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WE HAVE PUPPIES!!!
There are a couple pups available out the litter of South American Import Lyra del Saratoga and American Bred Bama Breeze of Muscle Beach. Please visit the Puppy Album in the Gallery for more.
Welcome to the world of Mastini!
So, you have decided or are searching for the ideal dog and for you it is Mastino. Well, before you get too excited, slow down and begin you research. There are many, many breeds of dogs out there as well as mixed breeds that may fit your family and lifestyle better than a Mastino. You will need to consider much more than the looks of a dog and how “cool” it would be to have a beastly Neapolitan at the end of the leash garnering undivided attention from passers-by.
The Mastino Napoletano is a breed with great, rich and long history. I have provided a brief description as written in the USNMC Judges education packet. All materials will soon be available to the public via the USNMC website.
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What best describes a legend… is the historyof the breed as an archaeological find in modern-day breeding. The Neapolitan Mastiff is not like any other breed of dog. He is not like any other breed In type, in build, in movement, in terms of temperament or character. For this reason the Neapolitan Mastiff may be among the most difficult breeds to judge.
The Neapolitan Mastiff is an ancient breed dating back some 40 centuries in history, and one should approach the breed with a great deal of respect for its history, resilience, fortitude and perseverance; the Neapolitan Mastiff has been to wars, has been starved, and has survived near extinction in his evolution to the present day.Synonymous with the Italian Mastiff, this large breed is the result of at least four thousand years of both natural and human selection based on the various descriptions obtained as a gift from the past. According to different sources, the progenitor of this mastiff is a Tibetan dog which directly affected the phenotype of the Persian Mastiff used in battle by King Porus against Alexander the Great.
It was Alexander The Great who admired the strength of these dogs and brought them to his kingdom in Greece to a region of Epirus called “Molossia” (from which the term Molossus, used by the Romans to describe this dog, freely translated in English a “Molossian”), and thereafter, were bred for many years.
The Roman Emperor Paolo Emilio, at his triumphal return to Rome after a military campaign in Greece, brought a hundred of these dogs back as war booty. Based on reports of Quinto Aurelio Simmaco, the Romans widely employed these dogs for their fighting games at the Colosseum (“giochi circensis”).
At the time of Julius Caesar, the original Greek strain was supposedly bred with the mastiffs encountered during the military campaign in Britannia (the actual Great Britain), most likely brought there by the Phoenicians.
The status of this breed following the decline of the RomanEmpire is less clear but the breed fortunately survived theMedieval Ages as witnessed by several authors who cite this dog in their works (see the Molossian in the literature). During this age Molossian dogs were used for guarding castlesand for wild boar hunting. A crucial step for the selection of thepresent day phenotype of the N.M. was the contribution of theSpanish “Perro de Presa” that was bred with the ancient Italianmastiff at the time of the Spanish domination in southern Italy, (the so called “Kingdom of the two Sicilys”) around the middle of the XV century (1450 A.D.)
This dog became in vogue for kings as well astheir servants in the region ruled by the royalfamilies of Aragona and later Borboni. This was so evident that the mastiff became a common theme in both sculptures and paintings presentthroughout the southern Italian peninsula.
In the centuries that followed the end of the Spanish kingdom,in Italy the breed survived in the countryside around Naples, thanks to the devotion of individuals who loved the strength, character, and loyalty of this dog.
The Italian nickname used to describe these N.M. owners (“Mastinari”) is still used by the Italian breeders in southern Italy. However, the contribution of these people would have been unrecognized without the work of another passionate writer, Piero Scanziani, who, following World War II, collected some subjects from the Neapolitan countryside and bred them at the zoo in Rome. This led to the official recognition of this ancient dog in Italy in 1949 by the Italian Kennel Club (ENCI).
From the first chapter of Daniel Chavarria’s novel El Ojo Dindimenio:
“A young slave was worth 200 dracme” while “a well trained Molossian dogwas worth 500.” “Well trained was a Molossian who would bite at the buttocks, and would conceive the slave fugitive alive and without bone fractures.”
“With a single bite they could break off a man’s wrist.” “They were bigger and much more massive than wolves”, and “wolves living in pack in the same land, would always avoid the lonely Molossian.”
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As you can summise the Neapolitan Mastiff is a breed for those with a romantic side and a desire to respect the history of the breed. It is nothing more than a pure honor to share your life with a living gargoyle, a breathing relic of the past.
Breeding is no task taken lightly nor without a great deal of time, finance and thought put into the program. When and if we breed one of our dogs, it is always to better the breed. We strive for Health, Temperament and Type. Our first concern is Health and Temperament. What is the point of having a great looking dog, if you can't take him/her anywhere or worse, it has a chronic health condition? There are always heath concerns that will arise in breeding, after all we are the ones playing creator. With the decision to breed comes a huge responsibility to breed wisely. Careful selection must be paid to ALL factors from choosing the mates with the best temperament, character, health, soundness, type and above all how all of these factors in each parent will combine in the offspring.
For example: A breeder whelps a litter of 6. One is born dead; one is born so deformed it has to be put down. One lives until 18 months, and then dies from a bad heart. Three are still alive. One is diagnosed with Hip Dysplacia; one with epilepsy. The last pup is great. I mean fantastic, looks good, great health and is winning in the rings. Should this dog be used in a breeding program knowing that he will be carrying some of the same genes that his littermates were? There have been so many problems, would you take the chance?
This is something that we believe in. Appearances can be misguiding. As the old saying goes "Don't judge a book by its cover". Without knowing the lines, health and temperament of these dogs and their siblings, it is our opinion that you will never better the breed. No matter how nice the dog(s) may look.
It is our goal to have litters where the majority of the litter is show quality, not to mention healthy and of sound temperament. We are aiming to better the breed. We will not breed just because we have a healthy Mastino who is of breeding age. We take our time in finding what we think will be the absolute best stud or bitch for our dogs. We will not hesitate to have a great dog and never breed it. What is the point if what you are going to breed will lessen what you have already?
We do not have litters regularly. If you are in a rush for a pup, we are not the people for you.
We are members of the Tacoma Kennel Club and the United States Neapolitan Mastiff Club. Shani is currently a director with the USNMC and the secretary for NeoRescue, Inc. We are past longtime members of the American Society for the Preservation of the Neapolitan Mastiff and founding members of the Pacific Northwest Neapoltain Mastiff.
Please take your time while browsing our site. If you should have any questions or require assistance feel free to email bdolce@comcast.net or phone for a quicker reply. We have provided a mailing list for those who are browsing and would like to be notified of site updates, breeding & litter announcements, as well as show success or simply be kept apprise of what is happening at Bella Dolce Mastini. Thank you for visiting.
Marty & Shani Robbins
Spanaway, WA USA
253-223-3168
