It’s like a dog that became a lion.
Then its lips started to grow.
And it got really wrinkled.
I’ve always been impressed with this breed’s conformation
February 28, 2010 by retrieverman
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Um…what was that breed supposed to do in the old days before it became a lumbering mass of flews and drool? Seems like the bad guys ought to be more afraid of drowning in a puddle of saliva than being chewed apart if this were ever a guard dog.
If I’m after a tough-looking mastiff, I’d probably go for a Cane Corso.
They did the typical mastiff-y jobs, I suppose. The original dogs were no where NEAR that extreme. Once again, it’s just exaggeration for the show ring, and nothing more. I love the color of Neos (I’m a sucker for blue) but their head is just ridiculous. If many St. Bernard people need bibs and a constant supply of ‘drool rags’ handy for their guys, I can’t imagine the mess a Neo makes.
I’m not a big advocate of crosses “just because” but found the following
http://www.boardogs.com/Bull_Mastiff_Cross_Great_Dane.htm
http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/d/daniff.htm
–certainly the dog in the video above doesn’t have the huge calluses on every joing (and even on the flews, it looked like) of the dog at the airport. A much more lively dog too.
There’s apparently someone who crosses mastiffs with Pyrs also -
http://www.martinmastiff.com/designer-dogs.htm
All of the above dogs looked much more athletic and able to perform the traditional role of a large protection/hound type dog than the sorry specimen at the airport.
Peggy Richter.
“Seems like the bad guys ought to be more afraid of drowning in a puddle of saliva than being chewed apart if this were ever a guard dog.”
I think you show an unfamliarity with this breed – also known as the Mastino outside the US.
Neos are very muscular and are surprisingly fast for their size. Their skin does not connect to the underlying tissue as completely as it does in other breeds. That’s what gives them that goofy face and droopy look in general – as well as a serious case of the drools. It also keeps them from having the well-defined, “cut” appearance of other mastiff breeds like the Cane Corso. But that loose skin hides an extremely muscular body and exceptionally powerful jaws – a much stronger dog overall than the Corso. Neos also tend to be more aggressive and are more likely to launch an immediate attack rather than threaten.
A “bad guy” would be worried about a lot more than drool if confronted by a Neo.
BTW, it’s generally accepted that both of these breeds are the result recent re-establishment and have a lot of ancestry in common. The large Italian guard breeds were driven to near extinction during WWII, and had to be re-established from what was left. The goals of those programs were based on remembrances and old photographs, and even older descriptions going back to ancient times. The Neo is the result of a re-establishment program that started immediately after the war, while the Cane Corso program started a bit later than that.