Mastí del Pirineu

History

Originating from a local breed of livestock dogs, the Mastí del Pirineu was developed in Spain in the early 1900s and not long after did this breed face a scarce population number almost making them become quickly extinct. This large breed was than fully recognized for its amazing guarding flock qualities on the farm and in the home and was quickly becoming very popular both outside and inside the United States. Today, the Mastí del Pirineu can be seen all over the world being loved by families and considered a close companion.

Appearance

With a beautiful coat available in mostly white with shades of brown or gray markings on top, this large breed is lovable from it's personality straight to its appearance. A very large body, and massive head is carried by four large and lean legs and 4 big paws. Their ears are pendant shaped and thick, falling along side of their face. Often their large almond shaped eyes can be shades of brown or even close to their marking colors of grey. A large nose and rectangular muzzle creates a face you just can't help but smile at! Typically this breed has "ticking" of black or brown tiny spots on their muzzle as an appearance trait. Their tail is very large and long, with thick hair feathering off of it, as it generally is positioned up and away from their body. Males and females measure 28-30 inches in height and typically weigh 180-220 pounds in weight.

Temperament

The Mastí del Pirineu is a wonderful guardian to add to any family. Wonderful around children of all ages, elderly and other pets as long as raised along side of them. This breed requires a long daily walk to ensure mental and physical health, but extra exercise is not required for this commonly "lazy" couch potato! This breed is suited well for both farm and apartment living. This breed is very alert, and will always remain a watchful eye and "bark" for your home and family. Positive reinforcement training methods are the only methods recommended for this breed. Potential owners of this breed need to enforce rules, boundaries and manners as this puppy is growing due to their massive size and awareness to their strength they will have as an adult dog.

Grooming

This large breed has a very thick, double coat that needs daily combing as well as regular, professional grooming to ensure the health of the hair. Pay close attention to their tail as well as growth of nails as this is a large body to be carried on 4 paws!

Special Notes

Please fully educate yourself about the Mastí del Pirineu prior to adding one to your family to ensure you are able to provide the care, time and training needs that this breed requires. Do not add this dog to your home unless you are able to make a life long commitment to your new addition. A proper fenced in area is highly recommended. Do not add a new pet to your household unless you are able to provide both physical and financial care life long for your new pet. All dogs originate from wolves (Canis Lupus). Each breed of dog was originally created by mixing different breeds together in an effort to bring forth certain characteristics. Once a breeder has created acceptable “breed characteristics” within their bloodline and these “breed characteristics” have shown to be reliably reproduced in the offspring for three (3) generations, the bloodline may be upgraded from the category of “foundation stock” to “pure-bred”. The same “pure-bred” breed standards vary from different continents, countries, territories, regions, breed clubs, and canine pure-breed registries depending on the goals of their breeders. Dog DNA testing companies can have accurate results for a specific bloodline of a small colony of dogs. However, there are tens of thousands of different bloodlines in the world which have not yet been tested for marker baseline results by Dog DNA testing companies as of 2017. For this reason Dog DNA testing companies do not guarantee the 100% accuracy of their breed lineage results and will also show different marker results for the same pure-bred breed in different continents, countries, territories, regions, breed clubs, and canine pure-breed registries depending on the goals of their breeders.