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Tibetan Mastiff Dog

Tibetan Mastiff Dog


Tibetan Mastiff Dog

  • The Tibetan Mastiff originated, where else, in Tibet. Like so many breeds, he has little documented history from before the late 19th century, but he’s believed to have been around for many centuries. DNA evidence tells us that mastiff-type dogs originated in Tibet some 5,000 years ago, and the Tibetan Mastiff is no doubt a descendant of those dogs. They developed into two types: the Do-Khyi, who lived in villages or traveled with nomadic shepherds and functioned as flock guardians, and the larger Tsang-Khyi, which were often given to lamaseries, where they served as guardians for the Tibetan Buddhist monks, or lamas, who lived there.

    Little is known of the Tibetan Mastiff before 1800. In 1800, a Captain Samuel Turner mentioned the use of “huge dogs” in his memoir, An account of an Embassy to the Court of the Teshoo Lama in Tibet, but he gave no description of them.

    In 1847, the first dog from Tibet was imported to England and given to Queen Victoria as a gift from Lord Hardinge, the Viceroy of India. In 1873, England’s Kennel Club was formed and the Tibetan Mastiff was officially entered into the Stud Book as the Tibetan Mastiff, leaving its earlier title as “large dog from Tibet” behind. In 1874, the Prince of Wales, who later became King Edward VII, imported two more Tibetan Mastiffs to England and they were shown in 1875 at the Alexandra Palace Show. Tibetan Mastiffs continued to be imported occasionally into England and Europe, and the first Tibetan Mastiff breed club was formed in 1931.

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