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Origine and history
Italian Mastiff dogs have antique origins from the “canis pugnax” an antique roman mastiff that accompanied the Legions in their war campaigns and because of its courage and fidelity they were considered as not inferior than a soldier. After centuries of selection caused by the harsh living conditions in the southern farms, where they were very popular, they risked disappearing because of the last war. Fortunately a few very typical exemplary dogs managed to survive particularly in the country in Puglia where the best bloodlines were protected which conserved the morphological and behavioral characteristics of the dogs; they were salvaged and then used to save this superb breed. In the past century the Italian mastiff was very popular in southern Italy and represented almost an institution. Public town Regulations in fact referred to them with specific articles that regulated the custody. I will cite the Urban and Rural Police Regulation from the town of Bitetto, approved by the Province of Bari superintendent on March 5th 1852, in which article 3 says: “It is forbidden for whomever to leave outside of their house from 2 am, dogs, or other animals, that bark or howl and which could disturb the tranquility; it will therefore be licit for whomever to kill or have killed such animals abandoned by their owners in the hours of the night in public squares or streets. To whoever does not obey the five and twelve Carlini amendment will be applied. The only exception to such law is for Italian mastiff dogs” a bibliographical documentation is available. For he who does not know might think that the “Corso” dog could come from Corsica however the dog has nothing to do with Corsica. La world “Corso”, Italian for Mastiff, comes from some southern Italian dialects. In fact “Corsus” is an antique provincial adjective which in Italian means Robust and which is still used today in dialects in southern areas which means the same thing. Thanks to its versatility, the Italian mastiff in the past was used for many different things. It guarded farms, cows, it was also a faithful companion to carriage drivers, a personal bodyguard and hunter of larger animals (boars, bears, wolves, etc.). To describe this dog it is interesting to look at the university text from the end of the 1800’s by Trecce which dedicates a whole chapter to the Italian mastiff: “He is adequate to guard herds having the quality of being able to calm a wild bull; he finds the perfect moment to bite his mouth, and leaves him when he is sure that the infuriated animal ceases his impositions. He is a fighter without fear or pity, he fights with the killer, with an ordinary dog, with a wolf, with a bear, with a bull; a real Hercules that is sure of his own strength, and avoids being overridden; he always attacks from the front and without being constant; he puts his adversary on the ground and happily just keeps him on the ground if his prey doesn’t fight back. He is generous with children and small dogs; he doesn’t like to attack without a reason; but if he is provoked, it is a problem for the provoker because the dog does not like his dignity put down. He protects with jealousy and pride his house, his warehouse goods, because he prefers to die rather than see his property touched.”
Physical characteristics
The general aspect of the dog is a mesomorphic, medium large, strongly built but never exaggerated, elegant, with strong muscles, expresses strength, agility and resistance. It has a voluminous head with a brachycephaly structure. Its adult height is between 64-68 cm for males and 60-64 for females (with a tolerance of 2 cm more of less). It weighs from 50-65 kg (about) for males and 45-50 kg (about) for females. It has short hair but not shaved, polished, adherent, dense, with a slight undercoat that is more pronounced in the winter. Its length is about 2-2.5 cm and does not need to be cut but does need to be brushed. The color of the coat could be black, lead grey, slate, light grey, light fawn, deer fawn, dark fawn and striped (striped on a fawn or grey base with different colorings). In the fawn and striped variations a black or grey mask is present which covers its nose but does not go past it’s eyes.
Character and behavior
Even today the Italian mastiff maintains unaltered his peculiar characteristics. It is in fact a very balanced dog, he does not have inborn aggressiveness towards people, but if he does intervene in the protection of a person or property his actions are terrible and ruthless. He is extremely alert and reactive. Very sweet and affectionate with his owner, he loves children and his family, which he learns early on to defend. He can be successfully trained because of his extraordinary intelligence and capacity to memorize.
Country of origin: Italy |
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