English Mastiff Dog

The English Mastiff

" The deep mouth'd Mastiff bays the troubled night." KIRKE WHITE.

And the frowning Chow-Chow, which are of such recent introduction that they must still be regarded as half-acclimatised foreigners. But of the antiquity of the Mastiff there can be no doubt. He is the oldest of our British dogs, cultivated in these islands for so many centuries that the only difficulty concerning his history is that of tracing his descent, and discovering the period when he was not familiarly known.

It is possible that the Mastiff owes his origin to some remote ancestor of alien strain. The Assyrian kings possessed a large dog of decided Mastiff type, and used it in the hunting of lions ; and credible authorities have perceived a similarity in size and form between the British Mastiff and the fierce Molossian dog of the ancient Greeks. It is supposed by many students that the breed was introduced into early Britain by the adventurous Phoenician traders who, in the sixth century B.C., voyaged to the Scilly Islands and Cornwall to barter their own commodities in exchange for the useful metals. Knowing the requirements of their barbarian customers, these early merchants from Tyre and Sidon are believed to have brought some of the larger pugnaces, which would be readily accepted by the Britons to supplant, or improve, their courageous but undersized fighting dogs.

Before the invasion by Julius Caesar, 55 B.C., the name of Britain was little CANIS MOLOSSUS from " l 'cones Animalium" (1780), by G, F, Riedcl,

Of the many different kinds of dogs now established as British, not a few have had their origin in other lands, whence specimens have been imported into this country, in course of time to be so improved by selection that they have come to be commonly accepted as native breeds. Some are protected from the claim that they are indigenous by the fact that their origin is indicated in their names. No one would pretend that the St. Bernard or the Newfoundland, the Spaniel or the Dalmatian, are of native breed. They are alien immigrants whom we have naturalised, as we are naturalising the majestic Great Dane, the decorative Borzoi, the alert Schippcrke, known to the Romans, and it is not to be wondered at that Virgil makes no reference to British dogs ; but Gratius Faliscus, writing in the eighth year of the Christian era, recorded that the pugnaces of Epirus the true Molossian dogs were pitted best specimens the Roman emperors appointed a special officer, Procurator Cynegii, who was stationed at Winchester and entrusted with the duty of selecting and exporting Mastiffs from England to Rome. This statement is frequently repeated by from against the pugnaces of Britain, which overpowered them. Gratius further indicates that there were two kinds of the British pugnaces, a larger and a smaller, suggesting the existence of both the Bulldog and the Mastiff, the latter being employed to protect flocks and herds. Strabo, writing some thirty years later, refers to British dogs used in hunting and in warfare, and, mentioning the pugnaces, he especially remarks that they had flabby lips and drooping ears.

The courage of the " broad mouthed dogs of Britain " was recognised and highly prized by the Romans, who employed them for combat in the amphitheatre. Many writers have alleged that in order to secure the persons who have mistaken the word cyncecii for cynegii, and confounded the title of a weaver's agent with that of an exporter of dogs. An officer appointed to ship fighting Mastiffs to Rome would have been Procurator Pugnacium vel Molossorum.

In Anglo-Saxon times every two villeins were required to maintain one of these dogs for the purpose of reducing the number of wolves and other wild animals. This would indicate that the Mastiff was recognised as a capable hunting dog ; but at a later period his hunting instincts were not highly esteemed, and he was not regarded as a peril to preserved game ; for in the reign of Henry III. The Forest Laws, which prohibited the keeping of all other breeds by unprivileged persons, permitted the Mastiff to come within the precincts of a forest, imposing, however, the condition that every such dog should have the claws of the fore feet removed close to the skin. A scrutiny was held every third year to ascertain that this law was strictly obeyed. The name Mastiff was probably applied to any massively built dog. It is not easy to trace the true breed amid the various names which it owned. Molossus, Alan, Alaunt, Tie-dog, Bandog (or Band-dog), were among the number. In the " Knight's Tale " Chaucer refers to it as the Alaunt :

" Aboute his char ther wenten whyte Alaunts, Twenty and mo, as grete as any steer, To hunten at the leoun or the deer, And folwed him, with mosel faste ybounde, Colers of gold, and torets fyled rounde."

