Natural History

Posted in dog breeds | Tagged Neapolitan mastiff | 17 Comments

17 Responses

1. on March 22, 2011 at 12:25 pm Jess

   When I was a Girl Scout, I wouldn’t have bothered trying to knock on the door of a house with dogs like that. I didn’t need to sell cookies *that* badly.

   
   
2. on March 22, 2011 at 1:45 pm Bridget

   It is this same, man-made evolution towards weird-looking creatures in many other breeds. When a single, odd-looking mutant, incidentally, is born, it is bred to his / her mother / father, or both. And another new show star has risen.

   
   
3. on March 22, 2011 at 5:04 pm Pai

   Come on, Scottie. Those are obviously poor-examples of the breed, if not outright MONGRELS!

   Or are you suggesting that the original Mastino was just a variety of a typical mastiff dog? Heresy! Heresy!

   
   
4. on March 22, 2011 at 6:11 pm Bridget

   The parts of the old World, from Iceland to Fenno-Scandia and Siberia are curious one way. They didn’t have mastiffes, tho’ they may have needed them badly.
   These Northern folks had big cattle of deer. But they did’t know the life guardian dogs at all.

   Or, the Assyrian and (later) Roman culture did not give their big dogges to the so-called northern barbarians – if so can be said.

   In the North, there were the reindeer-herding culture going on already for some thousands of years ago.
   Their cattle dogs were mid-sized or even small. They couldn’t guard the deers against the wolf.

   In the eastern Sami areas, they had their bigger, long-legged dogs. They can’t be called mastiffs no way.

   
   
   • on March 23, 2011 at 1:09 pm retrieverman

     Mastiff dogs are creatures that developed in early horticultural and pastoralist societies.

     They usually required too much upkeep for someone living in the northern climates.

     
     
5. on March 22, 2011 at 9:12 pm Christopher@BorderWars

   Wow, makes me sad to see what they’ve become. Such a shame.

   
   
6. on March 23, 2011 at 12:15 pm kym mae

   What in the world would people in Iceland need mastiffs for? They don’t herd reindeer. They have always had sheep and being that there are no predators on the island there is no reason for livestock guardians. Perhaps they could have used the mastiff as an estate guardian, but Icelandic sheepdogs handle that job well given their propensity to barking.

   
   
   • on March 23, 2011 at 1:07 pm retrieverman

     The Norse did have mastiffs, and there is some evidence that they brought them to their colonies in the North Atlantic.

     http://www.allempires.net/forum/your-countrys-biggest-and-wildest-dog_topic124954_post19861.html

     The Broholmer of Denmark is said to be very similar to that breed.

     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broholmer

     There is a persistent rumor that these dogs are the ancestor of the big Newfoundland dog, but they are not.

     
     
     • on March 23, 2011 at 9:03 pm HTTrainer

       for a moment I thought you were going to mention that “other dog” of Newfoundland.

       
       
7. on March 23, 2011 at 2:17 pm kym mae

   I’m not saying that the Norse didn’t have mastiff breeds, just that they aren’t necessary in a unique environment like that of Iceland, which explains why historically, there are none in that specific country.

   Perhaps a few mastiff breeds were brought to Iceland by early Vikings, but there are specific reasons why the Icelandic Sheepdog became so firmly established in the country and why mastiff breeds never did.

   
   
8. on March 23, 2011 at 11:12 pm bjarne

   “The Norse did have mastiffs, and there is some evidence that they brought them to their colonies in the North Atlantic.

   http://www.allempires.net/forum/your-countrys-biggest-and-wildest-dog_topic124954_post19861.html

   The Broholmer of Denmark is said to be very similar to that breed.

