A Bullmastiff is an ancient cross between the English Mastiff, like the one you saw, and a Bulldog. It isn't supposed to weigh 200 pounds as one of Rhames Bullmastiff's does but only 130 pounds. It isn't supposed to be as high at the withers as an English Mastiff. It was developed to knock a poacher down and hold him for the game keeper. Here are some web sites with some pictures: http://www.rambull.org/ http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/bullmastiff.htm http://hometown.aol.com/ibbulls/myhomepage/index.html Lawrence ------------Original Message------------ From: "Julie Krueger" <juliereneb@xxxxxxxxx> To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Date: Sun, Aug-5-2007 2:11 AM Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Ving Rhames' Bullmastiffs Okay, dog-lovers, help me out here. I haven't run into the term "bull mastiff" before. I do know "English bulldog" but that's kind of beside the point. A client of my husband's has a bevy of four dogs dwelling in her very small somewhat run-down house in the country. One is a very large French poodle. The other two I can't recall the names of the breeds (someone fix that grammar please -- it's 4 a.m. and I just can't). The fourth is what she calls an English Mastiff. It is somewhere between a great dane and a Shetland pony in size. It is not fat, but extremely muscular. Jim estimates his weight at around 150 pounds. While the client was out of town Jim fed the dogs for her (along with her two horses). I went with him on one of his treks -- the four dogs rushed towards me in what Jim described as friendly affection. Considering that their heads came up to my waist, not to mention the fact that each one of them weighed roughly half again what I do, I wasn't so sure about the friendly aspect to being cornered (literally, shoved with their powerful bodies into the corner of the room) by them, tongues hanging out -- Jim says wanting to lick because they like you, while to me it seemed that they were licking their chops. In any event, I'm wondering if a bull mastiff and an English mastiff are the same thing. The dogs DID act like oversized affectionate puppies, and I did manage to be in the same room with them without screaming for help. But it makes me wonder about the differences in breed between here and the UK. Of course all this talk of bull mastiffs and bulldogs makes me wonder where pit bulls fit in .... I guess I'll have to consult Wiki tomorrow (well, technically today) on breeds of dogs....(How long before "Wiki" becomes a verb? "I'll have to Wiki that tomorrow...."). Julie Krueger Curious about the canine world (btw, Lawrence, where have all the Irish Setters gone??) On 8/4/07, Lawrence Helm < lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: I just did another check and found a more recent article: http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=493335b9-9a42-4233-b304-1b283943ae93 Lawrence ------------Original Message------------ From: "Judith Evans" <judithevans1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Date: Sat, Aug-4-2007 2:09 PM Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Ving Rhames' Bullmastiffs >"three bull mastiffs and an English Bulldog I saw that too, Lawrence, but also -- as you say -- simply 'mastiffs', I think this is a 'wait and see' (I've only one source for their being Fila Brasileiros.) Judy ----- Original Message ----- From: Lawrence Helm To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Saturday, August 04, 2007 9:55 PM Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Ving Rhames' Bullmastiffs Hmmm. Maybe we'll have to wait and see to be sure. The article in my paper written by Sandy Cohen of the Associated Press says "three bull mastiffs and an English Bulldog." Here is another article which says the same thing: http://www.inthenews.co.uk/news/entertainment/film/actors-dogs-kill-caretaker-$1118847.htm But most of the articles I looked at just now said "mastiff" rather than "bull mastiff" so who knows? Lawrence