Talk:Mastiff
From Academic Kids
The Old English Mastiff isn't listed on List of dog breeds. Is there another name for it under which it appears in that list? If not, it needs to be added to that list. Elf | Talk 17:26, 22 Jul 2004 (UTC)
- It's another name for the breed the kennel clubs call a "Mastiff" [1] (http://www.akc.org/breeds/recbreeds/mastif.cfm). The problem is, of course, that "mastiff" or "mastiff-type" is used for several breeds as listed in this article. But the Mastiff itself is a recognised breed, and so "English Mastiff" or "Old English Mastiff" are sometimes used to make the distinction clearer.
- So, how should we deal with this? As all the kennel clubs call the breed "Mastiff" we would usually have the article about that specific breed here. But having this listing of all mastiff-type dogs also make sense. Perhaps the article should be at Old English Mastiff leaving this general article here. Or we could move this to Mastiff-type dogs and put the specific breed article here. -- sannse (talk) 08:37, 23 Jul 2004 (UTC)
- Hmmm, interesting. "Mastiff-type" doesn't seem appropriate because it would be inconsistent with, e.g., Setter, Spaniel, Terrier, and so on, which are not labeled "-type". But of course they aren't overloaded onto breed names. I've checked a couple of my (American) books quickly and plain English Mastiff is the secondary name listed in both. So I'm thinking that we might use that for the breed entry, with a strong statement in the Mastiff article at the top that this refers both to a type and to a breed. I don't know how many people really would do a search *first* on "Old English Mastiff" vs. plain Mastiff or English Mastiff. (Erg, or now I'm waffling--since we have to make a strong point at the beginning anyway, we could use this for the breed and xref to Mastiff type-- I don't know that we need to say Mastiff-type DOG--is there anything else that's of mastiff type? ;-) ) Elf | Talk 15:44, 23 Jul 2004 (UTC)
- Well, I know of a couple of mastiff-type people ;) My (English) books are split, with two using "Old English Mastiff" with "Mastiff" as the secondary name, one using the opposite and one using "Mastiff" as the primary and "English Mastiff" as the secondary (the last is the most modern of my books). So my feeling is that either solution would work, and I feel that the most elegant is your first sugestion - to put the breed article at English Mastiff and leave this as it is - but make it clear on this page that "Mastiff" is also used as the breed name for a particular type of mastiff. -- sannse (talk) 16:58, 23 Jul 2004 (UTC)
