Breed: Mastiff
Country of origin: Great Britain
Standard

Strong and powerful dog, with very well built bones. The body is broad, deep, long, powerfully built, on legs wide apart and squarely set. Muscles sharply defined. Size a great desideratum, if combined with quality. Height and substance important if both points are proportionately combined. Large, massive, powerful, symmetrical, well-knit frame. Skull broad between ears, forehead flat, but wrinkled when attention is excited. Brows (superciliary ridges) slightly raised. Muscles of temples and cheeks (temporal and masseter) well developed. Arch across skull of a rounded, flattened curve, with depression up centre of forehead from median line between eyes, to halfway up saggital suture. Face or muzzle short, broad under eyes, and keeping nearly parallel in width to end of nose. The eyes are small, wide apart, divided by at least space of two eyes. Stop between eyes well marked but not too abrupt. Colour hazel brown, darker the better, showing no haw. The ears must be small, thin to touch, wide apart, set on at highest points of sides of skull, so as to continue outline across summit, and lying flat and close to cheeks when in repose. The neck is slightly arched, moderately long, very muscular, and measuring in circumference about one or two inches less than skull before ears. The chest must be wide, deep and well let down between forelegs. Ribs arched and well rounded. False ribs deep and well set back to hips. The tail is set on high, and reaching to hocks, or a little below them, wide at its root and tapering to end, hanging straight in repose, but forming a curve with end pointing upwards, but not over back, when dog is excited. The feet are large and round. Toes well arched. Nails black. The hair is short and close-lying, but not too fine over shoulders, neck and back. The colours must be apricot-fawn, silver-fawn, fawn, or dark fawn-brindle. In any case, muzzle, ears and nose should be black round orbits, and extending upwards between them.
Temper

The Mastiff has a mild temper, but he is very good as a guardian. Noble, brave and loyal, but a little shy with the people he does not know. He is a very balanced temper, and this makes him fit to live inside a family, with children and other animals. He must not be left always by himself in a wide garden, this would make him sad. In many countries you can register the title of Champion only after passing the charcter test, organized by the Breed Club during the Club Meetings. 

The ideal owner
The great balance the mastiff is endowed with allows him to live with all kinds of people, even very different from each other. Without any doubt, the owner will have to appreciate, and above all understand, his extraordinary sensibility. The mastiff can be the right dog both for elderly and for children. His owner must be able to give him a lot of love, respect and education.   

Feeding
Feeding is very important for the Mastiff correct growing up. As he is a big-sized dog, it is very important for him to grow as slowly as possible, because a too fast growing could seriously compromise his future life, and cause problems to his articulations. For this reason, it is necessary for the dog, since he is a puppy,  to have a balanced diet consisting in dry food. A different diet may be valid, but it will never be balanced and will never have the same quantity of vitamins, minerals, calcium, phosphorus as a diet based on dry food. Moreover, it is easy to find on sale different kinds of foods, from several brands, right for dogs of any age or size. It is advisable not to let our Mastiff drink too much before his meals or after, because too much water could cause the stomach dilation or even a torsion. 

Care
The Mastiff is in himself a rough dog, he perfectly fits to life in the open air, of course he needs to have his own place and a big kennel where to find shelter in case of rain, wind or cold weather. His coat does not need any particular care, you only have to brush him twice a week, only when he loses his hair in spring and autumn he needs more attention. His ears must always be cleaned with a small piece of cotton and a right lotion. His eyes instead need a lot of attention, especially if they are exposed to the wind or cold.

Education
If a correct feeding is extremely important, a good education is no less. An adult mastiff can weigh more than 100 Kg., for this reason it is very important to give him the right education, starting when he is a puppy. So he must learn to walk correctly when he is at the lead, and he must learn very soon the basic position, such as "sit", "lay down" and "don't move". Then, when he is about 8/10 months old, his owner can decide if to attend a basic course with a good trainer.
You will never have to expect too much too soon, otherwise you Mastiff will get bored and will no more work with enthusiasm.