Posted on 08/03/2007 11:58:44 AM PDT by VaRepublican
INFO ON ENGLISH MASTIFF’S
Originally valued for their abilities as a fierce guard and fighting dog, today’s Mastiff is a gentle giant. It is a self-confident, watchful, and patient dog who is gentle-natured towards his family. Intelligent and dignified. It rarely barks, but it is in its nature to defend its territory and family.
They weigh around 160 lbs.
Found in Britain as early as the Roman invasion, the Noble Old English Mastiff was probably brought to that island by Phoenician traders as early as the 6th century BC. Since then, the Mastiff has been used as an arena gladiator by the Romans, in the bloody sport of bull, bear and dog combat, and as a sheep guardian, bodyguard, protector, and companion. A Mastiff came to America on the Mayflower and subsequently other dogs were imported. By the end of World War II, Mastiffs were almost extinct in England. However, with fresh imports from the United States and Canada, the breed is once again well established in today’s England. Some of the Mastiff’s talents include: watchdogging, guarding, police work, military work, search & rescue, and weight pulling.
The article just calls the dogs Mastiffs. No indication as to which breed of Mastiff.
I’ve owned English Mastiffs for 30 years. 10 of those years we showed and bred Mastiffs as a hobby sport. I have two English Mastiffs in the room right now.
As you stated the English Mastiff is on the top of the hierarchy of the Mastiff type dogs. Today’s English Mastiff however, makes a lousy “Dog of War” due to years of selective breeding and the fact the current English breed stock can be traced back to a handful of dogs that survived WWI and WWII which had the “game” or what ever term used for viscousness bred out in large part previous to the wars. That makes the English Mastiff less prone to be exploited by the unscrupulous dog abuser.
The story of the British Mastiff breeders, all registered purebred dog breeders in England for that matter, during the World Wars is pretty interesting. The British breeders sent their dogs far and wide. America and Canada took many, however most never returned for various reasons the biggest being money and the quarantine process which made pet repatriation virtually impossible during the immediate post war era. A 10 year old English Mastiff is pushing the mortality rate and a viable breeder at that age is non-existent.
LOL - Yes. And those were the good old days for me. ;o)
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