The Tibetan Mastiff

You might have heard much about Tibetan Mastiff, many of which could be sheer exaggeration. But the popularity of Tibetan Mastiff at the global level cannot be denied. To check this, all you need to do is just to type the keyword “Tibetan” in the search engine (specifically on Google), and by default you will see the world “Mastiff” pops up.

The Tibetan Mastiff, called Doh-kyi in Tibetan, is an ancient breed and a type of domestic dog originating from the nomadic cultures of Tibet and several other countries of Central Asia.

Doh-kyi literally means “dog which may be tied”, is generally understood as “the dog that guard the door”. Just as the name reflects, this enormous breed of dogs is usually performs the important role of a guardian of Tibetan households, especially in the nomadic areas. Tibetan Mastiffs are well known for their physical strength and loyalty to the owner.

Experts in the field point out that currently there are two different types of Tibetan Mastiff, the Doh-kyi and Tsang-kyi. While we have learnt bit about Doh-kyi in previous lines, Tsang-kyi in Tibetan means “dog from Tsang”. A Tsang-kyi is generally described as taller, heavier, and more heavily boned.

Tibetan Mastiff is considered a rare primitive breed. It has the ability to retain the strength and hardiness which would be required for it to survive in the extreme conditions in Tibet and the high-altitude Himalayan range. With its enormous size, it is able to confront deadly predators such as wolf. The dog is very sensitive to the sound at night and keep son barking if it heard any irregular noise. They often sleep during the day to remain more vigilant during the night.

With life expectancy of about ten to fourteen years and strong power of resistance of many of common diseases among dogs, Tibetan Mastiffs are genetically proved to be superior than most of the other dog breeds.

While all the breeds of dogs are proved to be genetically diverged from the wolf, some of the studies have shown that Tibetan Mastiffs diverged from the wolf many thousands of years before the common breed of dogs.

Tibetan Mastiff used to be a very popular in England in the beginning of 20^th century before it was eclipsed by the World Wars and other crisis. However, the enormous dog recaptured the attention of the world in 1980s.

In the past few years there were escalating hypes in the international platform surrounding the Tibetan Mastiff, especially in China where wealthy individual spending millions went viral all over China. Many observers believe that this is trend is occurred mainly because of the strong promotional strategies used by breeders to amass fortune for themselves.

These days, lots of Chinese travelers specially visit the Tibetan Mastiff breeding centre as a part of their Tibet tour.

Written by Tashi Namgyal
Explore Tibet Blog Writter