I have been wondering lately whether it would be a good idea for the Kennel Club to create a whole new group of dogs called say 'Bull Breeds and Mastiffs'.

I have a Bull Terrier and a Stafford and personally I've never really thought of them as Terriers and I'm sure owners of other types of Terrier think the same. It seems to me that there is a large group of dogs which all share a common ancestry going way back to the early mastiffs and even today, despite wide range of sizes, there is a definate similarity between all the breeds. I would love take my two dogs along to a show where in the same group you could have: Mastiff, Neopolitan Mastiff, Great Dane, Dogue de Bordeaux, Bullmastiff, Bulldog, French Bulldog, Boston Terrier, Boxer, Cane Corso, Bull Terrier, Staffordshire Bull Terrier and maybe even the Pug!. Maybe with the exception of the Pug I think owners of the breeds do feel a certain kinship with the other breeds of the same type and it seems slightly daft to me to have them spread across all the groups (with the exception of hounds group)The Pastoral group was created fairly recently so why not again.

The working group was split because of the large numbers in it, the group you are suggesting would be overwhelmed by Staffies and Boxers, can you imaging show after show when the results were nearly always the same breed. Groups are and I think always been on the original purpose of the breed, and that would be difficult in this case as although some of the breeds you mention were breed for fighting some I do not believe were.

Still there is nothing to stop you trying and if you really want to enlarge on your thoughts perhaps joining the forum would be the better idea than posting as a guest. We have a good few Staffie, Gt. Dane and Boxer people passing through and I am sure they would be happy to talk it through with you.

i think the term molosser would encompass all these breeds as a better name.