The names Tie-dog and Bandog intimate that the Mastiff was commonly kept for guard, but many were specially trained for baiting bears, imported lions, and bulls. The sport of bear-baiting reached its glory in the sixteenth century. Queen Elizabeth was fond of witnessing these displays of animal conflict, and during her progresses through her realm a bear-baiting was a customary entertainment at the places such as Kenilworth and Hatfield at which she rested. Three trained Mastiffs were accounted a fair match against a bear, four against a lion ; but Lord Buckhurst, Elizabeth's ambassador to France in 1572, owned a great Mastiff which, unassisted, successfully baited a bear, a leopard, and a lion, and pulled them all down.

In the representations of the Mastiff in the paintings of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the dog was usually shown with a white blaze up the face and an undershot jaw, the ears were cropped and the tail was shortened. Barnaby Googe in 1631 gave a description of the Bandog for the house which enables us to apprehend what it was like in the time of Charles I. a monarch who admired and kept the breed.

" First, the Mastie that keepeth the house. For this purpose you must provide you such a one as hath a large and mightie body, a great and shrill voyce, that both with his barking he may discover, and with his sight dismaye the theefe, yea, being not scene, with the horror of his voice put him to flight. His stature must be neither long nor short, but well set ; his head, great ; his eyes, sharp and fiery, either browne or grey ; his lippes, blackish, neither turning up nor hanging too much down ; his mouth black and wide ; his neather jaw, fat, and coming out of it on either side a fang appearing more outward than his other teeth ; his upper teeth even with his neather, not hanging too much over, sharpe, and hidden with his lippes ; his countenance, like a lion ; his brest, great and shag hayrd ; his shoulders, broad ; his legges, bigge ; his tayle, short ; his feet, very great. His disposition must neither be too gentle nor too curst, that he neither faune upon a theefe nor flee upon his friends ; very waking ; no gadder abroad, nor lavish of his mouth, barking without cause ; neither maketh it any matter though he be not swifte, for he is but to fight at home, and to give warning of the enemie."

Coming to more recent times, there is constant record of the Mastiff having been kept and carefully bred for many generations in certain old families. One of the oldest strains of Mastiffs was that of Lyme Hall, in Cheshire. They were large, powerful dogs, and longer in muzzle than those which we are now accustomed to see. Mr. Kingdon, who was an ardent Mastiff breeder fifty years ago, maintained that this strain had been preserved without any outcross whatever. On the other hand, it has been argued that this is a statement impossible to prove, as no record of pedigrees was kept. One well-known breeder of former years goes further than this, and states that Mr. Legh had admitted to him that an outcross had been resorted to.

Another old and valuable strain was that of the Mastiffs kept by the Duke of Devonshire at Chats worth. It is to these two strains that the dogs of the present day trace back.

During the earlier part of the past century the most noted Mastiff breeders were Mr. Lukey and Captain Gamier, and a little later Mr. Edgar Hanbury. Mr. Lukey laid the foundation of his kennel, which afterwards became so famous, by the purchase of a brindle bitch from the Chatsworth kennels. Among the many celebrated dogs owned and bred by Mr. Lukey must

Bloodhounds, a breed with which his name will ever be associated. Mr. Green's Monarch (2,316) was another fawn standing over 33 inches high. As a sire he was principally noted as having sired Scawfell (5,311), Nero (6,373), and Gwendolen (6,390). The last, when mated with Cardinal, produced many good Mastiffs. Rajah (2,333) was a well-known winner be mentioned Governor, whose name appears in the pedigrees of most Mastiffs of note. He was the grandsire of those two celebrated Mastiffs Mr. Hanbury 's Rajah and Mr. Field's King, the sire of Turk, bred by Miss Anglionby. Mr. E. Nichols, Miss Hales, Mrs. Rawlinson, and the Rev.

