Mastiff breeds: the European Mastiff dog family

European Mastiff quick facts

Family storyTerrierRead the family's story: origins, members, DNA

In this sectionGreat Dane1600 to 1880 · GermanyRelated familyEuropean dogs0 breeds in this familyFamily storyTerrierRead the family's story: origins, members, DNA

What is the European Mastiff family?

See alsoRottweiler100 CE to 1901 · Germany

It is the branch of the dog family tree that holds the mastiffs, the bulldogs, the bull terriers and a few look-alikes that DNA places beside them. The 2017 study by Heidi Parker and colleagues compared the genomes of 161 modern breeds and sorted them into 23 clades. A clade is a set of breeds that share one common ancestral branch, like cousins who share grandparents. One of those clades was named European Mastiff. This site calls such a clade a "family".

How is a family different from a kennel club group, and from a "molosser"?

A family is about descent, measured in DNA. A group is a kennel club shelf, such as FCI Group 2 or the AKC Working Group, where breeds are filed by the job they do or once did. A molosser (or molossoid) is a body type: a heavy head, a short or medium muzzle, a thick body and a guarding past. Molosser is a description of looks and work, not a family tree.

The three do not line up. In this site's data, 20 of the 54 family members sit in FCI Group 2, the "Pinscher and Schnauzer, Molossoid and Swiss Mountain and Cattledogs" shelf, and that is the closest match. But the Bull Terrier sits in FCI Group 3 (terriers), the French Bulldog and Boston Terrier in Group 9 (companion dogs), and the Rhodesian Ridgeback in Group 6 (scent hounds). In the other direction, the Rottweiler and the Saint Bernard are Group 2 molossers that DNA places in the Drover and Alpine families, and the Tibetan Mastiff, despite its name, sits in the Asian Spitz family.

How do "mastiff", "bulldog" and "bull breeds" relate to the family?

"Mastiff" is a loose label for big, heavy guard dogs. Only some mastiffs are in this family. "Bulldog" and "bull breeds" cover dogs that came from the old English baiting dogs, and nearly all of them land here: Bulldog, French Bulldog, Bull Terrier, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier and Boston Terrier. So, to the common question "are bulldogs mastiffs?": by DNA, yes, they are cousins in the same family. By size and job, they are a different story.

In this sectionFrench Bulldog1850 to 1898 · FranceRelated familyDrover4 breeds in this familySee alsoRottweiler100 CE to 1901 · Germany

Where does the family sit in the dog family tree?

Related familyPinscher14 breeds in this family

The parent is European dogs, which in turn sits under West Eurasian dogs. Its sibling families under European dogs include Terrier, Pinscher, Schnauzer, Alpine, Drover, Continental Herder, Hungarian, UK Rural, Scent Hound, Pointer Setter, Retriever and Spaniel.

Several of these are close in looks or history. The Terrier family is the one that feels closest to the bull terriers, because bulldogs were crossed with terriers in the 1800s. The Alpine and Drover families are home to the big Swiss and German guarding dogs that look like mastiffs but belong elsewhere on the tree.

Related familyEuropean dogs0 breeds in this familyRelated familyPinscher14 breeds in this family

Where does the word "mastiff" come from?

Family storyUK RuralRead the family's story: origins, members, DNA

Dictionaries trace "mastiff" to the Old French mastin (modern French matin), which comes from a Vulgar Latin form of Latin mansuetus, meaning "tame". The sense is a dog that lives with people, a house guard. The word is Latin in origin, not Greek.

"Molosser" is different. It comes from the Molossians, an ancient Greek tribe and kingdom in Epirus, whose dogs were praised by Aristotle, Virgil and many other Greek and Roman writers. English naturalist Christopher Merret listed "Molossus" and "Mastif" together as one British dog in 1666, perhaps the first time the two names were blended. That blend is why people still use mastiff and molosser as if they were the same word.

Member breedCane Corso1000 to 1996 · ItalyFamily storyUK RuralRead the family's story: origins, members, DNA

Where did these dogs come from?

Family storyTerrierRead the family's story: origins, members, DNA

What do we know about the ancient "war dogs"?

Less than most books claim. Ancient writers described Molossian dogs by region, size and job. Aristotle wrote that Molossian hunting dogs differed from the larger, fiercer Molossian dogs that followed sheep. Some scholars think the hunting type looked more like a heavy coursing dog than a modern mastiff. Claims that Assyrian kings used "mastiffs" in war, and that Alexander the Great fought with giant dogs, are mostly legend. This site lists the Assyrian Mastiff and the Molossus as extinct members because they are traditional ancestors in breed lore, not because bones or DNA tie them to living dogs. The Alaunt, a dog of the Alans of the early centuries CE, is in the same position. The Alans were a nomadic Sarmatian people of the Pontic-Caspian Steppe, in what is now Ukraine and southern Russia, and the dog spread west with them and the Vandals in the 400s. The data marks the Assyrian Mastiff, Molossus and Canis Pugnax as legend-level types, at low confidence.

