Tuesday, December 6, 2011

A Short Guide To Mastiff Dogs From France

By Pierre Fontaine


From time immemorial, dogs have served the human race to a great measure. The unparalleled obedient nature of dogs has been of great benefit to man. Making maximum use of this nature, man has trained dogs to be under his control, making them serviceable in several aspects. It is a popular assumption that the offensive quality of the dog is hidden under its obedient nature, thereby making them undisturbed guarding animals. The French Mastiff Dog is a typical example of this kind of a dog, due to its enormous strength.

Some debatable views still exist concerning the origin of the French Mastiff Dogs. They are otherwise known as Dongue de Bordeaux. There are many hypothetical facts in connection to the French Mastiff dogs. French poodles are also associated with such hypothetical facts. It is believed that when the Romans attacked Britain, the effective action of the French Mastiff dogs persuaded the Romans to take these dogs to Rome and train them to fight in gladiatorial shows against human beings.

One more analogy assumes that the French Mastiff dogs came to Europe from the Spanish dogs in Burgos or from those in Aquitaine, after the Roman and Greek Molossus brought them there. Whatever be their origin, theses dogs have unquestionably been exclusive guards in France and their reputation has extended across the world. The USA alone has around 3,000 of these dogs. As suggested by the name 'dogs of Bordeaux', their origin is in no way connected to Bordeaux.

Using a short height of about twenty-three to thirty inches, the French Mastiff dogs possess a dignified and majestic look. They have a symmetric and substantially large structure with powerful muscles. Unlike the Blue French Bulldogs, they do not have bat-like ears or flat faces. Their ears hang downwards on either side of the head.

The shape of the French Mastiff's head is almost a circle with a circumferential measurement of about 27 inches to 30 inches. From whichever corner you look at it, it looks gigantic. The entire body is covered with delicate hair not long, but seen in a variety of shades. They may be brownish just like the fawn or orange- yellow like the apricot. The shades may form a brindle of grey or brownish orange stripes and a black or red colored masking.

Through the years, selected French Mastiff dogs have been bred in succession, because of which the originality of the breed is lost, making them less ferocious. The resulting breeds have a faint majestic character mixed with sort of mildness and boldness, and appear distinctly submissive.

The French Mastiff dogs are exceptionally good guard dogs exhibiting unstinting loyalty to the members of the family to which they belong. Notwithstanding their ferocious faade they are amazingly gentle with children. Being a very strong breed French Mastiff dogs are not suitable for inexperienced owners.

Requiring plenty of physical activity, the French Mastiff dog prefers outdoors. Even so, they manage well even with limited space inside buildings, but generally stay silent. When they happen to remain indoors, they need a fairly long walk, than when exposed to play outdoors. They are not easily attacked by any disease, because of their strong and muscular physique. Snoring and dribbling are typical of French Mastiff dogs.

In addition to the French Mastiff dog, there are many other variants of the mastiff breed. The Neopolitan Mastiff, Tibetan Mastiff and the English Mastiff are a few noteworthy breeds among them.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment