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Dogs and All about Them
·
Robert Leighton
15
In
Anglo-Saxon
times
every
two
villeins
were
required
to
maintain
one
of
these
dogs
for
the
purpose
of
reducing
the
number
of
wolves
and
other
wild
animals.
This
would
indicate
that
the
Mastiff
was
recognised
as
a
capable
hunting
dog;
but
at
a
later
period
his
hunting
instincts
were
not
highly
esteemed,
and
he
was
not
regarded
as
a
peril
to
preserved
game;
for
in
the
reign
of
Henry
III.
the
Forest
Laws,
which
prohibited
the
keeping
of
all
other
breeds
by
unprivileged
persons,
permitted
the
Mastiff
to
come
within
the
precincts
of
a
forest,
imposing,
however,
the
condition
that
every
such
dog
should
have
the
claws
of
the
fore-feet
removed
close
to
the
skin.
The
name
Mastiff
was
probably
applied
to
any
massively
built
dog.
It
is
not
easy
to
trace
the
true
breed
amid
the
various
names
which
it
owned.
Molossus,
Alan,
Alaunt,
Tie-dog,
Bandog
(or
Band-dog),
were
among
the
number.
The
names
Tie-dog
and
Bandog
intimate
that
the
Mastiff
was
commonly
kept
for
guard,
but
many
were
specially
trained
for
baiting
bears,
imported
lions,
and
bulls.
There
is
constant
record
of
the
Mastiff
having
been
kept
and
carefully
bred
for
many
generations
in
certain
old
English
families.
One
of
the
oldest
strains
of
Mastiffs
was
that
kept
by
Mr.
Legh,
of
Lyme
Hall,
in
Cheshire.
They
were
large,
powerful
dogs,
and
longer
in
muzzle
than
those
which
we
are
now
accustomed
to
see.
Another
old
and
valuable
strain
was
kept
by
the
Duke
of
Devonshire
at
Chatsworth.
It
is
to
these
two
strains
that
the
dogs
of
the
present
day
trace
back.
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