Forequarters: Heavily built, muscular, and in balance with the hindquarters. Shoulders:
Long, well-muscled, sloping and powerful. Upper arms: Strongly muscled, powerful.
In length, almost 1/3 the height of the dog. Elbows: Covered with abundant and
loose skin; held parallel to the ribcage, neither tied in nor loose. Forelegs:
Thick, straight, heavy bone, well-muscled, exemplifying strength. About the same length as the upper
arms. Set well apart. Pasterns: Thick and flattened from front to back, sloping
forward from the leg. Dewclaws: Front dewclaws are not removed. Feet:
Round and noticeably large with arched, strong toes. Nails strong, curved and preferably dark-colored.
Slight turn-out of the front feet is characteristic.
Commentary
The standard description of the Forequarters is fairly similar to many other working dogs, one might say
even mundane. To summarize, we want moderate angulation, we want nice straight bones, we want well-held
elbows. We want the right proportions of leg: upper-arm, foreleg, and so forth. We want bone, muscle,
skin. And above all...we want everything to exemplify strength and power.
The pasterns are thick and flattened, and sloping forward from the leg to the foot. Just as the slope
in the croup helps gives spring to the rear assembly, the slope of the pastern gives spring to the forequarters
in this big heavy dog with big heavy bones.
Typically dewclaws in the front are not removed. What do you do if they are? Well, it doesn't do much
to change the look or function of the dog, so we typically don't worry about that.
The forequarters of the dog must exemplify strength. The ability to hold this heavy, massive dog up,
to support it as it springs into action. Giuseppe Alessandra, (President of the ATIMANA, the International
Organizaiton for the Neapolitan Mastiff) says that the legs of the Mastino must be as the pillars of the
Acropolis....strong, sturdy, harmoniously holding up the roof (the body).
SLIGHT TURN-OUT OF THE FRONT FEET IS CHARACTERISTIC
This is a big heavy dog. A dog that in order to maintain balance turns its front feet out, but otherwise
has a correct leg, straight bones, correctly held elbows, is perfectly correct for this breed. In many
other breeds you are looking for a straight front, with feet pointing straight forward. This may be correct
for other breeds, and you may also see it in a Neapolitan Mastiff if it is younger or lighter-boned.
However, it is usual, typical, and normal, for an heavy-boned and heavy adult mastino to have a slight
toe-out and it is important for judges to understand this.
Please bear in mind, we want a sound dog. We do want correctly straight bones and we do want nice strong,
tight feet, we do not want "piano legs" or thin legs on a heavy body. And we do desparately
want a sound dog.
In all the emphasis on mass and size, sometimes the importance of correctly constructed fronts is forgotten.
As a judge of the Mastino, you must reward good construction if you find it in appropriately massive,
wrinkled dogs with good heads
Too often, the dogs with the best fronts are the lighter-boned, tighter-skinned animals, and you must
not pick a dog because it has a "great front" if it does not also have great mass, a great head
and great wrinkle.
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