GENERAL APPEARANCE :
The British Breed Standard does not give specific guidelines to size and weight; it simply requests a "large, massive, powerful, symmetrical, well-knit frame." We are therefore looking for a very large, very powerful, and very massive dog, but the massiveness and height must come from the depth of the body rather than the legs, in the approximate proportion of two-thirds body to one-third legs. A Mastiff should not be too tall and gangly. The American Breed Standard asks for dogs to have a minimum height of 30 inches at the shoulder, and bitches should be 27.5 inches.

1: Muzzle 2: stop 3: occiput 4: withers 5: back 6: loin 7: croup 8: hock Joint 9: stifle 10: tuck up 11: front Pastern 12: pastern Joint 13: chest 14: shoulders 15: flews

TEMPERAMENT:
The Mastiff has a very loyal temperament; this is simply described in the British Standard as "Calm, affectionate to owners, but capable of guarding." There is a little more detail in the American Standard, and words such as 'dignity' and 'courage' build up a good picture.
Several countries are introducing 'Temperament Tests' as part of the qualification towards gaining the title of Champion, and this is normally included in the Club Championship Show. This can lead to problems if a dog is rewarded for showing aggression, as can be the case. While it may be right to penalise a dog which is a quivering heap in the ring, no matter how good it may otherwise be, we do not want to go to the opposite extreme and encourage a dog to attack as proof of its 'guarding' abilities. The American Standard specifically states that "Judges should not condone shyness or viciousness"

HEAD:
The Mastiff is an extremely 'head conscious' breed, and the description of the head forms the largest part of both the British and American Standard. It is, however, quite difficult to visualise if one is not familiar with the breed.
It is the head which really makes the Mastiff; it must be big, broad and flat across the skull, with ears set at the highest point so that the line across the ears and the skull is continuous. The stop between the eyes must be pronounced, not shallow, and the muzzle itself must be very broad and deep - these two proportions should be almost the same. So many Mastiffs have muzzles which narrow and appear to taper, or which are not filled out under the eyes, giving a weak appearance. It should, as the British Standard says, be blunt, cut off squarely. The length of the muzzle to the head should be as 1 to 3.

Correct head proportions, seen in profile.

Correct head proportions from the front.

Plain head, lacking stop. (Defect)	Narrow muzzle, lacking underjaw. (Defect)
Muzzle too short. (Defect)	Round prominent eyes showing haw. (Defect)
Long snipey muzzle. (Defect)	Domed skull, low-set ears. (Defect)

One very important point here is the question of wrinkle, and this differs between the British and the American Standards. The British Standard asks for the forehead to be flat but wrinkled when alert, whereas the American Standard calls for "marked wrinkles which are particularly distinctive when at attention". This one small phrase does make quite a difference to the appearance of the heads. As far as the British Standard is concerned, this should mean that the head should be comparatively 'dry', with the wrinkle making all the difference to the dog's appearance and expression when the ears are raised and the dog is interested or excited. In British show rings this is being wrongly interpreted, and too many Mastiffs are showing a continually wrinkled head, combined with excessive folds of flesh down the sides of the cheek, making the Mastiff look rather lioke a Bloodhound. The difference between the correct amount of wrinkle and too much wrinkle can make all the difference to the overall picture.

Long houndy ears.

Excessively undershot

Over-wrinkled

To summarise, the two main faults that are seen in the show ring are narrow, weak muzzles and over-wrinkling. Of the two, the snipey, weak muzzle, lacking strength under the eyes, should be more severely penalised. However, the appearance of the head, in its finer points, has been interpreted in many different ways by many different people. All one can say in conclusion is that breeders, judges and exhibitors must be governed by the requirements of their national Breed Standard, which stipulates the correct and desired type of head. The Breed Standard is the blueprint and it should be followed in all its details.

EYES:
Eyes should be small, set wide apart and dark in colour. There must not be red haw showing. The ears should be small and thin to the touch, again heavy ears are a common fault.

MOUTH:
Again we have a variation between the British and American Standards. The American Standard states that a 'scissors bite is preferred' although a moderately undershot jaw should not be faulted. The British standard states that the lower jaw may project beyond the upper, " but never so much as to show when the mouth is closed." This means that the Mastiff is, quite legally, allowed to be slightly undershot, but so many judges and even breeders do not appear to realise this. However, it should be obvious that the very short, blunt, broad muzzle- which is absolutely essential - is very difficult to combine with a scissor bite.