   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broholmer ”

   I don´t think thats is corect ,the broholmer probaly shared alot more blood with breeds like the great dane
   even along time ago (just look at the geography) just look up how the great dane got its name ;-)
   Anyway the breed has been reacreated twice !
   first created (or recreated depending on how you look at it)
   in the mid 1800 century and then recreated from 1974 onwards (a work in progress) with other modern breeds added.
   http://www.broholmeren.org/ just look at the photos (Galleri) does that look like a LGD /mastiff for a cold climate?

   Kåre Konradsen who created the great website Molosserworld (wich unfortunatly doesn´t exsist anymore)
   wrote a very good articel about the LGD mastiff of norway
   and sweden (wich I can´t find online anymore)wich is called Dalbohund after the last area where it exsisted

   Not much info remains ,there is that famous photo of the female Bella that you linked to and one photo of her son,
   some spike collars in museums looking more or less
   identical to ones still used today to protect the dogs from
   wolfs ,a skin that might have been from a dalbohund and
   a few references to LGD in old texts but not alot.

   
   
   • on March 24, 2011 at 2:24 am retrieverman

     Great Dane is a misnomer. They are actually German.

     The Dalbodog didn’t have long hair. Look at the photos of them.

     
     
   • on March 24, 2011 at 2:27 am retrieverman

     The Broholmer is a mix of the German dog.

     Great Danes have nothing to do with Denmark.

     It was Buffon who made the error.

     
     
   • on March 24, 2011 at 2:28 am retrieverman

     I think there is some relationship between the old broholmer and the Dalbohund.

     It wasn’t really a LGD. It was a general farm guardian, like the farm bulldogs I’ve written about.

     
     
   • on March 24, 2011 at 2:29 am retrieverman

     http://barasaras.bloggplatsen.se/2007/08/12/230377-utdod-hundras-far-liv-pa-gamla-bilder/

     
     
   • on March 24, 2011 at 2:53 am retrieverman

     Note that both photos of the Dalbodog depict a dog with shorter hair than the modern Broholmer, which has a lot of English mastiff in its background. Maybe German mastiff/Great Dane.

     These dogs are derived from a large farm dog that was common Scandinavia.

     The Broholmer is a recreation, of course! The original dog had to have been related to the ones in Sweden and Norway. There is not a single dog in all of northern Germany that is like this. The “Great Dane” is a hunting dog, and it is probably derived from the same stock as the Irish wolfhound. It never was a farm guard dog, which is why the nobles in Germany always had them. The closest thing the northern Germans ever had to this sort of dog is the Hovawart, which has also been recreated. It is a feathered dog. It was used to guard farms.

     But hair length isn’t the issue with cold tolerance.

     It’s hair density, and the existence of an undercoat.

     That’s why Labs and Chesapeakes are so much more tolerant of cold water than flat-coated retrievers. It looks like the Broholmer is pretty densely coated, like a Labrador, and less like an English mastiff.

     I was referring to the Old Broholmer as being part of the same landrace as the Dalbodog.

     Not the new one.

     
     
9. on September 15, 2011 at 5:14 pm Kåre Konradsen

   Hi
   Just wanted to say that the Dalbohund did exist in two coats, one shorthaired and one longer haired. The longer haired were problary the most common. There are at least three preserved coats/skins from the dalbohund; one shorthaired and two longer haired. Notice that I write longer-haired and not long-haired. The coat of the longer haired were long in at some parts of the body, but overall it was more thick and with double coated, much more than the shorthaired dalbohund. The fur/skin of the short-haired can be seen at the museum “Ødeborgs Fornsal” in Dalsland, the second fur is in very bad shape and is stoved away at another museum, while the third fur is in my possession.
   You can find a picture here: http://www.dalbohunden.se/images/dalborek201109.jpg
   And at the frontpage http://www.dalbohunden.se/ you can find a picture of me and two old ladies studying the short-haired skin before in was given to the museum,
   The search for information and pictures of the extinct Dalbohund continues, and it is quite much new stuff that I have found so far.
   And while I am here; Molosserworld will of course return :) at http://www.moloss.com

   Kåre Konradsen

   
   

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