Looks like a blue Neapolitan Mastiff to me.-Smail247

Here is a link that might be useful: Neapolitan Mastiff

Yes, Neapolitan

vicky

The Neapolitan Mastiff was used as Hagrid's dog "Fang" in the Harry Potter movies.

Yet another useless bit of trivia to clutter your brain. :)

Oh man, I wonder what important thing just fell out in order for me to remember that... Thanks measure twice. lol
Lorie

That is a serious dog. I'll bet there's some serious snoring and slobbering involved, too.

Yes and I think those are also aggressive and can be dangerous if not trained correctly. They are sold as family guard dogs (at least I have seen them). Scary looking.

Holy carp!

Don´t know where you got that they can be agressive, never ever met an agressive Neapolitan in my life and I´m speaking of hundreds of them, the only dangers you are in with one of those is that they can drown you with drool, you can be intoxicated with them super toxic gases they fart or breaking one of your toes when they step on your foot. Otherwise very peaceful dogs.

Yes, I can't imagine that Neapolitans are aggressive at all. They're working too hard fighting gravity to have any energy left over for aggression.

To me, they remind me of the English Bulldog - fabulous-looking but pretty worthless as a companion dog since their conformation makes them basically incompatible with life. What I mean by that is - what can you do with them? They're just so large!!

Can anybody help me out with my prejudice?

vicky

From the akc site:

Personality:
Highly protective and fearless, yet peaceful and steady, and not aggressive unless there's a reason. Somewhat intelligent and somewhat willful. Does not tolerate repetitious training. Very attuned to his master's wishes. Serious, calm and quiet unless provoked. The Neapolitan Mastiff was developed to look and act fearsome when needed, but is affectionate with his family and the family's friends. Males can be much more dominant than females. Females are usually slightly smaller, and are often more submissive to the master and better with children. Breeders should ideally evaluate the home situation carefully before placing any Mastino puppy. Two adults of the same gender cannot be expected to always get along, but the Mastino can get along well with non-canine pets if raised with them from puppyhood.

The Neapolitan Mastiff must have a dominant owner capable of controlling him properly. Owner dominance should be firmly established when the dog is young. With thorough training and an experienced, owner, the Neapolitan Mastiff can be a good family dog. Mastini are generally good with children in their family, but because of the dog's massive size, they should be closely supervised at all times when around small children. Children should be taught to respect these dogs. Neapolitan Mastiffs should be well socialized at an early age to avoid over-protectiveness; they will be quite protective even with extensive socialization. Additional protection training is absolutely not recommended for this breed as their natural protective temperament is ideally suited for their size and strength and must not have any exaggeration. Thorough obedience training is highly recommended.

Behavior:
Children: Good with children only when raised with them from puppyhood.
Friendliness: Very wary of strangers; highly protective.
Trainability: Somewhat difficult to train.
Independence: Very dependent - needs people a lot.
Dominance: Very high.
Other Pets: Good with other pets if raised with them from puppyhood.
Combativeness: Can be a bit dog-aggressive.
Noise: Not much barking.

I guess this means that they are a good dog with a good owner. Bad owner = bad dog. Like a lot of the "protective" breeds.

I don't know why anyone would have any of those huge breeds, they just don't live very long, too sad for me.

What happens is that a breed may have been designed to perform a task in the past but that doesn´t mean the modern breed can do it, even more, in some breeds the phenotype has changed so much it barely resembles the original breed, the English Bulldog as you see it now is very far from the English Bulldog used to be in the middle of the 18 th century, the modern English Bulldog has a little more than a century old of existing.

Neapolitan Mastiffs are a very old breed, it´s over 20 centuries old but certainly they are not what the Roman Army carried with it in the conquest of the germanic tribes, that´s the reason why they are so large, to overwhelm the oponent with the weight and body mass, that´s also why they have all that loose skin, so even if you grab the dog by the skin the dog can still move and attack if necessary. They may not look like a fast dog ( like a greyhound ) but let me tell you, they can move quite fast when they want or need to, just like an elephant, it´s big, clumsy, doesn´t look like swift animal .... until he runs after you.

