The Bullmastiff (which on the rare occasion is referred to as the English Bulmastiff) was once upon-a-time called the Gamekeepers Night Dog in keeping with its developmental guidelines that specifically bred for a dog to ward off poaching on the grand estates of the landed gentry.

The Bullmastiff was developed from a Bulldog/Mastiff cross in the ratio of 40:60 where the forty refers to the percentage of Bulldog and the sixty refers to the percentage of Mastiff that went into the mix. The driving force behind the creation of the Bullmastiff dog breed was the sudden and all too frequent occurrence of poaching! The Bullmastiff was the ideal weapon to counter that new and disturbing trend.

From its Mastiff ancestry the Bullmastiff inherited tremendous size and power that was more than enough to overpower even the biggest and hardiest of poachers. From its Bulldog side the Bullmastiff acquired speed, aggression and agility that was glaringly lacking in the cumbersome Mastiff. Another noteworthy point of interest here was that thanks to its Mastiff ancestry the Bullmastiff lacked the excessive savagery that was characteristic of the Bulldog of that period.

In fact on account of its restraint the Bullmastiff was described as “the model of restrained attack!” When the dog detected an intruder or poacher it would give pursuit and then knock the unfortunate fellow to the ground and proceeded to keep him pinned there with a firm grip until the Gamekeeper or warden arrived on the scene. Thus unlike several other breeds of dog that would have proceeded to maul the hapless crook the Bullmastiff was bred not to kill the person but apprehend them and thus was the ideal solution to the dilemma of a tide of poaching!

Today the typical Bullmastiff is fawn in color but this never used to be the case because much as fawn is the most desired coat color of the modern Bullmastiff during its heyday of property guard and protector the dark brindle specimens were more prized and valued for the obvious fact that such coat colors afforded better concealment and camouflage from would-be poachers.

The modern role of today’s Bullmastiff is more one of companion and household pet than big estate enforcer. Luckily thanks to its inherently gentle nature and well-balanced temperament the Bullmastiff makes for a great family pet that gets on well with kids.

Article on Bullmastiff written by Kayye Nynne