The use of white Mastiffs called Alaunt/Alano to guard the herds, and to fight in the arenas, is very ancient....
"Let us now turn to the facts. Ancient Molossis, from which these dogs certainly take their name, is a part of Epirus and is located on the northern west coast of Greece. Today Epirus is part of southern Albania."
FIGHTING DOG BREEDS, Dr Dieter Fleig
The Albanians were Alans, who came from the Caucasus....
"A group called the Alans arrived in eastern Europe five or six century BC to settle what is now Albania, and others arrived in waves around 400 AD."
The Atlas of Dog Breeds of the World
The Molossus or Pugnances of the arenas actually derived from Albania, the land of the Alans....
"The antiquity of such sport is shown in Pliny's account of the Albanian dog that successfully baited the boar, lion, and elephant before Alexander the Great some 300 B.C."
The History of the Mastiff, Wynn, 1886
In167 BC, Rome conqured and enslaved the Molossian peoples. The Alans, however, were Warriors hired by Rome to fight in their battles....
"The Romans made use of steppe nomads in their cavalry. Marcus Aurelius sent 5,500 Alans to Britian, where they guarded Hadrian's Wall. Their fierce Alaunt dogs went with them."
The Mastiffs, The Big Game Hunters
The steppe nomads domesticated the horse and invented the wheel, and introduced Warfare on horse back and chariots (waggons), as well as War Dogs to work along side of horsemen and waggons, to the known world. The Celts used cattle to pull waggons, and their dogs worked along side of these cattle drawn waggons. Thus, the Celtic Wolfhound was developed along the same lines as the Alaunt/Alano....
"By the same custom Alani gives an Alan, or in a secondary sense a cattle dog or mastiff, employed as a guard against the wolf."
The History of the Mastiff, Wynn, 1886
OWE is a referance to the ancient Alaunts of Britian, which were imported by Rome, and described by Varro in Epirus of Molossi...
"The author Marius Terentius Varro, who died in the year 27 B.C., reports in his book on agriculture of two kinds of dogs that were bred in this country. The first were hunting dogs and the second large herding dogs, who effectivly protect sheep and goats. From this description of these herding dogs we quote: The lower jaw is undershot. From it grows two teeth, one on the left, the other on the right, which are only slightly exposed...These dogs have large heads and drooping ears, a strong nape and neck...The tail is thick, the bark sonorous, the jaws large; the color usually is white..."
FIGHTING DOG BREEDS, Dr Dieter Fleig
OWE are used to guard farms and to round up cattle....
"It will be seen that the legitimate uses of the mastiff among the Britions were to defend their homes and property, and also to assist in driving cattle, while in times of war they afforded a guard for the women and chariots."
The History of the Mastiff, Wynn, 1886
The Alans were Herdsmen/Warriors - the Alaunt/Alano is a Herding/Fighting Dog!!! Logically, the smaller Alaunt/Alano types (APBT) are better suited to Herding or Round Ups and the Pinning of cattle...
"Any thirty pound dog prepared to attack an enraged one ton bull has to be both extraordinarily brave and almost irrationally determined, valuable characteristics but not ones without dangers."
The Mastiffs, The Big Game Hunters, Hanc0ck"
...while the larger size is best suited to Guard Duty...
"In this larger variety, used to guard the doors of the houses of the Britons, and to protect their flocks and herds we can plainly trace the mastiff and its superiority over the true molossus."
The History of the Mastiff, Wynn, 1886
"Let us now turn to the facts. Ancient Molossis, from which these dogs certainly take their name, is a part of Epirus and is located on the northern west coast of Greece. Today Epirus is part of southern Albania."
FIGHTING DOG BREEDS, Dr Dieter Fleig
The Albanians were Alans, who came from the Caucasus....
"A group called the Alans arrived in eastern Europe five or six century BC to settle what is now Albania, and others arrived in waves around 400 AD."
The Atlas of Dog Breeds of the World
The Molossus or Pugnances of the arenas actually derived from Albania, the land of the Alans....
"The antiquity of such sport is shown in Pliny's account of the Albanian dog that successfully baited the boar, lion, and elephant before Alexander the Great some 300 B.C."
The History of the Mastiff, Wynn, 1886
In167 BC, Rome conqured and enslaved the Molossian peoples. The Alans, however, were Warriors hired by Rome to fight in their battles....
"The Romans made use of steppe nomads in their cavalry. Marcus Aurelius sent 5,500 Alans to Britian, where they guarded Hadrian's Wall. Their fierce Alaunt dogs went with them."
The Mastiffs, The Big Game Hunters
The steppe nomads domesticated the horse and invented the wheel, and introduced Warfare on horse back and chariots (waggons), as well as War Dogs to work along side of horsemen and waggons, to the known world. The Celts used cattle to pull waggons, and their dogs worked along side of these cattle drawn waggons. Thus, the Celtic Wolfhound was developed along the same lines as the Alaunt/Alano....
"By the same custom Alani gives an Alan, or in a secondary sense a cattle dog or mastiff, employed as a guard against the wolf."
The History of the Mastiff, Wynn, 1886
OWE is a referance to the ancient Alaunts of Britian, which were imported by Rome, and described by Varro in Epirus of Molossi...
"The author Marius Terentius Varro, who died in the year 27 B.C., reports in his book on agriculture of two kinds of dogs that were bred in this country. The first were hunting dogs and the second large herding dogs, who effectivly protect sheep and goats. From this description of these herding dogs we quote: The lower jaw is undershot. From it grows two teeth, one on the left, the other on the right, which are only slightly exposed...These dogs have large heads and drooping ears, a strong nape and neck...The tail is thick, the bark sonorous, the jaws large; the color usually is white..."
FIGHTING DOG BREEDS, Dr Dieter Fleig
OWE are used to guard farms and to round up cattle....
"It will be seen that the legitimate uses of the mastiff among the Britions were to defend their homes and property, and also to assist in driving cattle, while in times of war they afforded a guard for the women and chariots."
The History of the Mastiff, Wynn, 1886
The Alans were Herdsmen/Warriors - the Alaunt/Alano is a Herding/Fighting Dog!!! Logically, the smaller Alaunt/Alano types (APBT) are better suited to Herding or Round Ups and the Pinning of cattle...
"Any thirty pound dog prepared to attack an enraged one ton bull has to be both extraordinarily brave and almost irrationally determined, valuable characteristics but not ones without dangers."
The Mastiffs, The Big Game Hunters, Hanc0ck"
...while the larger size is best suited to Guard Duty...
"In this larger variety, used to guard the doors of the houses of the Britons, and to protect their flocks and herds we can plainly trace the mastiff and its superiority over the true molossus."
The History of the Mastiff, Wynn, 1886