How did Roman and medieval guard dogs shape the family?

Roman writers mention fighting dogs of Britain, called pugnaces, and Roman sources use words such as molossus for guards. Some breed historians link the Roman British dogs to the English Mastiff, and this site's data lists Canis Pugnax and the Alaunt as medium and low confidence ancestors. That is a theory, not proof. What is certain is that heavy guard dogs, boar hounds and bear dogs were kept across Europe in the Middle Ages, which is where the Spanish Mastiff, the Bullenbeisser of Germany, the Alano Español and the Dogue de Bordeaux first show up in the data (between about 800 and 1300).

A well-known story says a mastiff of Sir Piers Legh survived a battle and had pups at Lyme Hall in England, founding the oldest line of English Mastiffs. This is a tale, not a documented pedigree.

What was bull-baiting, and why did it end?

Bull-baiting set dogs against a tethered bull, for sport and a belief that baited meat was better. It created the Old English Bulldog, a medium, muscular dog bred to grab and hold. In the United Kingdom, the Cruelty to Animals Act 1835 received royal assent on 9 September 1835 and made it illegal to keep premises for baiting bulls, dogs, bears, badgers or other animals. It did not end dog fighting overnight, but it removed the main job of the Old English Bulldog. The old dog is now extinct. Its place was taken by the modern Bulldog, kept as a companion, and by crosses with terriers that produced the bull terrier line.

How did the Victorian era remake the family?

The 1800s were the busy century. The English Mastiff nearly died out in the world wars of the 1900s and recovered from imports bred in Canada and North America. The Bullmastiff was made by English gamekeepers who crossed Mastiffs and Bulldogs, in a story usually given as about 60 percent Mastiff and 40 percent Bulldog, to stop poachers without killing them. The Kennel Club in the UK recognised the Bullmastiff on 24 December 1924. The Boxer came from the extinct German Bullenbeisser plus English bulldogs, and was shown at Munich in 1895, with the first Boxer club following in 1896. The Dogue de Bordeaux was entered at the first French dog show, Paris 1863. The Neapolitan Mastiff was rediscovered by Piero Scanziani, who saw one at a show in Naples in 1946, and its first standard was accepted in 1949, with FCI recognition in 1956.

How did the family spread abroad?

Mastiff-type dogs travelled with settlers and soldiers. The Boerboel of South Africa and the Rhodesian Ridgeback grew from European dogs brought by colonists. In South America the Fila Brasileiro, Dogo Argentino (begun in the 1920s from the extinct Cordoba Fighting Dog), Dogue Brasileiro and Cimarron Uruguayo developed. In Japan, the Tosa was built from native dogs crossed with English Mastiffs, Bulldogs, Saint Bernards, Great Danes and Bull Terriers in this site's data. In the United States, the American Bulldog, Alapaha Blue Blood Bulldog and American Bully all trace back to the Old English Bulldog.

In this sectionBullmastiff1860 to 1924 · United KingdomFamily storyTerrierRead the family's story: origins, members, DNA

Which breeds are in the European Mastiff family?

Family storyUK RuralRead the family's story: origins, members, DNA

All 54 members, in order of first appearance, with the 16 DNA-tested breeds first. The other 38 are placed here by history and are hidden until you choose to show all 54. "Appeared" is the period when the type first shows up, as given in this site's data.

In this sectionCane Corso1000 to 1996 · ItalyIn this sectionGreat Dane1600 to 1880 · GermanyFamily storyUK RuralRead the family's story: origins, members, DNA

Which members descend from which?

Family storyTerrierRead the family's story: origins, members, DNA

The main lines in this site's data are these. The confidence is mostly medium, because pedigrees from before the 1800s were rarely written down.

