Pyrenean Mastiff

The Pyrenean Mastiff, or Mastín del Pirineo, is a very large livestock guardian dog from Aragón in northeastern Spain. It traditionally protected flocks on their yearly journey to high summer pasture in the Pyrenees. It is a separate breed from the Spanish Mastiff, the Pyrenean Mountain Dog and the Pyrenean Shepherd.

History

The breed comes from the historic Kingdom of Aragon, where it has been documented since the Middle Ages. Its work was bound up with the transhumance, the seasonal movement of sheep up to the high pastures of the Pyrenees for the summer and back down to lower ground for the winter. The dogs lived with the sheep from an early age and guarded them against predators, wolves above all. Like other European flock guardians, they often wore a spiked metal wolf collar, known in Spanish as a carlanca, for extra protection.

Three of the dogs were shown in Madrid in 1890, and a dog entered as a Mastín Español del Pirineo appears among the 1912 registrations in the first Spanish stud book, published in 1913.

In the later 1940s the wolf disappeared from the Pyrenees. With its main job gone, the breed began to decline. The FCI fully accepted it in 1954, and a breed society, the Club del Mastín del Pirineo, was formed in 1977. The dogs then spread gradually through much of Spain and later to other countries in Europe and the Americas, and to Australia and Japan. In 2026 the Real Sociedad Canina de España counted the Pyrenean Mastiff among sixteen Spanish breeds it considers vulnerable.

Appearance

The Pyrenean Mastiff is a very large dog. Males must stand at least 77 cm at the withers and females at least 72 cm. There is no upper limit, and larger dogs are preferred. Weight ranges from about 60 to 90 kg.

The coat is heavy and white, with a mask of a darker color and often patches of that same color on the body. The ears always carry darker spots.

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