I am sad that I have to start this page with telling you that information about this breed found at other pages at Internet is not
correct. Instead of writing more about it at this page, I have made a page of its own about the issue, which you can find by
clicking at THIS link.

Viking areas, trading & raiding routes, settlements & explorations. Click on the picture to enlarge

Starting from the same breed-base, the Swedish Dalbohund was influenced by the eastern breeds, while the Norwegian
Fehund got blood from the British and possebly continental 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 and Tautonic 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.

	Spiked collars from Norway and Sweden. Different types, of very heavy and solid design. In Norway these spiked collars had different names, depending on the location. The most common names were; Pigghysje, piggklava, pigghalse and hølsne. But many other names were also used on the spiked collar.

As with the Dalbohund, the Nauthund's 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 the Swede "Nyman", who told that his father, when it was severe "wolf-periods",
had to sharpen the spikes at the collar of their Dalbohund 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.
In Norwegian litterature we can actually find many references to the spiked collars and their importance for the dog to survive
in a fight against the wolf. We can include one example: "Bird-Gulbrand remembered from his childhood at Kval, when his
father were a farm-worker at Deali. The farm-dog "Fix" cried bad one evening down by the sauna, when 3 wolves had tricked
him away. It did not have its "Piggklava" (Spiked collar) around its throat, and therefore it was an easy pray for the wolves."
(”Fuggel-Gudbrand” husket fra småguttedagene på Kval, da faren var husmann på Dæli. Gardsbikkja ”Fix” skrek stygt nedved
badstua en kveld som 3 ulver hadde lokket med seg hunden dit. Den hadde ikke fått på seg ”Piggklava’n” rundt halsen, og ble
da et lett bytte for ulveflokken.”)
 

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 thenutrisious mountain grass. The "budeie" (female) and the "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 guarded them, often together with one or several dogs. Often young un-married men came from the villages in the valley and 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 above in the painting by Flintoe.

The shepherd and his dog, which are wearing a spiked collar. Lier-Buskerud, 1761

These dogs comes from a 1623 painting at the Hedalen Stave Church in Valdres.