Do English mastiffs try to be lap dogs?

I would not be surprised. I had a mastiff once, who was quite cuddly though not the lap kind. However I looked up their history. Here it is; in long-ago times gamekeepers kept mastiffs to catch poachers. but the dogs did not bite or harm the poach... read more

Most probably. I don't have experience with an English Mastiff; but I met a Great Dane that thought he was a lap dog, and I had an Old English Sheepdog that sat in my lap as a puppy; one he reached full-size he would circle around and around and look at my lap with total puzzlement as to why he no longer fit. read more

For millennia, Mastiff-type dogs served as guards, war dogs, and entertainment, being pitted against lions and other fierce animals. The dogs made their way throughout the known world, arriving with armies or transported by traders. read more