Neapolitan Mastiff: The Roman Gladiator

This dog breed has been around for a very long time, you can actually hear stories about it dating back to the Roman and Greek times. This is one massive and muscular pooch – they can stand anywhere from 26 to 31 inches and can weigh a whopping 200 pounds, but usually 150 pounds at average. They come in beautiful colors, which includes brown, black, and blue. The big pooch is easily recognized because of the wrinkles all over and its body and muscled build. The Neapolitan Mastiff breed was built tough and has an even tougher attitude, which were key attributes taken into consideration in sculpting its original purpose during the early days.

You're aware of the coliseums during the ancient Roman times right? The place where people were made to fight to the death with the use of swords, mases, axes, bows and arrows, and other instruments used for a quick kill. Well they also had lions in those barbaric theaters, where man was made to fight against the beast. It's said that they actually used the Neapolitan Mastiff in these arenas to combat man and even the lions. That sounds crazy, but so is putting a man in an arena to fight with a lion – so it's still possible. Nevertheless, nobody can deny the physical superiority this dog has over the other breeds.

That with indomitable courage, loyalty, and a protective instinct towards its master makes it the perfect guard dog. But this pooch isn't for everybody – it requires an owner that has good experience with handling dogs and caring for them. One thing that you should know is that this is a stubborn breed. It can be very hard-headed at times, especially if you haven't been using the right training methods. Dog training and behavioral lessons are two of the most important things you should give it. They have the tendency to become very bossy, especially if it senses the weakness inside of you.

If you let it have its way all the time, it'll become more and more disobedient. Being too hard with it could trigger the development of aggressive behavior, which could make it very dangerous towards strangers and perhaps you as well. So as you can see socialization will be vital for it to become friendly. But even if it has met all of your friends and other pets, expect it to still get into dog fights especially when provoked – which will end badly for the unlucky pooch that picked on it. When deciding to get one, it has to be at an early age – get it as a pup.

That way you can create a bond between the two of you and ingrain in its mind who the boss is. With advance training methods and proper obedience classes, it can become a very sweet, loving, and well-disciplined animal. The Neapolitan Mastiff can potentially make a great family pet, but should never be left alone with small children. Though well-trained, being large can still get it into accidents, like knocking your kid onto the floor or down the stairs. It'll require plenty of exercise and a lot of food to maintain its magnificent structure. Aside from meals, it'll need nutritional supplements as well as plenty of water to keep it in good shape.

Dog grooming won't be much of a problem because of the length of its hairs; occasional brushing and bathing when needed will be enough.