Hi all I've posted to other parts of Dogsey, but thought it'd drop in here and see if there are any other Mastiff owners out there. This is my boy, Beauford, now 5 months old (4 months in the pics). He's not a purebreed - Dad is an English Mastiff and Mum, as you can probably guess from his colour, is a Neo. Beauford seems to be getting Dad's size and Mum's looks. He's my first Mastiff and an absolute joy - soppy as hell (he shakes paws with everyone he meets), very intelligent and with a mile-wide mischevious streak. Of course there are downsides; forget having nice clothes, everything gets drooled on! He's also very dominant so there's been times when we've had to set tough boundaries. Now when I say "no" he does a great doggy equivalent to a teen's stroppy "It's nooooot fair". He sits, shuffles his bottom around, cranes his head up and does this really gummy woofing then, after a while of shuffling under my 'hard stare' he makes a sound like a sulky "Uhhhoooo!!" and plonks his head down on his paws to give me the 'big eye'. He seems to be a people magnet and we usually get people racing up to ask questions when he goes on his walks - in fact last week a woman offered to swap her 3 kids for him!
He looks gorgeous and nice to see he doesn't have an excessive amount of wrinkle like some pure neo's have. Becky
oh he's just beautiful,you lucky thing,I have six Mastiffs,and yes, the moody sulky moaning is a big part of my life,hahahahaa and I have been known to point at a room and shout "go to your room" as if talking to one of my teens,LOL. Wendy
Many thanks for the reply all =) I'm just recovering from a puppy class last night. Beauford's always been really good in them, but last night a 5 month old Irish Wolf Hound appeared on the scene and the 2 of them obviously decided that the 'big boys' didn't need to learn and could just go play instead. I think me and the IWH's owner are both nursing sore arms from lead wrestling lol. Wendy; so funny to hear other Mastiffs doing this moaning teen thing! I'm used to Labs and they just don't do this. The vocal range on a Mastiff is amazing - mine has his "oo God that food looks good, let me at it" noise that sounds like a pony whickering. There's a "I'm not too sure what I want but I think it's on that counter-top" noise that sounds like a clanger. There's a "I'm being cheeky" woof which involves rolling gums over his teeth so he looks like a 90yr old who's lost his dentures and the previously mentioned sulky moan when he's not allowed his way. Those are just a few - he constantly seems to be 'talking' without barking. Like you, I've found myself sending him off to his room like a naughty child. He loves tripe sticks, but the smell makes my stomach turn so I tend to hand him one and say "take it away" which is his cue to trot off to his fatboy lounge and massacre it. At other times it's a strong "No! Now go to your bed" and he slopes off moaning. How on earth do you cope with six around the place??? What's more, what on EARTH do you drive - a truck? lol
He is a beauty but he can be hard work, he will NOT go out in the rain, he will NOT eat while people are in the kitchen, he will NOT pull anybody else's stuff off the washing line only MINE!! He likes to eat my flowers, and he's got this thing for our pet rabbits poo!!! he doesn't eat it he just plays with it. But he likes to sit on you, and he can sing lol badly I might add but it dose sound like he's giving us a song. He loves the rabbit infact the rabbit is the boss. He snores really really bad. But we wouldn't be without him.
So is he, what a lovely dog. Where do you live? does your mastiff like the water?? Reef isn't to sure, we live in Cornwall five minutes from the beach, what a mess when we get back in the car.[/IMG]this is reef when he was 11 months old
We live on the coast in North Wales about 15 minutes walk from the beach. He loves the beach but isn't too sure about the sea - if it's a calm day he'll jump in the surf but not over his ankles. In general he prefers charging through shallow pools further up the beach and 'surfing' down big sand dunes behind the foreshore. I have huge trouble getting him back in the car after his beach romps (he doesn't like walking to the beach as it's along a busy road and he hates traffic noise close to him), most of the time he'll dump himself on the floor in the middle of the carpark and won't move - I generally end up kneeling down pleading whilst holiday-makers walk past giggling. Mine also loves eating rabbit and horse poo, digging massive holes in the garden to bury his tripe sticks and sitting on my lap. We get terrible frowns from the trainer in obedience classes because he insists on sitting on a chair next to me in between tasks rather than on the floor like all the other dogs. Last night when it came to our turn to do a 'send away' he wouldn't get off his chair, yawned and looked away when me or the trainer tried to coax him down to do the task.
LOL so funny, yes Reef likes to sit on my knee when i'm out in the garden on a chair or something. We took him to a rugby match and someone (manners) had a box of wine he put it on the floor near Reef big mistake Reef picked it up and kept it in his mouth the whole came he wouldn't let go even when we got him home he wouldn't let go we had to wait till he'd fallen asleep to get it back Manners didn't want his wine back after that.[/IMG][/IMG]every home should have one.
Reef is georgous! Hope mine grows up to be as good looking a boy. I think mine must be crossed with a rhino - I had a terrifying moment last week when I was walking him on the beach and we met a chap with an adult dogue de bordeaux and an adult english mastiff and we were both equally shocked to discover that my lad was taller than both of them. I went home and said "we're going to need a bigger house". I'm hoping they were either particularly small examples of their breeds or that as my lad's now getting towards 7 months he'll stop growing upwards and start going outwards. Here is below doing what he does best - filling the sofa or the bed.
I think you'll find he will start to fill out soon but that's not to say he'll won't carry on getting bigger and bigger and bigger. We also find that we don't realize what a big dog he is untill we meet a breed of dog that we used to consider big. He's so strong I can't get over the power in him, but he seems to pull my husband more then me, he's very gentle when he plays with me or when I walk him, he's very calm around me, but when Steve plays with him or walks him he goes nut's!!!! He also snores like you've never heard it drives me mad because if Steve isn't snoring then you can bet Reef is and it really is load.
