Color: Apricot or silver fawn or dark fawn brindle. In any case the
muzzle, ears and nose should be black, with black shadings around the
orbits extending upwards between them.
Height: 28 in.
Weight: 170 lbs.
This is a large, massive, powerful dog, with symmetrical and well knit
frame, a combination of grandeur, good nature, courage and docility. The
head offers a square appearance when viewed from any point. Great depth
is much desired. The skull is broad between the ears, with muscles on
the temples and cheeks well developed. There should be a depression up
the center of the forehead. The muzzle is short, blunt and square. The
eyes are small, wide apart, with stop between the eyes well marked, and
of a hazel-brown color, showing no haw. The ears are small, thin, set on
high and lay flat to the cheeks. The chest is wide and deep and the back
wide and muscular with great depth of flanks. His tail is thick at the
root and hangs straight in repose. The coat is short and close laying.
The Mastiff is one of the very oldest breeds known to the British Isles.
The Assyrian kings possessed a large dog of decided Mastiff type and
used it for lion hunting. Credible authorities point to a similarity,
also, between the Mastiff and the fierce Molorsian of the ancient
Greeks, and it is claimed by many students that the breed was introduced
into Britain in the sixth century B. C. by adventurous Phoenician
traders.