Cuban Mastiff

The Cuban Dogue was developed from several mastiff, molossoid and cattle dog breeds, becoming an ideal fighter and property guard. It is possible that some specimens of this breed were introduced during the colonization of America to be used as guard dogs. They were also used as bloodhounds for runaway slaves by the British during the 1796 Jamaican slave uprising, by the French during the Saint-Domingue expedition, and by the Americans in the Southern States. Between 100, 400 or 600 specimens, depending on the source, were notoriously purchased in Cuba by the Viscount of Noailles on behalf of General Rochambeau during the Saint-Domingue expedition with the intention of using them against Haitian insurgents. In March 1803, General Touvenot wrote: 'The commander-in-chief has 400 dogs coming from Havana, it is the only way to reach the negroes in their flight and track them in the woods and hills. This measure which appears at first inhumane is justified by the tortures that these villains make suffer to all those who have the misfortune to fall into their hands'. The breed is considered extinct since the end of the 19th century, but there have been reports indicating that, although no pure-breed Cuban Dogue remains, the dogs used in today's fighting arenas in Cuba are descendants of crosses between Pit bulls, Cordoba Bulldogs, Argentine Mastiffs and the few pure-breed Cuban Dogues that still remained in the early 20th century. The modern descendant of this rare dog breed is much larger and more powerful than the original and resembles the American Pit Bull Terrier.

Their size is between the English Bulldog and the Mastiff. The muzzle is short, wide, and abruptly truncated. The head is wide and flat, and the lips, deeply drooping. Medium-sized ears are also partly drooping, the tail rather short, cylindrical, and turned upward and forward to the tip. They are described as 'wolf-colored spotted with rust', with the head, lips and legs black. They are known for their use in hunting runaway slaves. According to the British military man and naturalist Charles Hamilton Smith, Cuban mastiffs were related to the wild dogs of Saint-Domingue (Canis Haitensis) which were introduced on the island by Spanish conquistadors when they were trained as bloodhounds. Smith describes them as 'the equals of the largest Scottish or Russian greyhounds... The appearance and movements of this animal instantly prove its superiority'.