Why Choose an English Mastiff Dog?

Think of the English Mastiff dog, and you immediately picture a huge animal, built like a lion, with enormous strength - and probably extremely fierce and violent.

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. The breed was used in wild game hunting - wolves and boar being common prey - and for a period was employed in the popular spectator "sports" of dog fighting, bear baiting and bull baiting.

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. Fortunately, the breed was rather more popular and successful in the United States, and some of these were imported into Britain to regenerate the meagre English stock.

So why would you choose such a dog?

The modern English Mastiff dog is a mixture of grandeur, dignity and courage. Famously loyal, calm, affectionate and loving toward his family, he is a first-class guardian, since he can be ferocious, tenacious and fearless when the need arises. One of the endearing characteristics of this breed is that the English Mastiff instinctually positions himself between his owner and a stranger when an unknown person approaches the family's territory - he has this wonderful "protector" instinct.

The UK Kennel Club Official Breed Standard for the Old English Style Mastiff describes his temperament as : Calm - Affectionate to owners - Capable of guarding.

The English Mastiff is a dog with not only a huge body, but a heart to match. He is incredibly gentle with children.

Discover more about this fascinating animal and the breeding program that produced it by clicking on this link English Mastiff dog You can visit the website and sign up for the free email course on looking after your mastiff - the direct link is Mastiff Secrets Course.