THE MASTIFF TYPE. 15 



The foregoing characteristics of the mastiff group show 

 that their natural habit is that of broad thick-set powerful 

 animals, deriving their food naturally more from bold attack 

 of larger animals, and tearing the flesh from, and gnawing the 

 bones of, dead carcases, than on their speed or hunting powers. 

 Their limbs are characteristically short and stout, with 

 powerful muscles to move such powerful short levers. 



The points drawn up by fanciers are somewhat fallacious 

 and arbitrary, being laid down simply to define the most 

 typical, and highly cultivated specimens. 



All mastiffs should be, more or less heavily wrinkled about 

 the face, the lips pendulous, and having a certain amount of 

 dewlap ; the ears, although they should not be set so low as 

 in the hound and should be free from any folding, need not 

 be so small as the fancy dictates. It is no doubt a character- 

 istic of the English bulldog to have very small ears, and the 

 English mastiff is all the better for approaching its smaller 

 relation in character generally, but its other congener the 

 pug dog, is often spoilt according to fanciers ideas, through 

 having the round, thick ear, which generally grows to larger 

 dimension than the pointed or commonly termed V shape 

 usually does, although the former is equally or even more 

 typical. A round medium sized or even thick, heavy ear, is 

 not at variance with purity of mastiff type, and when the face 

 is heavily wrinkled, dewlap pronounced, and lips character- 

 istically pendulous, the ear will generally be larger, and have 

 more leather about it, than the modern fancy dictates. 



Of late years the pendulosity of the lips is a characteristic 

 that has been lost sight of by the majority of breeders ; in fact 

 some who set themselves up for judges, have condemned this 

 oft mentioned characteristic of the race, which has been very 

 much lost through the introduction of vertragal blood 

 through the boarhound cross. 



