Natural History

If you want to know the real problem with Neapolitan mastiff culture, I think one needs only to look  at these two photographs and read the captions. (Click to enlarge)

Now, the troubling part isn’t that they prefer exaggeration in type, but within that breed’s culture, they seem to be very much in denial of their own breed’s history.

Is the dog on the left the “True Italian style”?

Well, here is one from the foundational stock that actually came from estate guard dogs in the region around naples:

It looks to me like the dog that is claimed to be “True Italian” in the top photos is about as Italian as Snookie Polizzi.

The so-called “True Italian” type can be taken quite far.

This dog has a skin condition. I don’t know which one, but it seems that most of this breed’s skin problems come from suffering from rather severe inbreeding depression. My guess is that I’ll get a comment from a poobah or weroance in the Neapolitan mastiff community who will leave a comment about how this dog is a terrible example of the breed.  It certainly is, but it didn’t just pop out of nowhere. Dogs like this are the logical conclusion of the culture that encourages commentary like we see in captions in the top photos. The dogs must be exaggerated to be “true Italian.” Never mind that the people who actually used them in Southern Italy never bred for such bizarre features– until the German and American dog market opened up for them.

Of course, Piero Scanziani, the man who essentially created the modern Neo, was not actively seeking working dogs. He was in search of a legend. And that’s why things are so bizarre in this breed.  It was never based upon any empirical reality. It was a dog of legends that tease the imaginations a bit too much.

And it’s not like the bulk of their fanciers care. On the Neapolitan mastiff history page that the parent club put wrote for the AKC, we find that they have no shame:

The Mastino’s type, its unique appearance, was created in the Neapolitan countryside by years of inbreeding. As a result, the traits that make the Mastino an unusual dog: its wrinkles, dewlap, loose skin, enormous bone, and distinct lumbering gait, are created by an accumulation of recessive genes. To breed a sound dog with these attributes is truly an art…and a challenge.

This may be the first time I’ve come across an official document from a breed club that actually bragged about how inbred their dogs are in a document that the public at large will likely see. Generally, if you’re trying to promote a breed to the laity, that’s something you don’t brag about.

And if it’s an art, it’s a black art.

It’s not even eugenics. It’s malgenics.