Neapolitan Mastiff

The Cane Corso is an intimidating breed at first glance, with a muscular body and large head. Corsi come from Italy, where they were employed largely as guard and hunting dogs because of their power, courage and willingness to work. A very intelligent breed, these dogs are easily trained and versatile, and at the same time are intensely loyal to their humans. Corsi are great with children, make excellent family pets and tend to be protective of their families. Despite the Cane Corso’s size and strength, Corsi have a medium energy level.

The Dogue de Bordeaux is a French breed, bred to guard, hunt, and fight. Early on, it was common to see the Dogue de Bordeaux guarding a wealthy Frenchman’s home, or dominating in the fighting ring. Today, these powerful dogs have loyal and affectionate personalities, and are considered “gentle giants.” They are patient and calm, do very well with children and have fairly low exercise requirements. The Dogue de Bordeaux is an excellent sweet-natured, companion who is eager to please and loves to be around his family.

A Mastiff named Zorba is considered to have been the heaviest dog in the world, weighing in at 343 lbs., and is listed as such in the 1989 Guinness Book of World Records.

Rottweilers were originally bred to be hard-working, protective dogs. These powerful dogs have incredibly strong jaws and excel at police work, herding, and watch-dogging, as well as obedience. Rotties are exceptionally smart, which makes them easily trainable, and they are usually very happy, goofy dogs. They tend to be protective of their families, but make loyal and affectionate pets. Rottweilers are large dogs, weighing in on average at around 100 lbs. fully grown, and are fairly active and like to exercise.

Tosa has been known in Japan for almost a 1000 years by now. He was bred as a fighting dog, so he’s probably not the best choice for an inexperienced owner. This breed is normally a well-mannered and peaceful dog for his family, but it has already shown aggression towards other dogs in some cases. He is reserved with strangers, but not necessarily aggressive to people. This breed is definitely a fearless protector and guardian dog. Tosa can behave well with small children if he gets very early training and socialization, but rough play should be avoided because of his fighting instincts. Tosa is intelligent and very easy to be trained. He has a low energy level. The average weight of this breed is 100 to 200 pounds, and its size is about 22 to 24 inches.