A huge Norwegian Mastiff on a bridge north of Oslo. Late 1700's, Akershus.
Detail from a painting shown here with the courtesy of
Mr. Jørgen W. Cappelen, J. W. Cappelens Antikvariat, Oslo - Norway.
The complete painting can be found at the bottom of this page.

From the Viking times and shortly after, there can be found
illustrations, mostly carvings, of large mastiff-typed dogs. Both the
lost stave church at Bödal and the existing stave church of Urnes
(Norways oldest, still standing, stave church) we can find such
carvings of large dogs. While the illustration from Bödal show a dog
as part of an artistic carving (portal), the illustration from
Urnes shows an actual situation; the dog used in the hunt for deer.

At the chest from Ullensaker Church in Akershus there
can be seen large mastiff-typed dogs. This carved chest is
from the 12-1300's.
It is not known who the artist is, and it have been
suggested that this chest can be of German origin.
Others deny that this chest have been made outside of
Norway, making a point out of that the illustrations
of the chest is similar as other Norwegian illustrations
from the same period of time.

We have now confirmed that there existed a large flock guardian in Norway at the time of the Vikings. But these dogs did not
dissapear with the end of the Viking age.
Trough illustrations we can follow the dogs from the time of the Vikings and until the first written evidences of these flock
guardian dogs. The black plague (came to Norway in 1349) was devastating both to man and to their animals, dogs as well.
The old stories tell us that the population in some valleys were totally wiped out, while in other valleys only one or two
persons survived. Other places more than 80% of the populations died.
But both human and dogs survived the plague, but a result of the desimated number of humans were that already isolated
places became even more isolated in the years following the black plague. Very many years went buy before the situation were
normal, and even more years went by, in fact several hundred years, before the population again was the same as before the
black plague. We can easily understand that in such times, with the wilderness packed with wolves, bears and lynx, the need for
large livestock guardian dogs were no less than it had been earlier.

We can give a couple of references from the book by Olaus Magnus published in 1555, "The History of the Nordic People",
which gives us a picture of the dogs: "We can find the dog at the side of his master, defending him against bandits, assasins,
murders, thieves and against every possible furious wild animals". Further Olaus Magnus writes that we can find in the Nordic landscapes brave and dreadful dogs, because of the dangerous wild animals, but in Island there is every kind of dogs but not sighthounds and molossers.
I love this reference from Olaus Magnus book, since it, although fairly short, tells us very much about the dogs of Scandinavia.
Olaus Magnus, who were an Archbishop in Uppsala, Sweden, wrote his thick book in 1555. The book was
written in Italy, where he lived from 1537, after he did withdraw from his position as a Catholic Archbishop in Sweden.
Because of his duty as an Archbishop Olaus Magnus had to visit many parts of Scandinavia, so many of the stories in his book
was self-experienced, while other stories was told to him; mostly first but also second or third hand information.
Returning to Olaus Magnus description of the dogs we learn that they were used as watchdogs and personal protection dogs.
We also learn that the "brave and dreadful" dogs are used, most likely, as livestock guarddogs, because of the wild animals.
We understand when Olaus Magnus write "brave and dreadful" that the dogs show these traits against the "dangerous
animals" he writes about, and especially the wolf. And we also understand that when these dogs are brave and dreadful
against wolves and other predators they must be of considerable size and strenght, very unlike the small spitz-type dogs of
Scandinavia.
And so the most interesting part; after that Olaus Magnus writes about the brave and dreadful Nordic dogs that are held because
of the dangerous wild animals, he continue with Island, -and tells us that there we can find every kind of dogs but no sighthounds or
molossers. Very interesting indeed, because he then, indirectly, tell us that these types are found else in the Nordic
countries, but not in Iceland. It is easy to understand why these dogs are not to be found in Iceland; there are no working tasks
for them there. There are no wild animals in Iceland suited for a sighthound hunt. There are no large predators; wolves, lynx
or bears, and therefore there are no need for molossers to protect the livestock.

Detail from an old drawing. Just outside of the town Trondheim,
which can be see in the background.

Even in the Norwegian folk-tales we can find references to the Fehund, where the cattle of the elves (tussene) grazes at night,
guarded by a "budeie" and by black dogs; "...de talrige og trivelige Bølinger av det skjønneste Kvæg der gresse om Natten og vogtes av Budeier og sorte Hunde".

The Fehund/Nauthund were kept as guardians of the cattle, not for the sheep. We can read a reference from Aurskog-Holand,
which is in fact the area that I live, dated 1771, where it is written that the horses are on their own, while the cattle is guarded by
one or or two dogs (called Fehund), that not only protects the flock against the wolves, but also drives the cattle home at the right
time, when they should be milked; ”I disse Fæe-haver gaae deres hæste, uden at bevogtes av nogen; men ved deres horn-kvæg lade de en eller tvende hunde (som de kalde Fæe-Hunde) følge, hvilke ere saa asrettede, at de ikke allene forsvare kvæget eller Bølingen (som de kaller det) fra ulvene, men endogsaa veed at drive det hjem i rette tiid om middag og aften for at malkes.”

Further we can read about the use of the dogs, and their size, from Raade in Østfold, where the author tell us that at many farms they
kept a Fehund, a large dogs that was raised in the cow-house, kept together with the cattle the whole winter. At the summer the
Fehund followed the cattle and guarded them against the wolf. It is also written in this reference that the Fehund used a spiked collar; ”På mange gårder hadde døm fehund – en stor hund som var oppfødd i fjøset frå’n var valp, sto i lag med kuene hele vinter’n da, for at’n skulle bli fehund. Når’em sleppte ut kreatura, så var’n med i skauen hele sommar’n og gjette for tassen. En fehund hadde et bredt belte med piggar i rundt halsen, så ulven ikke var god te å bite’n ihæl.”
We know that this is the way, raised in the cow-house, that livestock guardian dogs have been kept, and still is in some countries,
to better fullfill their task, especially in other parts of Europe.

