English Mastiff Health Testing

 

Our Goal Is to Improve the Breed With Every Generation

Every breeding program starts somewhere. Over time, breeders make thoughtful decisions about which traits to preserve, which traits to strengthen, and which bloodlines best complement one another.

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At Muddy Mastiffs, our goal is simple: produce healthy, functional English Mastiffs that retain the qualities we love about the breed while continuing to improve with each generation.

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How Our Program Has Evolved

Our foundation female brought many qualities we wanted to preserve. She came from strong bloodlines, demonstrated excellent fertility, possessed outstanding mothering instincts, and consistently raised healthy puppies. She was on the smaller side, so we paired her with a taller male, Bane, to add height, size, and substance to the next generation. (Bane's father was 3 feet tall at the withers.)

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The result exceeded our expectations. The daughters retained many of the qualities we loved while developing more size and head. In fact, they became so tall that the first stud we tried with them simply couldn't reach, and that delayed their first litters until nearly age 5. It was a challenge we never expected to face, but it taught us an important lesson.

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That experience heavily influenced our search for our next stud. We wanted a dog with the height, substance, temperament, and pedigree to complement our females while helping us continue moving the program forward. After a long search, we found Freedom.

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Freedom comes from accomplished bloodlines and brings additional size, substance, and breed type to our program. His father weighed approximately 250 pounds, and as he matured, Freedom developed into exactly the kind of male we had hoped to add to our breeding program.

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That journey also reinforced something we believe strongly: fertility, natural breeding ability, pregnancy success, whelping ability, and maternal instincts are important traits that deserve just as much attention as titles, ribbons, and pedigrees. A breeding program can only move forward when dogs are capable of reproducing naturally and successfully raising healthy puppies.

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DNA and OFA Health Testing

Now that our foundation dogs have reached maturity and natural fertility is confirmed, we are continuing the next phase of our program's development through comprehensive health testing, going above the breed minimum. All breeding dogs in our program have completed Embark DNA testing, and results will be posted to their profiles. Final OFA evaluations are completed at the appropriate age and stage, and our goal is for every breeding dog in our program to have a complete health testing portfolio available for review. ​As results become available, they will be posted on our website for complete transparency. OFA results could start rolling in as early as July 2026, but I would expect them all to be completed by February 2027.​​