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The Majestic Mastiff Dog
from: The Complete DogThe adage in London's Cynographia Britannica about Mastiff dogs, a certain Edwards, S. (1800) wrote:
"What the Lion is to the Cat, the Mastiff is to the Dog, the noblest of the family; he stands alone, and all others are below him."
Mastiff dogs are considered by many the greatest of all canines which is why, if ever you're considering adding one to your family, they come highly recommend by anyone who's owned one of these majestic creatures.
So what exactly makes them so special? Since many breeds of large dogs shares the same massive body structure as Mastiffs, this hardly makes this trait particularly special. As far as trainability goes, Mastiffs are surprisingly stubborn, despite having once been used as cattle dogs, thus making it more difficult to make them job specialized in the way Rottweilers are. Now regarding temperament, this is where Mastiff dogs shine bright.
Temperament of Mastiff Dogs
Mastiffs were originally bred as herd-dogs or cattle-dogs, which is why they're naturally powerful, large, robust and well muscled. They stand tall and though there's no specific height or weight for mastiff dogs, they normally stand 25 to 35 inches tall at the withers and between 80 to 100 kg, depending on the Mastiff breed. There've been exceptional cases, such as such as an Alpine Mastiff St. Bernard who weighs as much as 152.5 kg named Benedictine, and the Guinness Record Mastiff, Zorba, who stands 37 inches and 143 kg. All these characteristics lend to a potentially nasty facade.
On the contrary, Mastiffs are extremely tolerant, especially towards smaller beings including children and other pets. They're so gentle you can also read the line:
"In a family, he (referring to an English Mastiff) will permit the children to play with him and will suffer all their little pranks without offence."
Mastiff dogs are extremely loyal, and they get very attached to the family, especially a family who has given him plenty of attention. The Nana of the Darling children (Peter Pan, Walt Disney), which is a St. Bernard, has sprinkles of truth in it. Mastiffs have very strong protective tendencies towards humans and is likely to stand in front of a family member if it perceives a threat. It doesn't attack mind you, as Rottweilers do, it just stands there, protecting and refusing to budge.
Often nicknamed the gentle giant, other extremely gentle breeds include the English Mastiff and Great Danes, and to lesser extent Boxers and Bulldogs.
If you're interested in adding Mastiff dogs as family member, you can get more information at this site: http://www.terrificpets.com/dogs_for_sale/mastiff_for_sale.asp
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