OFFICIAL ATANDARD
FOR THE MASTIFF
General Appearance: The Mastiff is a large, massive, symmetrical dog with a well-knit frame.The impression is one of grandeur and dignity. Dogs are more massive throughout. Bitches should not be faulted for being somewhat smaller in all dimensions while maintaining a proportionallypowerful structure. A good evaluation considers positive qualities of type and soundness with equal weight.
Size, Proportion, Substance: Dogs minimum 30 inches at the shoulder. Bitches minimum 27-1/2 inches at the shoulder. Fault-Dogs or bitches below the minimum
standard. The fartherbelow standard, the greater the fault. Proportion-Rectangular, the length of the dog from forechest to rump is somewhat longer than the height at the withers. The height of the dog should come from depth of body rather than from length of leg. Substance-Massive, heavy boned, with a powerful muscle structure. Great depth and breadth desirable. Fault-Lack of substance or slab sided.
Head: In general autline giving a massive appearance when vewed from any angle. Breadth greatly desired. Eyes- set wide aport, medium in size, never too prominent. Expression alert but kindly. Color of eyes brown, the darker the better, and shoving no haw. Light eyes or a predatory expression is undesirable. Ears small in proportion to the skull, V-shaped, rounded at the tips. Leather moderately thin, set widely apart at the highest points on the sides of the skull continuing the outline across the summit. They should lie close to the cheeks when in repose. Ears dark in color, the blacker the better, conforming to the color of the muzzie.
Skull: Broad and somewhat flattened between the ears, forehead slightly curved, shoving marked wrinkles which are particularly distinctive when at attention. Brows moderately raised. Muscles of the temples well developed, those of the cheeks extremely powerful. Arch across the skull a flattened curve with a furrow up the center of the forehead. This extends from between the eyes to halfway up the skull. The stop between the eyes well marked but not too abrupt. Muzzle should be half the length of the skull, thus dividing the head into three parts-one for the foreface and two for the skull. In other words, the distance from the tip of the nose to stop is equal to one-half the distance between the stop and the occiput. Circumference of the muzzle to that of the head is as 3 is to 5.
Muzzle: Short, broad under the eyes and running nearly equal 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 the underjaw. Underjaw broad to the end and slightly rounded. Muzzle dark in color, the blacker the better. Fault-snipiness of the muzzle. Nose-broad and always dark in color.
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