Some working photos of David's Neapolitan Mastiff

Lee Robinson · 05-07-2011, 10:48 PM

I got to work a few dogs today...Some of Keaton's dogs...which again did really well. Additionally, I finally got to meet and work David's Neapolitan...and I KNOW that a lot of people have been really curious about David's Neapolitan Mastiff "Achillies." So...on that note...here is my assessment.

He is a nice dog and shows excellent potential. I am going to offer my review on this dog as I know the majority of the readers know I have looked at a bunch of Neapolitans and in general have not yet found one I would consider breed worthy. Sandman was close...but still no cigar. So, for this review I will break my review down into catagories of structure/health, drive, confidence, intelligence, and finally overall potential.

Structure/health - His structure is nice and his movement is good. He is a good sized dog and David tells me he weighs in right at 150#. His structure appears excellent. His angulation in real life is IMO better than what is visible in some of his previous photos. In a few of the earlier photos David posted I was concerned that he may be a bit over angulated in the rear, but I wasn't sure. I was pleased to see that was not the case in real life. He has large head with good jaw muscle and a broad chest. He isn't a fast moving dog, but what Neapolitan is? He does hit with authority and power. Honestly though, I would like to see him lean up a bit as I think it will help his reaction time. Not a lot though. 5# IMO would go along way as he is not a fat dog. David hasn't had him long yet and is working on conditioning him now...so this should be improved in the near future. He is not sloppy and doesn't have skin hanging all over him like a "typey" Neapolitan, but a more meat based diet for a short while would help tighten up his abdomen which will help with his respiration (less abdominal pressure on his lungs). Once that is done, keeping him on a diet without beet pulp and with high meat content will help him in that catagory...and IMO, this is important for mastiffs...be it English, Tosa-Inu, or Neapolitan...as big dogs are more prone to overheating. All that said, he never had any problems with the heat today and it was probably 85-88 degrees today. He did well handling the heat and overall health seemed excellent.

Drive - Like any good Neapolitan, he has good defense...but when he arrived and we started working him he wasn't balanced with prey. This is a very common problem with Neapolitans. The good news is THIS Neapolitan has prey drive, it just wasn't yet developed. I started him with a little defense since that is what brings most Neapolitans out, but then I switched him into some prey work in order to create a more balanced dog...which will help this dog progress. This is where many Neapolitans have a downfall. Many don't balance well...and as a result few develop into confident fighters. Achillies though was a quick learner and I was able to bring switch him back and forth from defense, to prey, and back into defense. What this means is this dog should continue to develop quickly. I expect within a few sessions of work we should be able to see this dog develop from a home protector into an anywhere protector...capable of doing some off leash sends and such. Overall in the drive catagory...the dog shows good promise and balances very well.

Confidence - His confidence is very good and with his ability to balance drives it will only get better.

Intelligence - Also very good. Today was his FIRST day being worked, and within 3 sessions he made CLEAR progress.

For these reasons...I would say his first evaluation leads me to believe this may very well be the best Neapolitan I have met so far. It is premature statement of course as he only has one session here so far...but if one is to compare HIS first day/session to the first day/session to the majority of the other Neapolitans I have worked he showed better balance of drives and training potential. I see a lot of potential in this dog and over the next few sessions I hope to see this boy do as well as Eclipse and Caesar. That is asking a lot to be honest, but with good training I am confident he will become one of the only true mastiffs out there doing off leash protection work...that is if David is interested in taking his training that far. If he is, I am certainly willing to help him achieve that goal...as it would be nice to see a quality Neapolitan being worked. The only shame in all this is he is already 5 years old. I wish David would have obtained him when he was younger so we would have had more time to work with him.

Here are a few photos of today's session.