M. B. Wynne, were well-known breeders and successful exhibitors in the early days of dog shows.

The following are a few of the most celebrated Mastiffs of the past forty years : Turk (2,349) mentioned above, was a fawn, and was considered the best Mastiff of his day ; he won numerous prizes for his different owners, and eventually ended his days in the kennels of Mr. Edwin Brough, who relinquished Mastiffs in favour of in the early 'seventies, but it is not as a show dog alone that this dog has a claim to be mentioned, for he sired many good Mastiffs, who in their turn left their mark on the breed. Among them may be mentioned Mr. Nichol's Prince, a small dog that was more useful at the stud than on the show bench, and The Shah (4,457), bred by Mr. Balleston, and afterwards owned by Mr. C. T. Harris, by whom he was claimed upon his first appearance as a puppy at the Crystal Palace, 1874. He was not quite so flat in skull as he should have been, but otherwise he was a fine Mastiff ; the best of his stock was The Emperor (9,340).

Crown Prince (10,544) was a fawn dog with a Dudley nose and light eye, and was pale in muzzle, and while full credit must be given to him for having sired many good Mastiffs, he must be held responsible for the faults in many specimens of more recent years. Unfortunately, he was indiscriminately bred from, with the result that in a very short time breeders found it impossible to find a Mastiff unrelated to him. The registered pedigree of Crown Prince is by Young Prince by Prince, mentioned above, but the correctness of this pedigree was disputed at the time. The matter was thoroughly investigated, and there was not sufficient evidence to show that any other dog was the sire. He was bred by Mr. Woolmore, and claimed by the Rev. W. J. Mellor upon his first appearance on the show bench after he had awarded him first prize. He afterwards passed into the hands of Dr. Forbes Winslow, and upon the dispersal of that exhibitor's Mastiffs was sold for 1 80 guineas.

Mr. Beaufoy's Beau (6,356) proved his claim to be considered a pillar of the stud book by siring Beaufort (18,504), unquestionably one of the best Mastiffs of the past twenty years. He was a frequent winner both in this country and in America, where he was placed at stud for a time.

Cardinal (8,410) was a rich, dark brindle, and one of the most successful sires of his day. He inherited his colour from his dam, a daughter of Wolsey. If for no other reason, Cardinal deserves special mention, as it is mainly due to him that the brindle colour in Mastiffs has been preserved, for I believe that I shall not be wrong in saying that every prize winning brindle of recent years is a direct descendant of this dog.

The result of crossing his progeny with Crown Prince and Beaufort blood was eminently satisfactory. Among others of his descendants may be mentioned Marc Antony, Marksman, Invicta, Colonel Cromwell, and Marcus Superba, who died quite young, but not without leaving stock behind him that have been a credit to him as a sire.

It is to be deplored that ever since the era of Crown Prince there has been a perceptible diminution in the number of good examples of this fine old English breed, and that from being an admired and fashionable dog the Mastiff has so declined in popularity that few are to be seen either at exhibitions or in breeders' kennels. At the Crystal Palace in 1871 there were as many as sixty-three Mastiffs on show, forming a line of benches two hundred yards long, and not a bad one among them ; whereas at a dog show held twenty-five years later, where more than twelve hundred dogs were entered, not a single Mastiff was benched.

