Is The English Mastiff The Dog For You?

The English Mastiff dog is often imagined as a huge and powerful animal, but his character and temperament belies this initial impression.

In some regards you are right. He certainly is a large animal - the average English Mastiff stands at about 30 inches at the shoulder for males and only a little shorter for females.

And he is no lightweight - a male English Mastiff can weigh in between 160 and 230 pounds, and the female around 140 and 190 pounds or more!

The English Mastiff dog has traditionally been seen primarily as a large and powerful guard dog, but many centuries ago he was bred as a fighting dog. Indeed there is evidence that the Romans, when they invaded Britain, discovered that their own fighting dogs were bettered by the native English mastiff breed. Whereupon they exported these English dogs back to Rome, to fight in the Colosseum, alongside all the other exotic wild animals from the length and breadth of the Roman Empire.

The English Mastiff is supposed to have originally arrived in Britain over 2 millenia ago on the ships of adventurous Phoenician traders.

Over the ensuing centuries, the English mastiff was used in many different capacities other than as a powerful guard dog. It was particularly renowned in the doubtful sports of bear and bull baiting, as well as dog fighting, which were enormously popular past-times in Britain until fairly recent times, but it was also used to hunt wolves and boar.

When these cruel pastimes were eventually banned in the middle nineteenth century England, the numbers of English Mastiff dogs declined rapidly, so that by the end of the 1940s, there were only a handful surviving. Whereas the breed was declining in Britain, it was thriving in the USA, and stock was imported to strengthen and revive the breed in the Britain.

So why would you choose such a dog?

The modern English Mastiff dog is a mixture of grandeur, dignity and courage. He is also highly prized as a fearless and tenacious family guardian, loving and affectionate towards his family. He has a powerful protective instinct towards his family, and will place himself between his owner and any "threatening" stranger.

The Official Breed Standard for the Old English Style Mastiff from Kennel Club of the UK describes his temperament as : Calm and affectionate to his owners, and also capable of guarding.

A huge dog, with a natural guardian instinct, enormously strong yet gentle and loving to his family, the English Mastiff dog will reward the suitable owner with years of unswerving and loving care, protection, and gentle companionship. He is incredibly gentle with children.