Zumbul, in point of fact, when the Romans invaded England 2000 years ago, they were met by two types of fighting dogs, a larger and a smaller. The English dogs completly beat all the war dogs of all the lands the Romans had conqured. The Romans continued testing dogs in the arenas as gladiators. The Mastiff and Bulldog were well proven as the best up untill about 1800. The Mastiff was the true "Estate Guard" an estate being nothing more than a farm with livestock and family. The bulldog was the mastiff that also controled livestock of the most dangerous type, cattle and swine. These dogs were tested in pits and baiting becuase they were the best fighters, they are, in real form and funtion, livestock dogs. As for each of the various LGDs one thinks of as some pure breed of thousands of years, I'd suggest one take off the blinders, as these dogs were continually being developed. In the mountians between France and Spain, the Pyrs no doubt recieved shots of the Aluants. I've bred Pyrs, and seen the regressed traits. One female Pyr I breed will break a car tow cable like a peice of string. In the book, The New Complete Great Pyreenes, by Paul Strang, on page 4, you will see a painting of two Pyrs and an Aluant type bul;ldog fighting a wolf of a few hundred years ago. The base breed of the AB is the WEB and these have been developed and used by the Spanish Cracker cattlemen for several hundred years. Wolves, bears, yotes, Indian raids, panthers, cattle rustlers, wild dogs, the English came along in Georgia with simalar type bull and mastiff breeds. An old style mastif of England is known as "The Shepards Mastie" and was a rangie mostly white mastiff used by shepards to run down and kill wolves. These types of dogs were also well suited to use with slaves both by the Spanish and English, as slaves were treated as animals.