The difficulty of obtaining dogs of unblemished pedigree and superlative type may partly account for this decline, and another reason of unpopularity may be that the Mastiff requires so much attention to keep him in condition that without it he is apt to become indolent and heavy. Nevertheless, the mischief of breeding too continuously from one strain such as that of Crown Prince has to some extent been eradicated, and we have had many splendid Mastiffs since his time. Crown Prince was by no means the only great Mastiff bred in Mr. Woolmore's kennels. Special mention should be made of that grand bitch Cambrian Princess (12,833), by Beau. She was purchased by Mrs. Willins, who, mating her with Maximilian (a dog of her own breeding by The Emperor), obtained Minting, who shared with Beaufort the reputation of being unapproached for all round merit in any period. It was a misfortune to the breed that Minting was allowed to leave this country for the United States, where he was easily able to hold his own on the show bench, Beaufort, his only equal, not arriving in America until after Minting's death.

Of Mastiff breeders of recent years Mr. J. Sidney Turner will always be remembered as the breeder of Beaufort, Hotspur, Orlando, and other Mastiffs, which have left their mark on the breed. Unfortunately, Mr. Turner did not continue his breeding operations beyond the second generation; otherwise, judging from his success during the time he kept Mastiffs, we should probably have seen more of these dogs of high quality than has been the case of late. Mr. Mark Beaufoy's name will be principally associated with Beau, although he owned several others of acknowledged merit. At one time the kennels of Captain and Mrs. J. L. Piddocke contained many excellent Mastiffs, Toozie, Jubilee Beauty, and Ogilvie being remarkably good headed dogs. Lieut. -Colonel Walker, although not a very frequent exhibitor, has been a persistent breeder for many years, and has bred several Mastiffs of which anyone might be proud.

Mr. Robert Leadbetter has also been prominent among the owners of this magnificent breed. His kennel at Haslemere Park is one of the largest at present in England. He started by purchasing Elgiva, a well-known and unbeaten champion who won many specials open to other breeds as well as her own. It is to be regretted that Elgiva failed to contribute progeny towards the continuance of her kind. Among other Mastiffs owned by Mr. Leadbetter may be mentioned Marcella, a bitch descended from Captain Piddocke's strain, and Prince Sonderberg, one of Mr. Laguhee's breeding by Mellnotte out of Nell. Prince Sonderberg's recent death has unfortunately deprived us of a dog which might have won distinction. Mr. C. Aubrey Smith is an enthusiastic admirer of the breed, and has owned several prize Mastiffs, among which is Colonel Cromwell. He is a fawn of large size, and a dog that should do well at stud, although I do not call to mind any of his progeny that have yet made a great name on the show bench. This dog was bred by Mr.A. W. Lucas, a breeder of many years' standing, who can claim to have produced more prize Mastiffs within recent years than any other breeder. Among a few of his breeding that occur to me there are Black Prince (1,377 G ) an( ^ Paula (1,418 H), both now the property of Mr. J. H. Martin of Bangor, Maine, U.S.A., their sire Invicta (1,375 c), Marcus Superba, and many others, including Lady Claypole and Marchioness. The last two are the property of Mr. Spalding, who recently turned his attention to the Mastiff with very satisfactory results, his Helmsley Defender and others of his breedthe septum, and slightly pendulous so as to showing having secured prizes at most of the a S( l uare P rofile Length of muzzle to whole head and face as i to 3. Circumference of muzzle principal shows. (measured midway between the eyes and nose)

The following description of a perfect to that of the head (measured before the ears) Mastiff, taken from the Old English Mastiff as 3 to 5. Club's " Points of a Mastiff," is so admirable that I need hardly add anything as to what future breeders should aim to attain. If they will study this description carefully and use all their efforts to produce a Mastiff as near it in all points as can be, I feel confident that they will be more satisfied with the result than is likely to be the case if they give their attention to certain qualities and leave the others to take care of themselves.

The Perfect Mastiff

1. General Character and Symmetry. Large, massive, powerful, symmetrical and well-knit frame. A combination of grandeur and good nature, courage and docility.

2. General Description of Head. In general outline, giving a square appearance when viewed from any point. Breadth greatly to be desired, and should be in ratio to length of the whole head and face as 2 to 3.

