A BREEDER'S PERSPECTIVE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM KENNEL CLUB MASTIFF STANDARD

We bought our first mastiff in 1980. It was certainly our luck rather than our judgement that led us to finding an excellent, caring breeder from the outset. We just grabbed a dog magazine and started 'phoning mastiff breeders until we found one with puppies for sale! Our first dog was a good representative of the breed, but unfortunately was missing two thirds of his tail, due a slight mishap in the whelping box. As we "only wanted a pet" this bothered us not at all. Naturally we were soon affected by the well known mastiff ownership syndrome of needing to have two mastiffs, then of course, three sounded better than two and so on down (or up) the slippery slope. In fact we have never owned more than seven mastiffs at one time, they all always live in the house with us, and in truth we found even with just seven, as individuals they were not getting all the love and attention they deserved. We have only bred sparingly, when we wanted a new puppy for ourselves, but would have bred rather more had our girls been a little more amenable towards maternity. We show occasionally, but not in a flat out campaigning manner, our dogs prefer to be at home, and we maintain an active interest in the activities of the two representative breed clubs in the UK, The Mastiff Association, and the Old English Mastiff Club.

The UK Breed Standard has remained little changed for very many years, and I trust it remains unchanged for many years to come. It is essential that breeders attempt to produce mastiffs to fit the standard, and that the standard is not altered to accommodate the dogs being produced at any given time. I will attempt to explain the standard a little, and perhaps add a few words of my own where I feel the standard is not totally clear.

Firstly, the overall appearance and temperament. Large, massive, powerful and symmetrical, well knit frame. A combination of grandeur and courage. Calm, affectionate to owners, but capable of guarding. When you take the words large and massive together, you should realise that this is not referring to a very tall dog similar to a grey hound. We are looking for huge substance, a heavy dog, with the legs to carry the weight. A large head with the neck to carry the head, a thick heavy tail with the hind quarters to carry it. In other words, balanced. All the parts of a mastiff should fit so well together that you get the symmetry called for in the standard. No exaggerations. Calm, yes, but remember we are describing the adult dog, puppies should be puppies whatever the breed. Affectionate to owners - in my experience devotion would perhaps be a better word. Capable of guarding - now what does this mean? Not I think a dog which is in constant danger of boiling over into a ferocious beast ready to tear any stranger from limb to limb. Rather a dog, who, when he sees the need arises, will emit a deep growl which starts somewhere down at the bottom of his lungs and will stop malefactors in their steps when they hear it. A dog which can offer all the warning necessary in one or two deep barks. A dog that uses his bulk rather than his teeth if the need arises. A dog which will seize and hold rather than rip to shreds. Most importantly though a mastiff is a dog who spends 99.9% of his life apparently "off duty" when it comes to guarding. There is no room here for shyness in the breed we are describing, shyness of people or situations, but to me a certain wariness is acceptable, and there has long been a show ring debate about whether dogs who guard should be tolerant of strangers handling them all over.

The standard describes the head of the mastiff in very full detail, even to the extent of giving ratios between one part and another. By studying the standard appertaining to the head there is little room for doubt about what is required, it is perhaps worth emphasing that the UK standard states "wrinkled when attention is excited" when talking about the forehead only - not the entire head. The important thing is that when viewed from any angle the head appears square and a domed skull must always be considered incorrect.

Eyes small and wide apart - no mention here of how they are set, but if you return to the description of the head, it says Brows (superciliary ridges) slightly raised, which means that the eyes should appear to be fairly deep set. If you remember the fighting history of the breed anything different would leave the eyes very vulnerable to damage. Eyes coloured hazel brown, the darker the better. This colour description is strange to me, hazel is a light brown colour yet we like our mastiffs eyes to be very dark. It surely must mean that a dog should not be penalised in the show ring for eyes as light as hazel brown? Showing no haw - a health issue - no ectropion (or entropion).

Ears small, thin to touch and set wide apart, laying close to the cheek in repose. We see far too many thick low set houndy ears which completely spoil the overall outline of the head. As an aside, when a mastiff is happy and fooling around it is wonderful to see the position they can get these ears into - often turned almost inside out and laying flat along the neck!

Mouth. Oh dear, if only more judges would take a greater note of the breed standard here and apply it in the show ring. Put in very basic terms, it is perfectly acceptable for the teeth of the lower jaw of the mastiff to extend beyond those of the upper jaw, provided they are not visible when the mouth is closed. In other words it is perfectly OK for a mastiff to be undershot. There is no mention of a scissor or level bite. It is often a slight degree of underbite that gives that wonderful, cut off square appearance of the mastiffs muzzle. The teeth in each jaw must be strong, healthy and even - remember these dogs were used for killing bulls and bears - they didn't lick them to death!