• Mastiff line. Alaunt and Canis Pugnax lead to the English Mastiff, which leads to the Old English Bulldog and, by crossing, to the Bullmastiff, Boerboel and Tosa.
• Bulldog line. The Old English Bulldog leads to the Bulldog, American Bulldog, Alapaha Blue Blood Bulldog and Toy Bulldog. The Toy Bulldog leads to the French Bulldog. The Bulldog leads to the Continental Bulldog and Olde English Bulldogge.
• Bull and terrier line. Bulldogs crossed with terriers made the "bull and terrier" dog, the base of the Bull Terrier, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, American Pit Bull Terrier and Boston Terrier. The Miniature Bull Terrier is a smaller variety of the Bull Terrier, the American Staffordshire Terrier is a variety of the American Pit Bull Terrier, and the Gull Terrier of Pakistan and India descends from the Bull Terrier. The American Pit Bull Terrier, the Bull and Terrier and the Gull Terrier were never DNA-tested. They sit here because their tested relatives, the Bull Terrier, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier and Boston Terrier, all carry the European Mastiff label.
• German line. The Bullenbeisser leads to the Boxer.
• South American line. The Córdoba Fighting Dog leads to the Dogo Argentino. The Alano Español leads to the Cimarrón Uruguayo.
• Asian line. The Assyrian Mastiff is listed as the legendary ancestor of the Kurdish Mastiff, which this site places in a different family.

How much DNA do the tested members share?

Parker et al. 2017 measured shared haplotypes, long stretches of DNA that two breeds carry in the same order. The unit is Mb, megabases, or millions of DNA letters. More Mb means closer relatives. The strongest ties inside the family are:

Three things stand out. The two bull terriers are close, as expected, since one is a smaller version of the other. The Cane Corso and Neapolitan Mastiff, both Italian, are each other's nearest relatives. And the Bullmastiff and English Mastiff share a lot, which matches the gamekeeper story.

In this sectionBullmastiff1860 to 1924 · United KingdomIn this sectionBulldog1835 to 1875 · United KingdomFamily storyTerrierRead the family's story: origins, members, DNA

What do the members have in common?

Family storyUK RuralRead the family's story: origins, members, DNA

Most members have a broad, heavy head, a strong neck and a muscular body built for gripping and holding. Many have loose skin around the face and a short muzzle. Coats are mostly short and easy to keep. Most were bred to guard a home, a farm or an estate, or to hold large animals such as bulls and boar, so many are alert and loyal to their families but wary of strangers.

Size is not a shared trait. This is the most mixed family on the tree: from the toy-size Toy Bulldog to the giant Mastiff. The Boston Terrier, French Bulldog and the Miniature Bull Terrier prove that the family look can fit in a small dog.

Member breedFrench Bulldog1850 to 1898 · FranceFamily storyUK RuralRead the family's story: origins, members, DNA

What health problems run through the family?

Family storyTerrierRead the family's story: origins, members, DNA

Three themes are well documented.

Short faces. Dogs with extremely flat faces, such as the Bulldog and French Bulldog, often have narrow airways. A 2015 study by Dan O'Neill and colleagues at the Royal Veterinary College, using records from vet practices in England, found that extreme flat-faced dogs (Bulldog, French Bulldog and Pug) were about 3.5 times more likely to have at least one upper airway disorder than moderate and long-faced dogs. Among French Bulldogs, 20 percent had at least one such disorder.

Bloat. Gastric dilatation and volvulus, usually called bloat, is when the stomach swells and twists. In a study led by Lawrence Glickman and published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association in 2000, the Great Dane had the highest risk of 11 large and giant breeds studied, with a lifetime risk of about 42 percent. Deep, narrow chests were one of the risk factors.

Short lives in giants. Cornelia Kraus and colleagues, using data on about 56,000 dogs of 74 breeds (American Naturalist, 2013), found that for every 2.2 kg of extra adult body weight, a dog loses roughly one month of expected lifespan. That fits this family's own numbers: the Dogue de Bordeaux is listed at 5 to 8 years, the English Mastiff at 6 to 10, and the Bullmastiff and Neapolitan Mastiff at 7 to 9. The medium Staffordshire Bull Terrier is listed at 12 to 14 years.

Health varies by breed, by line and by breeder. A vet, a breed club health programme and the parents' health tests are better guides than any family average.

Member breedBoxer1880 to 1904 · GermanyFamily storyTerrierRead the family's story: origins, members, DNA

Which members are extinct?

Family storyUK RuralRead the family's story: origins, members, DNA

Twelve: Assyrian Mastiff, Molossus, Canis Pugnax, Alaunt, Bullenbeisser, Terceira Mastiff, Old English Bulldog, Bull and Terrier, Belgian Mastiff, Córdoba Fighting Dog, Dogo Cubano and Toy Bulldog. The first four are partly legend and may be descriptions of a type more than a breed. The rest are real breeds or crosses lost in the last 300 years, mostly after their jobs vanished. The Bull and Terrier, the 1800s cross of bulldog and terrier, is the base of the living bull terriers. The Bullenbeisser's best parts live on in the Boxer, and the Old English Bulldog's in the Bulldog and in several American bulldogs.

