Tibetan Mastiff breed guide

Tibetan Mastiffs do not respond well to traditional obedience training. AKC says they are highly intelligent, learn quickly and see no need to repeat what they already know.

They will do what owners ask if they respect and trust their judgment, but if there is any question the Tibetan Mastiff will make its own decision.

Tibetan Mastiffs live 10 to 12 years. AKC calls the breed relatively healthy and breeders screen for elbow and hip dysplasia, hypothyroidism and eye anomalies including entropion and ectropion.

Seizures have been reported, but AKC says the issue is not prevalent in the breed.

Tibetan Mastiffs have a double coat with a heavy, wooly undercoat and coarse guard hair. It is low maintenance, needing minimal grooming for most of the year. A weekly brushing with a slicker or long pin brush removes surface dirt and a wide-tooth comb works on the tail, mane and thigh hair.

Tibetan Mastiffs need daily moderate exercise, but it need not be organized: they prefer work-related tasks such as patrolling their territory over structured play like fetch. They are more active in cooler weather.

Nobody knows for sure how or when Tibetan Mastiffs came to be, since the breed is so ancient and Tibet so isolated. For millennia they were the mighty guardians of the Himalayas. AKC says they are thought to be the progenitor of all modern mastiffs.

Evidence suggests early travelers to Tibet were sometimes given these giants as gifts, which were used to create the mastiff breeds of the Middle East and Europe.