These dogs were also called Bjørnehund (Bear-dogs), not because they were used in the hunt for bears, -but because their recemblance to the bear. And we get a
picture of the size and how powerful these dogs were, when we read a reference from Rødenes in Østfold in 1820, where the powerful bear-dog was chained
outside the cow-house, in case the wolves would try to get inside to the cows. In the night, while the people at the farm slept, they were waked by the loud sound
of the fighting between the dog and a pack of wolves. The farmer got his rifle and ran outside, shooting in the middle of the pack.
The wolves were frightened and ran off, but over the dog a dead wolf were lying, another made it only over a fence, while a third
were found at spring when the snow melted, dead by its wounds. The dog were not hit by the shot, and recovered quicly with only minor wounds and cuts after the battle with the wolves; ”Det var en vinternatt på Østenby, antakelig omkring 1820. Der hadde de en kraftig bjørnehund lenket til fjøsveggen i tilfelle ulvene ville forsøke å trenge inn i fjøset. Det var langt på natten og folkene lå og sov. Da får de høre lurveleven nede ved fjøsen og bonden – Petter Johannessen – farer opp og ut i koven hvorfra han har utsikt til fjøset. Han får da se en flokk ulver i rasende kamp med hunden. Han griper da børsa, som var ladet med ”rennejuker”, dvs. store hagl, løper ut i bare skjorta og skyter midt i flokken. Ulvene ble nå skremt og løp sin vei, men over hunden lå en død ulv, en annen var så vidt kommet seg over et gjerde og ble liggende der, en tredje fant de om våren da snøen smeltet. Den lå mellom Østenby og Krosby og hadde der bukket under for sine sår. Hunden hadde heldigvis gått klar av skuddet, den hadde fått en del sår og risp etter slagsmålet, men ble snart like god som før.”
Again we easily understand the size and powerfulness of these dogs, when we read that this dog sucessful defending himself against a whole pack of wolves, with only minor wounds and bruises from the battle.

The Englishman Thomas Robert Malthus visited Norway in 1799 and wrote about his travels in the southern parts of the country.
He made a couple of excellent references to the large flock guarding dogs of Norway. One of the references goes like this;
"After dinner we talked with our host, which owned a farm. At the farm he had 60 cows, 12-13 horses and six cotters. All the
animals had  been taken to the grazing land in the mountains, and they had two men and two women to look after them, and some
very huge dogs to protect them against the wolves." (”Etter middag snakket vi med vår vert, som viste seg å være eier av en hel
gård. Han hadde seksti kuer, tolv, tretten hester og seks husmenn. Kuene går nu på beite i fjellet – på setrene som de kaller det.
De hadde dratt til fjells for en uke siden og har to mann og to budeier til å pass på dem, og noen digre hunder til å forsvare dem
mot ulvene.”) The place which Malthus tells about is near Tretten in Oppland.
Further Malthus gives another description of the large Molosser dogs of Norway, this time near Magnor in Hedmark, near the
Swedish border; "The second time was one evening when he was walking a big dog that was owned by a farmer,  and which was attacked by four wolves at the same time. The dog had a collar with iron spikes,  and since the dog was very muscular and powerful he defended himself against all four wolves, forcing them one after the other on their back. The dog was never on its back but stood its ground. When Mr. L. came all wolves fled into the forest."
(”Andre gangen var da han en aften var ute og gikk med en stor hund som tilhørte en gårdbruker, og som ble angrepet samtidig av fire ulver. Hunden hadde et halsband med stålpigger, og da den var meget kraftig og energisk, forsvarte den seg mot alle fire og fikk dem overende, den ene efter den andre – selv lå
den aldri under. Da herr L. Kom den til unnsetning, løp ulvene til skogs.” Videre skriver han; ”Den før nevnte hund kom en aften hjem til gårbrukeren oversmurt med blod, som de mente skrev seg fra et slagsmål med ulver. Neste morgen fant de halene og hodeskinnene av noen ulver som de antok var blitt slukt av sine kamerater efter å være blitt såret av hunden.”)
Malthus writes a third reference of the Fehund; "There were a bobcat in the area, which had killed some of the largest dogs
that followed the cattle". (”Det holdt til en villkatt i trakten, og den hadde drept noen av de største hundene som fulgte kuene.”)
These descriptions given us by Mr. Malthus gives us a very good picture of the size and work of the flock guardian
of Norway, as well as what they was capable of. Again we understand that these dogs were very large and extremely powerful.

Some other old references to the Fehund can be found at the "Facts" page. But this page would be very large if I included all
references here, so I am keeping some for later projects.

The Fehund/Nauthund of Norway have been a important part of our history, defending the livestock against wolves, bears and
bobcats. We can find references to these dogs as early as in the Viking age (A.D. 793-1066), and all the way up to the mid/late
1800's. The largest "wolf-period" in modern times were in the years between 1840-1850, and after this period in time the
references become scarce. The last certain reference was given by Henry, Lord Brougham in 1871, but when analyzing Lord
Brougham writings we understand that these dogs were in no means rare at that time. It is therefore possible that there were
Fehunds surviving in remote and isolated places into the 1900's.
But, as many other molosser breeds in other parts of the world, the Fehund became extinct when the predators were decimated,
and the large flock guardians were no longer needed. After all, a large dog costs more to keep than a small dog, and the
farmers, often poor, could not keep dogs that no longer had an important working task.