American Mastiff Information & Dog Breed Facts

The American Mastiff is a relatively new breed, but the Mastiff dogs have been around for centuries. The unique breed was first developed about 20 years ago in Piketon, Ohio, and it is primarily descended from the English Mastiff.

To be able to know the American Mastiff’s history, we have to look at the history of their ancestry. The origin of the Mastiff is perhaps the most disputed and contentious of all dog breeds, with theories as to when and where it was developed ranging from 10000 to 1000 years ago and from Ireland to Tibet. What is known for sure, is that the breed is one of the oldest English breeds, if not the oldest and that it has been well-known in its homeland since the Dark Ages. The origin of the word Mastiff is unclear. Some believe that it comes from the French word Martin, meaning ‘tame’. Others claim that it comes from the ancient Anglo-Saxon word Masty, which means ‘powerful’. Furthermore, originally they were bred as English war dogs, where they had the job of attacking the enemy soldiers. Between the wars, they guarded the rich and wealthy homesteads and were occasionally trained in the sport of bear-baiting. They were aggressive animals, kept chained to a stake during the day. Eventually, improving military technology had made the Mastiff useless as a military combatant by the end of the Renaissance, although it continued to be a very common guard dog. In 1835, bear-baiting was formally banned by the Parliament, and shortly after the strong aggressive tendencies were eliminated from the breed. They became a gentle, protective giant and began to be kept primarily as companion animals, especially by butchers who had enough to feed them. However, the great cost of feeding these dogs, as well as the introduction of new giants breeds such as Saint Bernard and the Newfoundland, decreased the numbers of the breed. By the end of World War II, there was only one half-blooded Mastiff capable of reproducing left in England. This dog was subsequently bred to the fewer than 20 Mastiffs remaining in the United States along with a female, Dogue de Bordeaux, to restore the breed’s population.

Mastiffs have a long history in the United States than almost any other breed. According to experts, Mastiffs came to America with their colonist owners and were used for the protection of the families, stock, and property. After World War II, the Mastiff rapidly regained popularity in the USA, eventually becoming one of the 30 most popular breeds according to American Kennel Club registration statistics. Sadly, there were a lot of inbreeding issues that began to cause health complications, but many breeders worked hard to restore the breed to its former glory. Among these breeders was Fredericka Wagner, in Piketon, Ohio, who decided to breed a new Mastiff to overcome these problems. She began in the late 1980s and carefully combined the Anatolian Dog with the Mastiff. Wagner’s goal was to keep the appearance and the temperament of the English Mastiff but introduce the light drooling and good health of the Anatolian Dog. She worked on her breed throughout the 1990s. The offspring was vigilantly regulated with who they were bred with and eventually Fredericka developed the dog that has a tighter lip line. Calling her dogs American Mastiffs, Wagner eventually settled on a ratio that was about 1/8 Anatolian Dog and 7/8 English Mastiff. By the late 1990s, Wagner has stopped outcrossing and was breeding with her existing dog lines. Not much later, in 2002, Wagner started allowing a few breeders to join her newly formed American Mastiff Breeders Council. This widened the gene pool to just 11 breeder members and they worked to ensure the health and temperament of their dogs.

In 2000, the Continental Kennel Club granted formal recognition to the breed, becoming the first organization to do so. The group has yet decided against applying for recognition with larger kennel clubs such as the AKC. Part of this is their personal preference to make the breed exclusively a companion breed, rather than a show dog.