dogs.

The fifth person that dedicated much time in his researche for the Dalbohund was the noted Swedish writer and artist
Gunnar Brusewitz. Brusewitz published some articles in the 1960's and early 1970's about the Dalbohund, and in these
articles he also searched for persons with knowledge and information about the dogs.
I have myself talked with and corresponded with Mr. Brusewitz and he gave me much valuable information and kindly
gave me copies of his work.

Molosserworld want to honour these early Dalbohund researchers; Kolthoff, Wibom, Öhman, Rosen and
Brusewitz. Without their dedicated work the knowledge today about the Dalbo-dog would have been just a tiny fragment
of what we now know.