In this sectionAssyrian Mastiff1200 BCE to 600 BCE · IraqFamily storyUK RuralRead the family's story: origins, members, DNA

What surprises does the family hold?

Family storyTerrierRead the family's story: origins, members, DNA

• The Rhodesian Ridgeback, a lion-hunting hound that kennel clubs file with the scent hounds, shares a branch of this clade with the Great Dane. The two share 20.7 Mb.
• The Tibetan Mastiff, named for the mastiff, falls in the Asian Spitz family. The Rottweiler and Saint Bernard fall in the Drover and Alpine families, yet each still shares DNA with this family: the Saint Bernard shares 37.1 Mb with the English Mastiff.
• Parker et al. 2017 found no recent haplotype sharing between giant flock guards of the Mediterranean and the European mastiffs. Giant size seems to have arisen more than once.
• The Hovawart and the Moscow Watchdog, once filed with the mastiffs for their size, now sit elsewhere: the Hovawart is a German guard and herding dog placed with the Continental Herders, and the Moscow Watchdog is a Saint Bernard and Caucasian Shepherd cross placed with the Mediterranean livestock guardians.
• The French Bulldog and the Bulldog are close, but the Boston Terrier also sits near them (24.1 Mb with the French Bulldog), showing how many small dogs come from big ones.

In this sectionHovawart1200 to 1937 · GermanyFamily storyTerrierRead the family's story: origins, members, DNA

What does research say about the family?

Family storyUK RuralRead the family's story: origins, members, DNA

The key study is Parker et al. 2017, "Genomic Analyses Reveal the Influence of Geographic Origin, Migration, and Hybridization on Modern Dog Breed Development" (Cell Reports). It tested 161 breeds, built a tree and found 23 clades. The European Mastiff clade joins the Mastiff, Bullmastiff, Dogue de Bordeaux, Neapolitan Mastiff, Boerboel, Cane Corso, Bulldog, Boxer, Great Dane, Bull Terrier, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, Boston Terrier and French Bulldog, with the Rhodesian Ridgeback near the Great Dane. It supports the idea that "molosser" is a body shape that appeared in several places, not a single ancient family.

Two cautions. Only breeds the study tested carry a clade label here, and the rest of the placements rest on history and type, so some may move if they are ever tested. And shared DNA shows relatedness, not who bred whom.

Member breedBulldog1835 to 1875 · United KingdomFamily storyUK RuralRead the family's story: origins, members, DNA

Which member suits which owner?

Family storyTerrierRead the family's story: origins, members, DNA

This is general guidance, not a promise about any one dog.

• Flat in a flat. The Boston Terrier and French Bulldog are small and fit city homes, but flat faces need heat care and vet attention to breathing.
• Active and medium. The Boxer, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Bull Terrier and Dogo Argentino need exercise, firm and kind training and early socialising.
• Steady, big and calm indoors. The English Mastiff, Bullmastiff, Neapolitan Mastiff and Dogue de Bordeaux are giant dogs that need space, strong handling and an owner ready for high vet bills and a shorter life together.
• Working guards. The Boerboel, Cane Corso, Fila Brasileiro and Presa Canario are strong guarding breeds. They suit experienced owners who can train and manage them.
• Rare breeds. Check local rules and talk to breed clubs first, as some breeds are restricted in some countries.

Member breedBullmastiff1860 to 1924 · United KingdomFamily storyTerrierRead the family's story: origins, members, DNA

European Mastiff fun facts

Family storyUK RuralRead the family's story: origins, members, DNA

• The Great Dane's German name, Deutsche Dogge, means "German mastiff". Its English name comes from a French phrase for "great Danish dog".
• The Bullmastiff gained Kennel Club recognition on Christmas Eve 1924.
• The Dogue de Bordeaux was shown under its present name at the first French dog show, in Paris in 1863.
• The Boxer may be named for its habit of "boxing" with its front paws, or from a German word for the Bullenbeisser.
• The Tosa was made in Japan in the late 1800s from native dogs crossed with at least five European breeds.
• The word "molosser" and the word "mastiff" were joined by name in English in the 1600s.

Member breedGreat Dane1600 to 1880 · GermanyFamily storyUK RuralRead the family's story: origins, members, DNA

Related families

Related familyAlpine6 breeds in this family

• European dogs, the parent family
• Terrier, close in history to the bull terriers
• Alpine, home of the Saint Bernard
• Drover, home of the Rottweiler
• Asian Spitz, home of the Tibetan Mastiff
• Pinscher and Schnauzer, German-bred guard dogs filed beside many mastiffs by the FCI

Related familyEuropean dogs0 breeds in this familyRelated familyAlpine6 breeds in this family

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