The Cane da Presa Meridionale (Italian for “Southern Catch Dog”) is the old, functional working variant of the Neapolitan Mastiff. It is not recognised by any kennel club.
Before 1965 there was no distinction between Neapolitan Mastiff, Cane da Presa and Cane Corso, these were simply three different names for the same dog. The modern Neapolitan Mastiff is unlike the original, a dog created by dog shows. Fans of the original mastino have started an organisation which is trying to gather the remaining specimens which would fit the 1965 standard of the Neapolitan Mastiff.
This is the second rescue of this proto-race. The first one was in 1946 after WWII which almost brought this working dogs from southern Italy to extinction.
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