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:	post by arilliusbm at 2011-03-18 13:27:46

I've always found the history of dog breeds to be quite interesting. The Mastiff breeds are all descendants of a once-great but now extinct breed called the Molossus.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molossus_%28dog%29
"Some scholars contend that the Molossus was a dog used by the Ancient Greeks[3] for fighting[4]. They describe it as having a wide, short muzzle and a heavy dewlap (similar to modern Mastiff breeds) that was used to fight tigers, lions, elephants, and men in battle."

Another interesting tidbit on ancient war dogs:
"War dogs were used by the Egyptians, Greeks, Persians, Sarmatians, Alans, Slavs, Britons, and the Romans.[1][2] The Molossian 'Canis Molossus' dog of Epirus was the strongest known to the Romans, and was specifically trained for battle.[3] However, when fought against the broad-mouthed, powerful mastiff of Britannia, they were outmatched. The Romans exported many of this breed of mastiff to Rome and then disseminated them over the known world. Often war dogs would be sent into battle with large protective spiked metal collars and coats of mail armor. The Romans had attack formations made entirely of dogs. Native Americans also used dogs, though not on this scale.[citation needed]"

Imagine seeing a battalion of armored mastiffs marching towards you?

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