Molosser Moment #8
Basir became the prototype for the contemporary Cane Corso, and was the model for the modern breed standard.
Basir became the prototype for the contemporary Cane Corso, and was the model for the modern breed standard.
A photograph of a Neapolitan Mastiff that is the size of a pony turns out to be an urban legend.
It's unclear whether Marco Polo actually saw a Tibetan Mastiff while in China, but at minimum he introduced this exotic new breed to the Western world.
Legend has it that Sir Piers Legh II was wounded at the battle of Agincourt in 1415, and his loyal Mastiff stood over him for hours while the battle raged.
Richard Andsell’s 1865 painting “The Poacher at Bay” depicts a Mastiff-type dog deterring a game-stealing intruder
Christopher Habig's original German-based Molosser Magazin was a celebrated publication in the 1980s.
Fang, the dog owned by Hagrid in the Harry Potter books, was played by various Neapolitan Mastiffs in the movie adaptations.
At his Farcroft kennel in Stoke-on-Trent in the 1920s and '30s, S.E. Moseley perfected and solidified Bullmastiff type.
It is quite possible that without French schoolteacher Raymond Triquet, the Dogue de Bordeaux would not have survived the 20th Century.
American Mastiffs are a controversial subject in Mastiff circles, in part because they are marketed to prospective owners as “Mastiff Lite” – no drooling and fewer health issues, though their critics say neither is true.