HISTORY OF THE TIBETAN MASTIFF

THE Tibetan Mastiff is a rare and ancient breed that has remained unchanged for thousands of years as proven by unearthed skulls and Stone Age cave drawings in the upper Himalayian regions of Central Asia.

Due to the remoteness of Tibet and the fact that it’s borders were closed to the western world until recently, resulted in the Tibetan Mastiff remaining uninfluenced by other western dog breeds.

During the first years of occupation of Tibet by the Chinese the Tibetan Mastiff almost died out in his native country and could only be found in the most remote areas.

The Tibetan Mastiff has a bold guarding temperament and was kept by Tibetans to protect their flocks, herds, Families, homes and traveling caravans from predators and strangers.

In Tibet the Tibetan Mastiff is known as the DO-KYI which interprets to (Tied dog or gate dog) as they were tied at the entrance of the homes and the temples they were guarding.

It is presumed that the dog that Marco Polo describes as being as big as a donkey was the Tibetan Mastiff being compared to the smaller Tibetan donkey.

The ancestors of today’s Tibetan Mastiff were believed to have accompanied the armies of the Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans and also later traveled with Atilla and Ghengis Khan into Eastern Europe.

Many scientists believe that the Tibetan Mastiff is the forebear of many of the modern Mastiffs and Molossuses, such as St Bernard, Great Pyrenees and English Mastiff.

Tibetan Mastiffs were first seen by the western public in zoo’s in London and Berlin in the late 18^th century

The first Tibetan Mastiffs to be imported into Australia arrived in 1983, they were a dog and a bitch, Ausables Tudorhill Dalai and Ausables Tudorhill Lama, these two were quickly followed by two others and in 1984 the first two Australian litters were registered.

After this, very few Tibetan Mastiffs were imported in to Australia and the numbers within Australia declined until recently, due to the importation of new Tibetan mastiffsinto Australia by a few select dedicated breeders.

For further reading Tibetan Mastiff by Juliet Cunliffe