The word Bandogge or Bandoga first appeared in literature in England, around 1250-1300 seeming to reference dogs that were chained by day, and released at night to guard properties from poachers and animal predators. World reknowned dog historian, Colonel David Hancock MBE, explains that the term did not originally refer to chained or "banded" guard dogs released at night, but that the term actually pre-dates the word "Mastiff" and once referred to giant hunting dogs of mastiff type, that were kept chained during a hunt, until it was time for them to be released to pull down large game.

In fact, the two ideas are not mutually exclusive. There is plenty of evidence to support both. There are countless European paintings, wood cuttings, drawings and frescos dating from before the middle ages, right up through to the late 19th Century, that show both, giant mastiff-type dogs tethered and then released to pull down big game, and also the very same types of dogs tethered and then released at night to guard properties. In both cases, the word Bandogge would seem to refer to a "banding" or restraining of the dog until it is released to work.

So the big deal with Bandogges...?

To begin with, quite a few dogs will guard their territory or people, biting, even killing an animal, or a human invader. Most of these, however, are not particularly discerning. Few such dogs show mercy where mercy is warranted. Few dogs think about who they are biting. The more fierce specimens of such dogs are often not safe in situations involving free and unrestricted human contact, even with their own human families. It is common that the owners of household guard dogs must teach their children not to play with the dog, or lock the dog up when it is not on guard duty, making guarding of the children pretty much impossible.

The larger majority of household guard dogs are even less safe with extended family, friends, neighbors and the general public. The FedEx guy or pizza guy on the doorstep, your next door neighbor, your next door neighbor's kids, or your brother-in-law Bill visiting for a cook out, the paramedic bent over your unconscious body trying to save your life, the fireman trying to rescue your child from a burning house, or a serial rapist and murderer climbing by stealth through your window at 3:00 a.m., all these look roughly similar to the majority of household guard dogs. As a fairly standard rule, biting dogs bite, and if there is discernment as to who they bite, what situation or circumstance they bite in, it is usualy a result of careful socialization and training, and not typically an inherant characteristic of the dog itself.

So to begin with, most household guard dogs are pretty dangerous critters, and require careful handling procedures. Those procedures tend to be somewhat limiting to the dogs' ability to guard. I mean, if you need to lock your Belgian Shepherd in another room when pizza is delivered, if the pizza guy turns out to actually be a bad guy, you're pretty much screwed. However, if you worry the pizza guy might secretly be a bad guy seeking to do you harm, so you don't lock up the Belgian Shepherd, and said Belgian Shepherd takes a chunk out of the pizza guy's arm for reaching out to hand you your change, as any liability attorney will tell you, you're pretty much screwed there too. Most household guard dogs are pretty dangerous critters, and require careful, and duty handicapping handling procedures.

Next is the hunting aspect. While most dogs of any breed might hunt, kill and eat a rabit or similar prey on their own time, it is a special sub-set of dogs considered "hunting dogs" that will aid the hunter in bringing home unsullied prey. Within that sub-set are the further sub-sets of catch dogs catching and holding live game, sight hounds chasing game only to coral it for the forthcoming hunter, and not catch it, and of course retrievers retrieving downed game.

Most dogs that catch live game will not retrieve game the hunter has shot.

Most sight hounds do not catch or retrieve game.

Most retrievers will not catch live game, but only retrieve what the hunter has shot.

Few such hunting dogs of any type will take seriously the duty to ward off a man who wrongly intrudes into their territory.

Almost no hunting dog will kill a man if the same is required to defend its handler, or human family.

This brings us to what makes most Bandogges and mastiff-type dogs so very special. Of utmost importance to their traditional utility, the work or function of Bandogges, and nearly all the mastiff-type dogs, is to be much more than a "normal" single use working dog. These are dogs which by tradition spanning back thousands of years, must make correct choices, in a diversity of circumstances. The dog must be able to hunt, by definition, to smell out, roust, run faster and longer distances than game, bring down game without ruining the meat, yet also be safe and good natured with other domestic animals, and protect them from predators. The dog must have a willingness to ward off, and as necessary overpower, sieze and hold an intruder of questionable intent, but not harm him, and simultaneously to gladly tolerate the regular visitors to a farm property. That same dog must as necessary instantly kill animal predators, or men as necessary (when come as predators against family), and this without mercy, without confusion or hesitation, and without poorly made choice.

Take note of the contradictions. Choosing the correct avenue between those contradictions is where the Bandogge, and most mastiff-type dogs excell, navigating between the contradictions to demonstrate correct and discerning behavior between various situations.

To love and never harm family members, you arrive at a set of dynamic, contrasting characteristics more complex and requiring more intelligent discernment, than what is expected of any other type of dog throughout the anuls of history.

