General Appearance

OVERVIEW THE ESSENCE OF THE MASTINO STANDARD JUDGING MORE INFO HISTORY

THE STANDARD: General Appearance

The Standard Says:

An ancient breed, rediscovered in Italy in the 1940's, the Neapolitan Mastiff is a heavy-boned, massive, awe inspiring dog bred for use as a guard and defender of owner and property. He is characterized by loose skin over his entire body, abundant,hanging wrinkles and folds on the head and a voluminous dewlap. The essence of the Neapolitan is his bestial appearance, astounding head and imposing size and attitude. Due to his massive structure, his characteristic movement is rolling and lumbering, not elegant or showy.

Commentary

This paragraph really says it all. It presents all three aspects of type: Wrinkle (...characterized by loose skin over his entire body, abundant, hanging wrinkles, and folds on the head and a voluminous dewlap...) Head and Mass (...The essence of the Neapolitan is his bestial appearance, astounding head and imposing size and attitude...)

it also addresses the two qualifiers for interpreting the standard:

emotional impact (by use of words such as (...massive, awe inspiring dog....bestial appearance....imposing size and attitude...)

and introduces the concept that this dog is not expected to have endurance (...characteristic movement is rolling and lumbering...)

Truthfully, we are very concerned at a breed club, that the average AKC judge, unaware of the importance to us of our breed type, will select dogs that are of "normal" construction with minimal type. That judges will pick the dogs with good topline, straight fronts, and graceful movement and will justify the selection by pointing to the two or three wrinkles that the dog has, or by commenting that the mass on the dog is "adequate."

The proper mastino does not have "adequate" mass, or "some" wrinkles. The breed characteristic lumbering movement is a necessary by-product of its size and type. Please, please,please...after making your selections, think of this paragraph...make sure that any dog you put up for any award can be described by this paragraph!

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