How to Groom a Neapolitan Mastiff

Neapolitan Mastiffs are an imposing breed with a wrinkly scowl and a gigantic head. They have a reserved and serious personality, but are rather peaceful dogs. Their short, stiff, smooth coats are generally blue, but also come in black. Their coats require a full grooming every 8 to 12 weeks.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Rubber brush
• Hound Brush
• Chamois cloth
• Eye stain remover
• Talcum powder
• Scissors

1. Brush out your Neapolitan Mastiff's coat with a rubber brush while you bathe her. This removes excess shed and dead hair from the coat and gives it a deeper cleaning as well. Neapolitan Mastiffs shed an average amount of hair.

2. Brush with a Hound Brush while you dry the coat. This should leave the hair shiny and flat.

3. Put a small amount of coat conditioner on after bathing and drying you dog. Spread the conditioner evenly over the coat with a brush and then rub with a chamois cloth.

4. Use an eye stain remover to clean up the areas around the eyes which may become dirty when the dog's eyes leak.

5. Dry out the folds of skin on the dog's face thoroughly with a soft cotton cloth. Put some talcum powder in between the folds to protect against dry skin or infection.

6. Clip the whiskers with scissors if desired. This is purely an aesthetic choice and isn't a necessary.

Tips & Warnings

• Unfortunately, Neapolitan Mastiffs don't have a very long life expectancy. Usually they don't live longer than 10 years, if that.
• Neapolitan Mastiffs are descendants of the Tibetan Mastiff, which is the most ancient breed known to man. The Roman Molossus is another of its ancestors, as they were often trained to participate in war and bloody arena shows. Despite their ancient pedigree, this breed wasn't declared as such until 1946, and the standard wasn't set until 1949.
• Neapolitan Mastiffs are susceptible to hip dysplasia and pano-ostiosis (growing pains), a condition which may occur when the dog is 4 to 18 months old, but generally goes away naturally. They are also known to have "cherry eye," a condition in which eye tissue sticks out more than normal and becomes red and inflamed. Minor surgery can correct this entirely.