Correct modern usage of the word refers similarly to very large, athletic dogs of a cross between Mastiffs and smaller, more agile breeds, or between distinct Mastiff breeds. Enthusiasts should be aware, however, that there are many people who believe in error that a Bandogge or Bandog is a cross only between a Mastiff and a Pitbull. This is an incorrect belief unaware of the historical basis of the word Bandogge, unaware of the modern breeding of a diversity of different types of Bandogges. A Bandogge is any distinct Mastiff breed bred to any other distinct breed of dog, whether that be Neapolitan x Pitbull, Dogue de Bordeaux x American Bulldog, English Mastiff x Turkmen Alabai, Great Dane x English Mastiff, Neapolitan x English Mastiff, German Shepherd x Cane Corso, or any similar breeding between distinct Mastiff breeds and/or other breeds of dogs.

It is also notable (and a thing to be considered for all breed purists, especially those looking on Bandogges with disdain, applying labels such as "mutt") that a number of well known "purebred" dog breeds did in fact begin as types of Bandogges: The Dogue de Bordeaux (or French Mastiff), the Presa Canario (or Canary Dog), the Bullmastiff, the Dogo Argentino, the Cane Corso, and quite a few others, some well known, and others topics of controversy.

All dog enthusiasts should know (and understand the ramifications) that "breeds of dogs" per se did not even exist until the mid-19th Century. Before then, dogs were called after their type, and type was defined by what the dog did for a living, and a very generalized look and temperament. For instance, Neapolitan and English Mastiffs, as well as Dogue de Bordeaux all share a same type, developed for essentially the same utility uses, with very similar size, shape and temperaments. In those earlier times, good dog was bred to good dog, both within a type, and one type to another type, in an effort to consolidate more utility into less dogs. It is an entirely scientific, and historically correct statement, that all the large mastiff-type breeds were at one time types of Bandogges, mastiff-type dogs of different but similar utility, different but similar phenotype, bred interchangeably based primarily upon performance, this practice pre-dating the breed designations of the mid-19th century.

Among the more self-evident, simple, and and broadly unrecognized realities such factual information should make evident is this: If you are a breeder of purebred mastiff-type dogs, whether Neapolitan Mastiff, English Mastiff, Dogue de Bordeaux, Cane Corso, Bullmastiff or others, and you believe that you are breeding your dogs true to their historical heritage, unless you are outcross breeding between such breeds, no, my friends, you are not breeding true to your breeds' most ancient heritage; i.e., you are not carrying forward ancient bloodlines, your dogs essentially the same today as they once were.

Your dogs' ancient heritage did not begin in the 1900s, with the formation of the English Kennel Club. That is actually the point in history where your dogs' more ancient working history (and the genetics that made these diverse breeds true workers) began to fade. The true historical heritage of your dogs, their true progenitors are actually each other: Dogues of Bordeaux, France bred to Mastiffs of Italy (Mastiffs of Italy later called Neapolitan Mastiffs); German Bullenbeissers and Barenbeissers (early bulldog-type dogs) and German Mastiffs (Great Danes) bred to Mastiffs of England (later called English Mastiffs), their more refined and consistent progeny later called Bullmastiffs.

The Neapolitan Mastiff

When dogs originally designed, through centuries of painstaking selective breeding to cross miles of open country before running into battle, cannot now run across a football field more than a couple times safely, yet such dogs consistently achieve Grand Champion designations in their respective breed organizations, we don't need to wonder if modern day dog breeding has gone awry.

The Proof is in the Pudding
English Mastiff Comparisons

The right photo, a modern English Mastiff designated by its breed organization as a "Champion"; fat, unbalanced, and with straight hocks on legs barely thick enough to carry his slovenly form across a living room. Can you imagine him jumping a cattle fence to protect a herd or a flock from advancing predators? Will he ever leap happily into the air, catching a frisbee, as he plays with the kids for hours on end out in the yard? Would he ever again be capable of rushing headlong into pitched battle? Seems unlikely. The left photo, a Bandogge, a predictably bred, mixed breed dog, pairing the Mastiff's genetics with those of a more athletic breed, such as a Pitbull, Staffordshire Terrier, Fox Hound, Labrador, American Bulldog, or other such agile breed. In fact, the Dogue de Bordeaux, Cane Corso, Presa Canario, and Bullmastiff are all breeds previously deveoped as Bandogs. Go ahead and pick which one you like best, the "Champion" purebred dog, or his much maligned bastard son? Just one thing: We're headed out the door to chase a black bear off your property this afternoon, so choose wisely.

The Former English Mastiff

Have you seen many of these around lately, looking like that? Notice: Perfectly balanced structure. If placed on a folcrum, it would be dead center on his solar plexus, even weight distribution front to back; smooth descent of shoulders and chest into thick legs, well able to carry him for many hours of come-what-may; sharp angulation of hocks and hips: The smooth, driving lines of a running dog; the wrinkles that protect bone and muscle from bites or a boar's tusk are not exaggerated, and he probably does not have a sloppy, wet mouth. Finally, note the alert, upward held head and neck, a high energy dog who keeps watch, not as the lazy English Mastiff above. Photography was first popularized in the 1840s. That means this dog is the breed predecessor of the English Mastiff above, by far less than 200 years. So, in your own opinion, did modern breeding practices improve or harm the breed?