3. General Description of Body. Massive, broad, deep, long, powerfully built, on legs wide apart, and squarely set. Muscles sharply defined. Size a great desideratum, if combined with quality. Height and substance

6. Ears. Small, thin to the touch, wide apart, important if both points are proportionately set on at the highest points of the sides of the combined.

4. Skull. Broad between the ears, forehead flat, but wrinkled when attention is excited. Brows (superciliary ridges) slightly raised. Muscles of the temples and cheeks (temporal and

skull, so as to continue the outline across the summit, and lying flat and close to the cheeks when in repose.

7. Eyes. Small, wide apart, divided by at least the space of two eyes. The stop between

masseter) well developed. Arch across the skull the eyes well marked, but not too abrupt. Colour

of a rounded, flattened curve, with a depression up the centre of the forehead from the medium line between the eyes, to half way up the sagittal suture.

5. Face or Muzzle. Short, broad under the eyes, and keeping nearly parallel in width to the end of the nose ; truncated, i.e. blunt and cut off square, thus forming a right angle with the upper line of the face, of great depth from the point of the nose to under jaw. Under jaw broad to the end ; canine teeth healthy, powerful, and wide apart ; incisors level, or the lower projecting beyond the upper, but never sufficiently so as to become visible when the mouth is closed. Nose broad, with widely spreading nostrils when viewed from the front ; flat (not pointed or turned up) in hazel-brown, the darker the better, showing no haw.

8. Neck, Chest and Ribs. Neck Slightly arched, moderately long, very muscular, and measuring in circumference about one or two inches less than the skull before the ears. Chest Wide, deep, and well let down between the fore-legs. Ribs arched and well-rounded. False ribs deep and well set back to the hips. Girth should be onethird more than the height at the shoulder. Shoulder and Arm Slightly sloping, heavy and muscular.

9. Forelegs and Feet. Legs straight, strong, and set wide apart ; bones very large. Elbows square. Pasterns upright. Feet large and round.

Profile. Lips diverging at obtuse angles with Toes well arched up. Nails black.

10. Back, Loins and Flanks. Back and loins wide and muscular ; flat and very wide in a bitch, slightly arched in a dog. Great depth of flanks.

11. Hind Legs and Feet. Hind quarters broad, wide, and muscular, with well developed second thighs, hocks bent, wide apart, and quite squarely set when standing or walking. Feet round.

12. Tail. Put on high up, and reaching to the hocks, or a little below them, wide at its root and tapering to the end, hanging straight in repose, but forming a curve, with the end pointing upwards, but not over the back, when the dog is excited. , .

13. Coat Colour. Coat short and close lying, but not too fine over the shoulders, neck, and back. Colour, apricot or silver fawn, or dark fawn-brindle. In any case, muzzle, ears, and nose should be black, with black round the orbits, and extending upwards between them.

Scale of Points for Mastiff Judge Scoring :

• General character and symmetry Body (height and substance) - 10 points
• Skull - 10 points
• Face and muzzle - 12 points
• Ears - 18 points
• Eyes - 4 points
• Chest and ribs - 6 points
• Fore-legs and feet - 10 points
• Back, loins, and flanks - 3 points
• Hind legs and feet - 5 points
• Tail - 5 points
• Coat and Colour - 10 points

Grand total . .100 Points.

There are one or two points to which I should wish to direct particular attention. One of the most important of these is width of muzzle combined with depth. This is, I admit, very difficult to obtain in anything like perfection, and I cannot but think that it is one that has been too much overlooked by breeders in their efforts to produce Mastiffs with the shortest muzzle possible. That the muzzle of a Mastiff should be short is an admitted fact, but it should be in proportion to the size of the head, which is given in the Club's points as " length of muzzle to whole head and face as 1 to 3."

