This is silly, but the picture's cute.

This is silly, but the picture's cute.

Originally shared by ForDogTrainers - Dog Portal

The Tibetan Mastiff (Do Khyi) is an ancient working breed of Himalayan nomadic herders and a traditional guard dog of Tibetan monasteries. This breed was surrounded by numerous legends since the time it had appeared in antique references. From the references made by Aristotle (384-322 BC) up to the famous writings of Marco Polo, who traveled to Asia in 1271, all historical sources express the admiration of the natural strength and power of the Tibetan Mastiffs both in regard to their physical strength and mental abilities. Even their barking is described as a unique and extremely valuable feature of the breed. The leading European dog breed experts of the past like Martin and Youatt, Megnin, Beckmann, as well as Siber, Strebel and Bylandt carefully studied the Tibetan #Mastiffs because they were under a strong impression of the origin of this breed and of those functions which these dogs performed in the culture of Tibet. Some of them even believed that these dogs were the ancestors of all large mountain breeds and Mastiffs. The first Tibetan Mastiff which reached the western shores was a male dog sent by Lord Hardinge (then Viceroy of India) to Queen Victoria in 1847. Later in 1880's, Edward VII (then Prince of Wales) brought two dogs to England. The first recognized litter of Tibetan Mastiffs was born in 1898 in the Berlin Zoo. 
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