Level bite: desiderable

Slightly undershot: allowable

Overshot: incorrect

Teeth out of alignment: incorrect

BODY:
The body slightly longer than high, not square like a Bullmastiff (this is a very common fault). The chest must be broad and deep - as the saying goes, "you don't want two legs coming out of the same hole." When seen from the front, the chest must indeed be very broad, and should come down at least level with the elbows. This will not be apparent in young dogs, but when a Mastiff is fully mature the chest must be well let down between the front legs so as to be level with the elbows. The topline must be flat, and very wide in a bitch. It should be slightly arched in the dog.

Long body, level topline: correct	Short body giving square appearance Tail set too low: defect
Lack of depth; too Dane-like: defect	Dipping topline, tail too short: defect

FOREQUARTERS:
The shoulders should be well-laid; they should not be upright - this is a bad fault. Upright shoulders may make for greater height, but the front action will suffer. Remember that the pasterns - the shoch absorbers - will find it more difficult to absorb jarring from movement with upright shoulders, as the jolting leads straight down the shoulders into the front legs. In the Breed Standard the pasterns are required to be "upright", but even so, there should be a degree of flexibility. Correct pasterns and correctly placed shoulders give the essential cushioning to the heavy body on the move.

Correct front (correct)	Narrow front, feet turned out (defect)	Out at elbow, feet turned (defect)
Correct upper arm and shoulder (correct)		Straight upper arm and short neck (defect)

HINDQUARTERS:
The hindquarters must be strong, with a good bend of stifle. The American Standard asks for the stifle joint to be moderately angulated, matching the front. The British Standard does not mention this angulation at all. It calls for hindquarters to be broad, wide and muscular, and the second thigh must be well developed. It seems obvious from this that angulation must be good, and not straight up-and-down like a Chow. However, these straight and narrow hind legs are a common fault in the breed. Viewed from the side, the back end should resemble that of a shirehorse rather than a racehorse.

Hindquarters squarely set: correct	Cow hocks (difetto)
Correct angulation	Straight stifles (defect)

FEET:
The feet should be round and cat-like; they should not be spread out or hare-like. These feet bear a tremendous amount of weight and must be up to the work entailed. The nsails should be dark in colour and kept short. In show stock the dew claws are often removed when the puppy is a day or two old, but if these are not removed they must be watched to make sure thay do not grow and curl round, sometimes back into the leg.

Correct round foot

hare foot (defect)

splay foot Arched toes (defect)

TAIL:
The tail is set on high, and should be carried straight, but with a little curve upwards on the move or when excited. A low-set tail means that the hindquarters eem to slope away downwards, instead of being level and straight into the tail-set.The croup or rump must be strong and straight, and should not fall or slope away. Some years ago it was common to find a 'cranked' tail in one or two puppies in a litter - a throwback to the Bulldog - but these now are very rarely seen.

COAT ANDCOLOUR:
The coat shoud be short and close-lying, but is allowed to be heavier and thicker over the shoulders, neck and back. There is a great deal of variation in coat lengths from the really long-coated (due to the St Bernard ancestry, probably) to the Doberman type coat. However, the 'moderately short' coat is correct. Although officially there are only three colours of the breed - fawn, brindle and apricot - there can be quite an amount of variation in the fawn and brindle colours. The fawn can vary from very light, which used to be called silver-fawn, to much darker, bordering on the red of the apricot or a donkey-brown. Brindles also vary from being very nearly black in colour all over, with just a very few faint stripes, to an apricot brindle where the stripes are a very attractive apricot colour. However, a 'reverse brindle'. Where you have a light background (instead of a dark background) with a very few faint stripes of another colour is not desirable.

GAIT:
The British Standard confiines itself to "Powerful, easy extension", whereas the American description of movement is far more detailed. A Mastiff should move powefully and fgìreely, but it should not be expected to move like a racehorse, or Great Dane. It should move not with grace, but with strength. The movement of a Mastiff can be likened to the earth-shattering movement of a Shire Horse. You cannot expect a dog of this build to move in any other way.