Neck - yes they should have one. It has to be powerful and muscular to carry that enormous head, and of moderate length - remember when our dogs were killers - they needed to be able to reach their prey. There are far too many mastiffs around where the head looks as though it is set straight on to the shoulders.

The forequarters are well described in the standard, remember they are carrying the weight of the neck and head already described. The legs have to be well boned. The shoulders and elbows are the joints that allow the front legs to extend out in front to pick up the enormous drive coming from the hindquarters. Never underestimate the importance of the shoulder and elbow placement.

Body wide deep and well let down between forelegs. Remember here we are talking about the finished adult dog, a mastiff can be four or five years old before the chest is fully let down. The height of the mastiff largely comes from the depth of body - not the length of leg. the back and loins wide and muscular - and here we get a difference in the standard between the dog and the bitch - rare in the mastiff standard, flat and very wide in bitch, slightly arched in a dog. And all this width must come from the skeleton and from muscle. When you look down on a mastiff from above, especially a bitch, you should see a mass of dog vaguely reminiscent of the deck of an aircraft carrier, like the standard says, flat and wide, but always there would be a visible defined "waistline". We are also looking for a long body - nothing square or cobby here, and this requires a strong spine and a well sprung rib cage to keep the level top line. Great depth of flanks - no mention of any tuck up, but this great depth tends to develop with age in the dog and maternity in the bitch.

The hindquarters are required to be broad wide and muscular - with well developed second thighs (this is all muscle) hocks bent, wide apart, and quite squarely set when standing or walking. Well this all sounds simple - but what is one of the greatest criticisms we hear of mastiffs in the show ring - straight stifles! And the breed standard doesn't even mention them! This is simply because there is no need to. A basic knowledge of conformation of the dog will allow you to realise that if the hocks are bent, then the stifles HAVE to have a compensating amount of bend. Forget about the current fashion of standing the dog in the show ring with its back feet set well back behind its tail, and bring to mind of a mastiff standing naturally alert. You should be able to draw a mental vertical line down the centre of the thighs which will continue down to the foot, if the hocks are correctly bent, the there has to be an equivalent bend in the stifle to achieve this straight line. Hocks which turn either in or out denote a weakness of structure. Remember the hindquarters of the mastiff are the "engine" this is where the driving power comes from and we need strength throughout.

Feet - well there are just four of them carrying the huge weight of dog already described. Most pups are born with good feet and these will be kept into adulthood given the correct feeding and exercise regime.

The tail set high on - how high the standard doesn't say, but it certainly should be set low. Remember the tail is the continuation of the spine which we have already established needs to be strong. Most often if the tail of the adult dog extends appreciably below the hocks, it is set on too low. As for tail carriage - I can only quote one of the "grand old ladies" of mastiffs in the UK, who many years ago said to me "My dear! A mastiffs tail is never gay".

Gait should be powerful with easy extension. We have covered this above, drive coming from behind, easily picked up by the forwards extension of the forelegs. A mastiff moving with determination covers a vast distance in just one stride. Take the chance to see their footprints in the snow or in sand.

The coat of mastiffs varies enormously - standard says short and close lying, but not too fine over shoulders neck and back. This means that not only is a long haired or fluffy mastiff incorrect, but also is one whose coat is like short cut velvet all over with now variation in length. Remember that coat used to not only have to protect our dogs from the bites of bears but also offer all round weather protection.

Colour - well fawn, apricot or silver, or dark fawn brindle. All should have a black muzzle, black ears and nose and black round the orbits and between them. There are a lot of brindles without these markings. Absolutely no mention of white in the standard.

So there is a brief resume of most parts of the UK Kennel Club Breed Standard for the mastiff. It's all there written down, you just need to go a find a dog that fits the standard. Except, for me, there is one other point of the mastiff not mentioned - probably because it almost impossible to capture in words, but once you have seen it, and it is rare, you will never, ever forget it. Not many mastiffs have it, it takes a lot of searching to find it, but a search well worth the effort. It is something in the mastiffs face, something in its' expression. It tells you of its' ability to love, to protect, to defend its' owner to its' own death. It tells of the years of suffering we humans have inflicted on the breed, using it to bait bears and bulls, chopping off its' toes so it cannot chase deer. It tells of the beatings, neglect and starvation which are still inflicted on our breed to this very day. It tells of bitches kept in foul conditions having litter after litter until they are no further use, it tells of the weak sickly puppies bred in these conditions. In this very special expression you can see the centuries of suffering, and yet all the pride is there as well - it is the very essence of a mastiff.

Read About The Author Anne Griffin

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