I am doubtful whether the muzzles of many Mastiffs of the present day will be found to correspond with this measurement. Mr. J. Sidney Turner's Orlando was a grand-headed dog, but very defective in hind quarters. He got many good-headed Mastiffs and the length of muzzle in proportion to the whole head and face was as nearly in accordance with the Club's requirements as possible. It is to the inordinate desire to obtain the shortest muzzle possible which existed some few years ago, and which I am afraid is not altogether absent at the present day, that the falling off in many desirable qualities of the breed, unfortunately so noticeable in recent years, may be attributed. It is practically impossible for breeders to breed dogs with abnormally short muzzle, and yet at the same time obtain size, length of body, and other attributes of this breed.

Opinions seem to differ as to whether the Mastiff should have a level mouth or be somewhat undershot. Personally I prefer a level mouth, and should always try to get it if possible, and I am inclined to think that many who uphold the undershot jaw are in agreement with me, and would prefer the level mouth were the difficulty of combining it with squareness of muzzle not so great. There can be little doubt that more Mastiffs are bred with undershot jaws than without, and there is no gainsaying the fact that many, if not most, of the best specimens of the breed have possessed undershot jaws.

Mastiff Dog Size

Size is a quality very desirable in this breed. The height of many dogs of olden days was from thirty-two to thirty-three inches. The height should be obtained rather from great depth of body than length of leg. A leggy Mastiff is very undesirable. Thirty inches may be taken as a fair average height for dogs, and bitches somewhat less. Many of Mr. Lukey's Mastiffs stood 32 inches and over ; Mr. Green's Monarch was over 33 inches, The Shah 32 inches, and Cardinal 32 inches.

The method of rearing a Mastiff has much to do with its ultimate size, but it is perhaps needless to say that the selection of the breeding stock has still more to do with this. It is therefore essential to select a dog and bitch of a large strain to obtain large Mastiffs. It is not so necessary that the dogs themselves should be so large as that they come from a large strain. The weight of a full-grown dog should be anything over 160 Ib. Many Mastiffs have turned the scale at 180 Ib. The Shah, for instance, was 182 Ib. In weight, Scawfell over 200 Ib.

I am not an advocate for forcing young stock, and I have frequently noticed that in the case of puppies of extraordinary weight we have seldom heard of any of them attaining any unusual size when full grown. The fact is that these puppies make their growth early in life and stop growing just at the time other puppies are beginning to fill out and develop. There are, of course, exceptions to this. For instance, Orlando weighed 140 Ib. When only eight months old. A Mastiff puppy of ten months old should have the appearance of a puppy, and not of a full-grown dog. A dog should go on growing until he is three years of age, and many continue to improve after that.

Colour of Mastiffs

Colour is, to a great extent, a matter of taste. The two colours recognised at the present time are brindle and fawn. The former is considered by those who have given the question most attention to have been the original colour of the breed. Black Mastiffs are spoken of as having been known in years gone by, and occasionally we hear of a dog of this colour having been seen even now. I have never come across one myself, although I have often seen brindle puppies so dark they might have been mistaken for black ; nor can I call to mind having heard in recent years of a dog of this colour whose pedigree was known. A correspondent in the Live Stock Journal _spoke of having seen a black dog of Mastiff type, which was not of pure blood, and went on to say that " when I was paying a visit to the Willhayne kennels, in the summer of 1879, I remember Mr. Kingdon showing me a coal-black bitch of the Lyme Hall breed. She had not a white hair on her, and I was surprised at her colour. She was not at all large." It is stated that Charles I. advertised for a lost " Bob-tailed Black Mastiff," and from the correspondence that took place some years ago upon the subject of the colour of Mastiffs, it is evident that black was by no means an unknown colour at one time. Red was another colour that was in evidence thirty or forty years ago, but it has been allowed to die out, and I have not seen a Mastiff of that colour, whose pedigree could be depended upon, for many years. By crossing blacks and reds it would no doubt have been possible to produce Brindles; this is the case in cattle, and there seems no reason why it should not be so in Mastiffs in fact, it is asserted that this system of breeding was resorted to many years ago.

