as submitted by the United States Neapolitan Mastiff Club
How to Examine the NM
- Examining the Dog: When first approaching the NM is it important to remember this breed is a guard dog of estate and family. One should be considerate and not to come up from behind or from the side in your initial approach. The peripheral sight of the NM is limited due to the loose folds of skin surrounding the head. The best approach is to come from the front of the dog. Assuming the handler has experience in showing this breed they should have the head controlled, and positioned so that the dog can clearly see you approaching them. Many NM will stand with their heads down or looking towards the ground. This is not a sign of shyness, but a common stance for the dog while resting. They may even be considering looking for a place to lie down. It is even recommended that you greet the handler with a simple "How are you" to ease the mind of the new owner-handler and the dog now recognizes you are a friend.
- If the dog is trained for the ring you will have no problem examining him like any other breed as you check for muscle tone, topline, neck and tail length.
- We recommend that you DO NOT try to examine the bite, but ask the handler to present the dentition from the front, and lateral aspects of the mouth. To inspect the bite for overshot, undershot, and level bites, inspect to see if there are any missing teeth. Typically the premolars are most commonly missing.
- In your approach to examine the head and body you can check the face or muzzle wrinkle by lightly lifting and feeling for density and thickness. As you move to the main body DO NOT start by lifting the folds of skin over the shoulders, and topline. This is not necessary to evaluate loose skin. When examining the tail DO NOT pump the tail in any fashion. Simply check the tail for kinks, by running your fingers down the tail from the base to the tip. Also, check to see if the tail length is sufficient to extend to the reproductive organs, and beyond to the point of the hock.
- When the dog is stacked in the ring you DO NOT want to see handlers pulling up on the collar to hide the dewlap, and to clean up the neckline. The dewlap is a characteristic trait of the breed and should never be hidden or tucked away. Also, when gaiting the NM we want to see the dog gaiting of his own volition, and the handler should not be stringing the dog up, pulling tight on the lead distorting the dewlap.
- Assessing Movement: When gaiting the dog is the time you should evaluate the loose connective tissue as the skin will move from one side of the body towards the other. You will see the bones of articulation begin to undulate (move) beneath the skin as the dog is trotting.
- There are three basic gaits of the NM the walk, trot, and pace. We prefer to see the dogs judged at the trot, but this is not a customary trot as you may experience in the Doberman, Rottie, Bullmastiff etc. This breed is not a patrolling dog, and when they are trotting they are moving at a much slower speed.
- You will find some specimens that can move quicker than others due to lack of massiveness or conformational differences. We are not looking for a dog that races around the ring, but one that can do the job and will move efficiently across the ring at his desired gait. If the dog begins to pace please do not penalize the dog as this may be a mental state of maturity in some dogs, laziness in others. Simply try to re-gait the dog and if again, the dog does not want to trot place him accordingly. If he is the best example of type and soundness on the day you would be expected to reward him with high honors.
- The movement of the NM is unlike that of any other dog, and in the group ring you will see a very capable dog that can compete with the other working breeds. As long as you evaluate him based on his standard and not that of any other working breed you will find that the NM has earned his place in the world of the AKC.
