Spanish Mastiff

History

Oringinating in Spain thousands of years ago, the Spanish Mastiff oringinated from many local breeds. After selective breeding and generations that had passed, this breed was crossed with the Mastiff later on and is now known as the Spanish Mastiff. Though not commonly seen out in public today, this breed is known in the USA and is an incredible natural herding, guarding and working breed.

Appearance

The Spanish Mastiff is an extra large breed dog with males and females measuring 28-35 inches in height and weighing 145-175 pounds for females and 185-265 pounds for males. That is correct, male Spanish Mastiffs can weigh up to 265 pounds in weight! This breed is massive in size from head to their. Their giant bodies are covered in thick, hanging skin from their head to their hind legs. Their large heads are very broad in shape, forming into a wide, rectangular muzzle. The space between their ears is wide, with two large, pendant shaped ears hanging alongside of their face. Their two eyes are large in size, oval in shape, generally a light hazel to black in color; sometimes with loose skin drooping alongside of their eyes. Their tail is very large and long in length, thick and tapering to a point. Their tail is generally held downwards and out when relaxed. This breed has an overall short double coat that is harsh to the touch, slightly wavy in appearance and available in yellow, red, wolf grey, shades of red to brown, and broken colors or spotted in combination.

Temperament

The Spanish Mastiff was gifted with an intense natural instinct to guard not only their owners livestock, but also their owner and his or her family. This breed is as large in loyalty and personality as they are physically in size. The Spanish Mastiff will put his or her life on the line if it means protecting their loved ones. This breed is constantly loving their family and watching out for them. Wonderful listeners, this breed can be easy to train as all they want to do is please you. This breed requires early socialization and obedience classes as well as a firm and confident owner who is able to remain pack leader at all times. This breed is excellent with children of all ages that he or she grows up with, as well as other canines and pets. The Spanish Mastiff requires a daily job and task to complete in order to remain happy and calm when in doors. Early rules and boundaries, along with only positive reinforcement training methods are essential. When given proper mental and physical exercise daily, this breed is extremely even-tempered, level headed and well mannered.

Grooming

This breed drools heavily and snores very loudly; this breed also sheds daily. Daily brushing and bathing when needed. Daily wiping of the face is required.

Special Notes

Please note that this breed is not meant for first time dog owners, or owners without large breed experience. This breed requires a properly fenced in yard while outdoors at all times. Please fully educate yourself about the Spanish Mastiff prior to adding one to your home to ensure you are able to make a life long commitment both physically and financially to the life of your new family member. This breed is prone to heart issues, hip and joint issues and bloat. This breed drools and snores very often. 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.