582 THE AMERICAN BOOK OF THE DOG. 



of the breed as watch-dogs, lie in the marked unwilling- 

 ness to resort to strong measures until mild ones have been 

 tried and failed. Almost any breed of dogs,* or non-breed, 

 will attack strangers if need be, but the Mastiff is the only 

 dog whose special characteristic it is not to attack until 

 warning and threats have failed. 



One of the most noble characteristics of the Mastiff is 

 his peaceable, tractable disposition. He can and will fight 

 most savagely if forced into it, but rarely indeed does a 

 Mastiff precipitate a fight. Treat him kindly, and a child 

 may control him; but if he be imposed upon to such an 

 extent that he declares war, let man and beast beware, for 

 no raging lion is more fierce or courageous than a thor- 

 oughly angry Mastiff. 



Perhaps the. greatest pleasure of my Mastiff-breeding 

 experience was in giving a Mastiff puppy to the little blind, 

 deaf, and dumb Helen Keller, whose remarkable history 

 was noted in St. Nicholas Magazine about a year since. 

 To such a helpless object as this child, such a dog as my 

 glorious old Gipsey was would be invaluable 



As to what a Mastiff should be in conformation, much, 

 if not all, depends on which post you wish to tie to. If you 

 wish to win prizes at dog shows, be exalted as owning 

 "that crack Mastiff,'' the nearer you can get to the stand- 

 ard laid down by Mr. M. B. Wynn for the original Mastiff 

 Club of England the better. If you interpret this standard 

 and scale of points with strictness in every particular, and 

 breed to it faithfully, you will get dogs that will be, bodily, at 

 least, all you want, and it may be mentally; but if because 

 the scale allots forty points in the hundred to head prop- 

 erties, you magnify that forty to ninety-nine, and condone 

 weak loins, straight hocks, too short bodies, weak joints, 

 and frightfully undershot muzzles, as weighing nothing 

 against "that grand head," you will probably get waddling, 

 ugly brutes that will never rise above the position of 

 prize-winners under " fancy " judges. That this standard 

 and scale of points can be carried out, and still breed 

 Mastiffs as the result, is shown by the grand dog Beau- 



