About Mary Ellen Shropshire Expertise Can answer: general breed questions (including questions about the various Mastiff-type breeds, such as the Bullmastiff & the Dogue De Bordeaux); behaviour & temperament; training; basic health (please note that I am *not* a veterinarian); rescue; & breeding. Can also recommend various internet sites where further info can be obtained, as well as sites to look for reputable breeders & Rescue groups.
Experience Have extensive experience as an owner of Mastiff-types (esp. Bullmastiffs); as a long-time breeder (20+ yrs); as a Rescue volunteer; & as a vet tech.
Expert: Mary Ellen Shropshire Date: 5/3/2001 Subject: Breed
Question Is there anything as a "Grey Brindle Bull Mastiff and can you tell me where I can see a picture of them?
Answer Hi Jada:
Bullmastiffs come in three "legal" colors: fawn, red, and brindle. Brindle is actually not a color, per se, but a pattern. The fawn can range from a pale ivory to almost red (a red-fawn), and reds go right on up the shading to *really* red, a blood-red. The brindle is a black striping. You have to breed a brindle to get one; breeding 2 red or fawn dogs will give you reds and/or fawns. Sometimes you can get a "reverse brindle", with a black background and red or fawn striping.
Now, all this being said, it *is*, through some trick of genetics, possible to get other colors. These dogs should *not* be bred, and they can't be shown (at least, not in the AKC). I once saw a picture of a blue Bullmastiff, and the breeder had no explanation for this color--all the other pups in the litter were perfectly normal colors--but she called this dog a "throwback", a genetic anomoly from the origins of the breed, when sometimes lurchers, Danes, and even Greyhounds, were added to the mix to create what we know as the Bullmastiff today.
I wish I could help you with a photo, but most breeders won't even admit that they've ever gotten an odd-colored dog, so photos aren't readily available. (The photo of the "blue" was posted on an email list.) These odd-colored dogs *do* happen on occasion, though, so it is possible to have a grey brindle. However, as I've noted, this is an anomoly, and this dog should be spayed or neutered.
I hope this has been of some assistance! If I can be of further help, please let me know. Thanks for using AllExperts at About.com.
