Mastiff – Old English Mastiff

A large, powerful, symmetrical and massive frame in unity with good nature and docility. These above words sum up what an English Mastiff or The Mastiff as he is usually recalled must be. He has a high degree of proudness, supreme self-confidence and a mighty dignity which can never be mistaken. Such attributes are the hallmark of the Mastiff and impressive size that does coincide with calmness and grandeur. The Mastiff is a thin haired dog, with a huge head and a squared muzzle, with impeccable strength and volume.

History:

The name “Mastiff” is derived from the classical English “Mastif” or it may be said to be a corruption of the French word “Matin”, both being use to a great extent to describe any dog breed with above average size, good fighting abilities and guarding abilities. In Wales, the Welsh Law book of Howel the Good, who died in A.D 950, we come across a paragraph;
“There are three kinds of cur (meaning dog), the mastiff, the shepherd dog, and the house dog.”

According to traditions, it is a fact that Mastiffs were used as dogs of war, wearing spiked collars and were released to attack enemy horses and doing remarkable damage. William Shakespeare wrote in his tragic play Julius Caesar

“Cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war”

One important strain of the Mastiff from the early 15th century till the WW 1 is the Lyme Hall Mastiffs. History can never be enlightened without mentioning Sir Piers Legh, who under the orders of King Henry the V, fought the decisive Battle of Agincourt -1415 A.D where he laid mortally wounded and his body was guarded by his Mastiff bitch who denied to give up until the Englishmen arrived. Her master expired and she was taken back to England with full honour along with his master’s corpse. That bitch produced the very first litter that commenced the famous Lyme Hall strain. The last of Lyme Hall Mastiff died during the 1st World War (1917) when feed shortages occurred and they were forced to sleep.

The breed standard for the Mastiff was accepted by the Kennel Club (England) in 1883, when the OEMC (Old English Mastiff Club) drafted the very first standard.

The number of Mastiffs registered during both the wars fell sharply and the breed was at the edge of extinction especially in Britain where a number of kennels were disbanded due to financial restraints and many dogs were exported to USA.After the war, search started for subjects that had the required type without any outcrossing with the then Bull-Mastiff (later Bullmastiff). Mastiffs were imported from USA, later Canada (the descendants of the same lineage imported during the war) and the threat of extinction was eradicated. The plot went successful and breeders were able to erase as much as possible the outcrossed blood that was prevalent in those times.

Essentials of the Breed:

Dogs, minimum, 30 inches at the shoulder. Bitches, minimum, 27½ inches at the shoulder. Acceptable colours are fawn, apricot, or brindle. Brindle should have fawn or apricot as a background colour which should be completely covered with very dark stripes. The head is very large and shows immense power coupled with nobility. Muzzle, ears, and nose must be dark in color, the darker the better, with similar color tone around the eye orbits and extending upward between them.

Character:

A Mastiff has never been a pack dog and never a kennel dog. The Mastiff thrives on human companionship and enjoys physical contact. As his ancestry dates back to old fighting times, he can be undeniably aggressive towards any trespasser or any other dog inside his territorial limits. Aggression in a growing adult should always be dealt as early as possible. Socializing at an early age is therefore of paramount importance as the breed of this volume can create a disaster if he gets out of control.

For courage and gentleness there is no other breed such as the Mastiff as he is trustworthy between children, excellent guard dog, tolerant of other animals and clean and punctual in his habits. There is no dog more fitted for human association than the Mastiff and there is no dog which goes wrong so quickly without it. A Mastiff is not an elegant mover as an animal of his size and volume can not be expected to elegantly gait as a Dobermann or a Saluki. New owners and fanciers should be well aware of the functions he needed to perform in his early days of selection centuries ago, and should always respect the breed and have a firm control. The Mastiff should never be allowed to misbehave and show of ferocity be promptly stopped. A dog that may well end up over 100kg in weight, it will be almost impossible to force him to be obedient when fully grown.

Choosing a Mastiff Puppy:

1. The first thing to look in the puppy is the squareness of the head, with a lot of bone mass and strong tight feet.
2. Check the bite. Some lines have a tendency of producing puppy with a slight over shot jaw that will balance nicely once the dog matures and the under jaw continues to grow. It’s not an alarming situation even if a pup is level bite or slightly undershot as the standard accepts the scissor bite as well as slight undershot; but remember it must not be that much the dog shows his lower jaw when reaching maturity.
3. Go for darker muzzle pigmentation. The darker, the better. And do not believe in the saying that the pigmentation will darken as the dog matures. It will probably get worst.
4. It is assumed in the Molossian family especially the squared muzzle breeds as Bullmastiff, English Mastiff, Neapolitan Mastiff and Dogue de Bourdeauxe that the wider the distance between the two eyes, the greater the possibility of the development of the required wide skull and expression, so look for this quality in puppies.
5. There must be ample depth of chest in combination with legs set wide apart and straighter limbs.
6. Check for any long coat or feathering at the edges of ears, the tail and under legs, it may be a sign of wooly coat. This is not suitable for show fanciers as it does not adhere to the type perpetuated.

Tags: Dog, dog breed, dog breeds, dogs, dogs of war, english mastif, english mastiff, Mastiff, mastiffs, Old English Mastiff Club