The History of the Bullmastiff Breed

In the mid 1800’s, there were many large estates in England, all having a variety of game on their land. The poachers would go out after dark and help themselves to this game, and so the land-owners employed gamekeepers to protect the game. They needed able assistance in the form of a dog, as poaching was punishable by hanging, and the poacher, if in danger of being caught, became a desperate man, and would use any means to avoid capture. The gamekeepers tried Mastiffs but found them too slow. They tried Bulldogs, (a much taller dog than we see today), but they tended to be too ferocious. After cross-breeding the two breeds, they finally came up with an approximate mix of 60% Mastiff and 40% Bulldog, which they named the Bullmastiff, and this breed served the gamekeepers very well. They could chase and knock down a poacher and use their weight to hold him until the gamekeeper arrived. The poachers even brought dogs along for protection, and this is why, to this day, Bullmastiffs will not tolerate strange dogs onto their property.
The brindle colour was favoured for the working dog, as they were almost invisible at night. However, when the large estates were broken up, the need for a working Bullmastiff ceased, and they became family companions, and the red and fawn colours became popular.

Bullmastiffs have been used as guard dogs in Southern Africa for since the 1920’s. A Mrs. Heard, living in South West Africa, imported some Bullmastiffs from Britain, and when she moved to the then Union of South Africa, she brought her dogs with her. However the first importation that we know of to have taken place on a large scale, were those Bullmastiffs purchased overseas by De Beer’s Mining Company and employed as guard dogs on the mines at Kimberly. De Beers continued to breed and import Bullmastiffs between the years 1928 and 1940, when they changed to German Shepherds for guard purposes. Their most famous import was the great English Champion Springwell Major.