Hi! I've noticed many, many, many breeders advertise that they get their breeding stock from Swedish breeders; this  goes for just about any breed. Why are Swedish-bred dogs or dogs with Swedish bloodlines so sought after?? I don't get it! Do the Swedes feed their dogs special food that produces superior specimens or is there something in the water there that produces better dogs?

I can't say it's something I've ever noticed. What breeds have you seen it with? Perhaps they're breeds of Swedish origin?

I'm sure Marianne will comment on this one, but don't the Swedes have stricter health testing requirements and regulations on dog breeding?

Sweden is known for having very good quality of both dogs and cats (all you need to do is check out group and BOB winners at Crufts for the past several years and also the world shows) -and yes, very strict breeding restrictions. You CANNOT register puppies unless the puppies' parents have been health tested with GOOD results (and we had the requirement of permanent ID decades before it was required here for health tests), and it will cost you nearly twice as much per pup if you register a litter where the parents haven't won certain awards at either shows or in any type of official work that the breed is used for. Some breeds (such as my own, Belgian Shepherd and the majority of pastoral and working breeds) cannot be bred from unless they have passed a character test first. Breeders are all inspected by the KC, bit like the ABS here but everyone gets a visit and this has been going on for as long as I know.

Off the top of my head, I remember Golden Retrievers, Dachshunds, Dalmatians, Poodles, even Havanese which, one would think people would want to get from American breeders as the Americans were the ones to develop the breed as it is today from dogs brought in from Cuba. Swedish sighthounds especially are prized for some reason.

Think about it -MUCH easier to import from Sweden than from the US! The quality is there, lots of very good breeders, some people have jumped on the bandwagon and breed the designer crosses but generally speaking, here's a country that doesn't have stray dogs, have very few dogs in rescue, rescue centres are extremely rare and operate waiting lists for people wanting a dog, breeders tend to be responsible ones to a MUCH greater extent than here etc.

It works both ways actually -lots and lots of Swedish breeders are importing from the UK, and always have done, because the quality HERE is also known. I've lived in Sweden and imported from England and now I live in England and have imported from Sweden. :) We all need new blood now and then.

Thanks Goldmali! After reading about the strict regulations Swedish breeders have to follow, I can see why people seek to import from them.

I believe standards in dogs are high in all the Scandinavian countries.

I can only speak for Finland, but I know it's pretty much the same in Sweden. In both countries health checking the breeding stock is, and has been, far superior compared to most of the Europian countries [and America] for a long time.
For example Finland has a database where you can find out what health checks your prospective stud dog has had and the results [hips, elbows, eyes, thyroid, heart,etc]. How many litters they've sired and with who. How many puppies were in each litter and whether any of the pups were affected with any breed specific illnesses [in my case HC].
You can also find a cause of death of a dog. This for me is really important because if for example the dog died because of an epileptic fit, that dogs progeny would be an absolut no no for me. 
I've noticed in my breed that breeders who've gone down the 'fashion route' and now want to bring back 'the correct type' will either go to eastern Europe or Scandinavia and that's because in these coutries you can still find 'the correct type'
In Finland and Sweden judges obviously judge by the FCI standard which in my breed certainly makes all the difference. Never understood why the British would chance a standard for a German breed...