Although, as I have said, brindle was the original colour, and was an ordinary one in Mastiffs in the early part of the last century, its place was gradually usurped by the fawn, and twenty-five years or so ago there was great risk of the colour becoming extinct. Mr. J. Hutchings kept a kennel of Mastiffs of this colour, but the type of his dogs did not meet the views of the breeders of the day. Wolsey (5,315), by Rajah out of Mr. Hanbury's Queen (2,396), a magnificent brindled bitch, was about the .only dog of note in those days, but his stud services could not be obtained by breeders generally, and so it devolved upon Wolsey's grandson Cardinal to perpetuate the colour. Within the last five years there have been more brindles exhibited than fawns, judging by the fact that more of the former have won prizes than the latter.

White is not a desirable colour, but it will frequently appear on the chest and feet, and in some cases puppies are born with white running some distance up the leg. This, however, disappears almost entirely or, at any rate, to a great extent as the puppy grows up. Light eyes, which detract so much from the appearance of a Mastiff, were very prevalent a few years ago, and, judging from some of the young stock exhibited recently, there seems a great risk of them becoming so again. When this eye appears in a brindle it is even more apparent than in a fawn ; the remedy is to breed these dogs to brindles with a good dark eye, and of a strain possessing this quality.

One of the great difficulties that breeders of the present day have to contend against is in rearing the puppies ; so many bitches being clumsy and apt to kill the whelps by lying on them. It is, therefore, always better to be provided with one or more foster bitches. At about six weeks old a fairly good opinion may be formed as to what the puppies will ultimately turn out in certain respects, for, although they may indeed change materially during growth, the good or bad qualities which are manifest at that early age will, in all probability, be apparent when the puppy has reached maturity. It is, therefore, frequently easier to select the best puppy in the nest than to do so when they are from six to nine or ten months old.

The colour is sometimes deceptive, and what appears to a novice as a brindle puppy turns out to be a very dark fawn, which gradually gets lighter as the puppy grows. It has occurred that Mastiffs bred from rich dark brindles have been whelped of a blue or slate colour. In course of time the stripes of the brindle appear, but puppies of this colour, which are very rare, generally retain a blue mask, and have light eyes. Many such puppies have been destroyed; but this practice is a mistake, for although it is not a colour to be desired, some of our best Mastiffs have been bred through dogs or bitches of this shade. As an instance I may mention my own dog, Constable (22,705). His grand-dam Columbine was a blue brindle. I parted with her as a puppy to a well-known breeder, who afterwards offered her back to me on account of her colour. Knowing how she was bred I readily accepted the offer. She was by Cardinal out of Cleopatra by Cardinal out of Gwendolen by Monarch. Putting her to her sire I obtained Empress of Tring, a capital brindle of good size. Just at the time I wanted a cross out, Mr. Sidney Turner offered to let me have, at quite a nominal price, Hotspur, a son of Crown Prince, and a dog for which he had refused 100 when a puppy. Mating Empress of Tring with him, I got many good Mastiffs, one of the best being Constable, who made his d/but at the show held by the Kennel Club in 1887, where he created a sensation among Mastiff breeders.

I have gone rather more into this than I intended, but I want to demonstrate, in the first place, that it is not always wise to destroy a puppy, which, although it may not be a show specimen, may prove from its breeding invaluable as a stud dog or brood bitch. I also wish to show that inbreeding, if judiciously carried out, may in certain instances prove of inestimable advantage. My own experience of inbreeding does not lead me to endorse the opinion that it must necessarily cause a diminution of size. In Toys it may be resorted to with that particular object, and, in that case, naturally the smallest specimens would be bred from ; but I see no reason why, if dogs of large size are selected, it should not have a contrary result. I am speaking of in-breeding carried on within certain limits and not indiscriminately. Nevertheless, close inbreeding, if attempted by anyone not understanding the principles of selection, may prove disastrous. It is far easier to perpetuate a fault than to eradicate one, and, therefore, great care should be exercised in the animals selected for the experiment of in-breeding.

