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The English Mastiff
from: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 Schipperke, 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. 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.
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.
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. 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.
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