ABOUT

Having owned my first dog at the age of 21 I became smitten with the breed and now over 30 years later I am proud to be one of, if not, the largest kennels here in the UK. My aim is to breed true to type examples of the breed and I am proud to be leading the way with health testing. I am the first kennel to achieve Gold health certificates with the Kennel Club approved UK Neapolitan Mastiff Club health scheme. Meeting the criteria involves British Veterinary Association testing for hips, elbows, heart and eyes as well as a full assessment by a vet for the overall aspects of the dog including movement, skin condition and temperament. All of my dogs and puppies are KC registered. This shows that they are full Neapolitan Mastiff, please do questions why, if advertised as such, full Neapolitan Mastiffs are not KC and ask to see evidence of the linage of the puppy you are buying. If a puppy is not KC, please ensure you know why as cross breeds could be very different in many ways, such as temperament to a full true Neapolitan.

I have many examples of the breed here to see including various imports from Naples Italy, the motherland of the breed. I have also recently imported from Serbia and will continue to bring more new bloodlines to my kennels to continue with my breeding program as and when required.

“HEALTH TESTED PUPPIES“

At Makaevo Mastini we are the only kennel in the UK and one of very few around the world to commit to health testing. We do all four Kennel Club recommended health tests, when possible, for the Neapolitan Mastiff.

These are all British Veterinary Association(BVA) specialist tests that can only be carried out after the age of 12 months(not as a puppy).

They are :-

> HIP SCORING.

> ELBOW SCORING.

> HEART TESTING

> EYE TESTING.

All completed by different specialists in the specific field.

Health testing and many years of experience understanding the right combinations and not just breeding two dogs together, have meant improvements in our lines.

Some dogs have been excluded from our breeding programme due to not being of the standard we want or not achieving the right results. All of our recent breedings have been from health tested parents. We also BVA eye screen our puppies prior to going to their new homes.

Having “Makaevo Lines” does not mean that those dogs have been selected by us as a good combination to breed from and are not dogs from our extensively health tested breeding programme.

The way online sales sites ask questions as tick boxes makes it so easy to tick YES to…….Is this litter health checked?

There is a VAST difference between health checked, which is a vet checking over a litter visually whilst giving the first vaccination, and having a litter that has been produced from parents that are “health tested”.

When buying a puppy please make sure you ask to see the individual health test results that each dog has had if health testing is stated as well as the pedigree of the puppy.