Coat, Color

OVERVIEW THE ESSENCE OF THE MASTINO STANDARD JUDGING MORE INFO HISTORY

THE STANDARD: Coat and Color

The Standard Says:

Coat: the coat is dense and of uniform length and smoothness all over the body. The hairs are straight and not longer than 1 inch. No fringe anywhere.

Color: Solid coats of gray (blue), black, mahogany and tawny, and the lighter and darker shades of these colors. Some brindling allowable in all colors. When present, brindling must be tan. (reverse brindle). There may be solid white markings on the chest, throat area from the chin to chest, underside of the body, penis sheath, back of the pasterns and on the toes. There may be white hairs at the back of the wrist.

Disqualifications: White markings on any part of the body not mentioned as allowed.

Commentary

As described, this is a short-coated dog, no fringe anywhere. There is no preference given any of the coat colors. Blue happens to be the most common, black the second.most common.

White markings are allowed on certain areas: on the chest, throat area, belly, toes, back of the pastern...basically on the underside of the body and other relatively unobtrusive areas. As a guard dog, in general, the less white the better, but white where allowed is no problem. We don't want preference given to a dog with more white because it is "flashy" or pretty. This is not a "flashy" breed.

The reverse brindling is a tan stripe or marking which can occur in any of the colors. It is harder to see the reverse brindling on a lighter colored dog. It is easier to see it on a darker-coat.

The Mastino is not typically brindled like a Mastiff, Bullmastiff, or Great Dane, where the striping is regular and over the entire body like tiger stripes. Typically there may be only one or two narrow stripes rather randomly appearing on the body or flank or shoulder of the dog.

Occasionally we will see dogs that are heavily brindled, sometimes to the point that the brindle almost dominates the color of the dog. In general, we neither reward nor penalize brindling, although certainly the general tendancy of breeders the world over is to prefer a "clearer" dog. (This is another case where the critical WHaM is all-important.)

The reason we particularly draw your attention to the "reverse brindling" is that this is distinctly a tan marking, not white. White markings on areas not mentioned as allowed is a disqualification. Do not mistake the brindle, which is allowed, for white markings, which are not allowed.

DISQUALIFICATION: SOLID WHITE MARKINGS ON THE HEAD AND EXTENSIVE SOLID WHITE MARKINGS ON ANY PART OF THE BODY NOT MENTIONED AS ALLOWED.

Indiscriminate breeding of dogs with a white factor will result in dogs with more and more white. As a guard dog, a dog of night, white is not desirable.

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