Puppies should be allowed all the liberty possible, and never be tied up : they should be taken out for steady, gentle exercise, and not permitted to get too fat or they become too heavy, with detrimental results to their legs. Many puppies are very shy and nervous, but they will grow out of this if kindly handled, and eventually become the best guard and protector it is possible to have.

Some Mastiffs are possessed of strange idiosyncrasies. Turk and many of his descendants had a great antipathy to butchers and butchers' shops. Neither of my own two Mastiffs, Cardinal and Gwendolen, would go near a butcher's shop if it could be avoided, and I have frequently been puzzled in walking through London at four or five o'clock in the morning, on my way to catch an early train to some show, to know why these two dogs would cross the road for no apparent reason, and refuse to recross it until some way further on. Eventually I discovered this invariably happened when passing a butcher's shop. At Norwich show Cardinal suddenly jumped up and flew out at three visitors who were standing admiring him. My man remarked that there must be a butcher close by, or the dog would never do such a thing. The idea was laughed at, but upon his saying he was sure it was so, one of the three admitted that he was a butcher.

The temper of a Mastiff should be taken into consideration by the breeder. They are, as a rule, possessed of the best of tempers, but there may be, of course, an exception now and again. A savage dog with such power as the Mastiff possesses is indeed a dangerous creature, and, therefore, some inquiries as to the temper of a stud dog should be made before deciding to use him. Although I have owned Mastiffs for between thirty and forty years, and at one time I kept a somewhat large kennel of them, I have never had the misfortune to have a bad-tempered one. In these dogs, as in all others, it is a question of how they are treated by the person having charge of them.

Feeding of Mastiff Puppies

The feeding of puppies is an important matter, and should be carefully seen to by anyone wishing to rear them successfully. If goat's milk is procurable it is preferable to cow's milk. The price asked for it is sometimes prohibitory, but this difficulty may be surmounted in many cases by keeping a goat or two on the premises. Many breeders have obtained a goat with the sole object of rearing a litter of puppies on her milk, and have eventually discarded cow's milk altogether, using goat's milk for household purposes instead. As soon as the puppies will lap they should be induced to take arrowroot prepared with milk. Oatmeal and maizemeal, about one quarter of the latter to three quarters of the former, make a good food for puppies. Dog biscuits and the various hound meals, soaked in good broth, may be used with advantage, but I do not believe any dogs, especially Mastiffs, can be kept in condition for any length of time without a fair proportion of meat of some kind. Sheeps' paunches, cleaned and well boiled, mixed with sweet stale bread, previously soaked in cold water, makes an excellent food and can hardly be excelled as a staple diet. In feeding on horseflesh care should be taken to ascertain that the horse was not diseased, especially if any is given uncooked.

Worms are a constant source of trouble from the earliest days of puppy-hood, and no puppy suffering from them will thrive ; every effort, therefore, should be made to get rid of them. It has been asserted that the use of goat's milk is a preventative against worms, but I am afraid that very little reliance can be placed on this statement.

Constantly physicking puppies or grown dogs is a mistake made by many Mastiff owners, and still more so by their kennel-men. With proper feeding, grooming, exercise, and cleanliness, Mastiffs can be kept in good condition without resort to medicine, the use of which should be strictly prohibited unless there is real need for it. Mastiffs kept under such conditions are far more likely to prove successful stud dogs and brood bitches than those to which deleterious drugs are constantly being given. Although, as I have said, puppies should not be tied up, they should be accustomed to a collar and to be led when young. A dog is far less likely to be nervous in the show ring if he has been led about when young than one who has a collar and chain on for the first time only a few hours before he is sent off to some exhibition.

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