They are a very common an even popular breed here in Mexico, got a client that paid 30,000 bones for a dog imported from Hungary from one of the best breeders in the world ( Fruit D´Amour ), impressive animal to say the least.

I saw these on the TV show Breed all about it. They were originally bred to be guardians as raul said.

It never ceases to amaze me how any breed morphs from generation to generation; in response to a human quest for phenotype.

Persian cats are a great example. Why, in heaven's name, would the present vogue be revered by anyone? Flat faces, jaw deformities, and subsequently affected eyes are certainly not what is FUNCTIONAL in a cat. Look at the breed examples from 40-50 yrs. ago compared with "today's ideal" Persian.

I suspect the Neopolitan Mastiff is tantamount to a draft horse; a superbly and selectively bred and important animal, but in today's world an anachronism. So, it seems, is the "function" of a Persian cat. The ability to "mouse" is secondary to the "look" of the animal.

Intersting how human "taste" and our changing world affects selectively bred animals...

In case anyone is wondering, the "original" photo from which this one is cropped is a doctored photo-- neapolitan mastiffs are huge, but not as huge as this "photo" would imply. Just FYI.....

cnvh - can you post the original?

I was wondering about that. I did look at the link provide with info on the breed and it seemed as if the average height was much smaller than it appeared in the photo.

Funny, I looked only at the dog... the scale of the dog to the person on the other end of the leash was of no consequence to my post.

But that's a great point to bring up, cnvh!

When Blaze was in Puppy Kindergarten, there were two mastiffs that he just adored. They were a little larger than Blaze, but just as energetic. They were named Twinkletoes, and Maggie Mae. Blaze especially liked Maggie Mae. When the trainer practiced taking our dog, having us walk to the other side of the arena, and calling our dog. Blaze ran over to Maggie Mae and started playing.

The play really scared me because Blaze was the same height, but Maggie Mae was already getting to be muscular, and Blaze was long and muscular. I think Puppy Kindergarten ended when they were about 4 months old.

I did not know they could be dangerous. I have a couple of students who own them, and adore them. (My students are 16, so it's not like they are little.)

Sammy

Reference is to "Hercules, the world's largest dog "..but as you can see from the reference, it's a doctored photo.

Vickey-MN

Here is a link that might be useful: World's biggest and Heaviest Dog.

Not that you actually needed to see this image but this is the actual Hercules and his owner, the largest dog in the world.

Neapolitan Mastiff is 5000 years old. The first images of it found in caves are dated 3000 B.C. Alexander the Great had 300 dogs in his army, he went on Persians with them. In fact, Neapolitans have the most powerful bite in the dog world! The dog is very serious and can be dangerous in wrong hands. This dog is definitely not for everyone, it is for very dedicated people and I do not recommend as a family dog. Even though these dogs will love all the members of the family, they usually pick one person, whom they love the most. Neapolitans need human company and attention, otherwise they suffer a lot. There are also some health issues like displasia, that need extra attention from the very first months of a puppy's life, which makes this dogs very difficult to raise. This dog is not for you, if you are not ready to have a newborn baby for the first 2 years of life and a 2-year old for the rest of your dog's life. They are big babies! One of the problems is also that these dogs mature (physically and psychologically) very slowly - the growing process takes up to 4 years, but they don't live long, especially when overweight.
I am a fanatic! Despite all the problems I will never get another dog for myself - I love this huge and fearless giant, which is at the same time so loving and gentle! My dog was everything for me since the very first days that I got her. And I believe, that it is due to my love of breed and dedication, that today my baby is 9 years old and people think she is only 1, vets can't believe in what amazing shape she is.
Of course, this is a fighting breed and it is very easy to raise a monster, but if you are responsible and dedicated enough, you will definitely get an extremely true, gentle and loving you to death friend.