I am babysitting a one hundred and seventy pound English massive mastiff who is whimpering for his owners. He’d be really cute if he weren’t so drooly.
Updated: the dog I babysat wasn’t this big, but he certainly made our German Shepherd look tiny. He really is a “gentle giant” as the breed is called – very laid back. He and his “brother” (a much smaller dog) went back to their owners before I thought to get a picture. The owners are friends from Virginia just now moving out here. ONE MORE THING: my sister’s husband’s sister severed part of one of her fingers when her mastiff puppy pulled on a wiry leash that got wrapped around her finger before she could stop it. They may be cute, they may be gentle, but they are BIG. Just something to consider if you were thinking about getting one. Keeping a hundred plus pound “puppy” under control might be difficult.
Reit This Way 
What? No pictures? Or are you too busy wiping up doggy drool from the floor, the chairs, the baby…?
I’ve always wanted an English Mastiff. You’ll have to let us know how he does with the kids.
I’m exercising great self-restraint to not start baby-talking to the dog in the combox. Let’s leave it at: please give him some pets for me! (And a picture would be GREAT if you can find the time!)(I love dogs, but for all practical purposes can’t have one right now, so I live vicariously through other people’s dogs. How’re he and Greta getting along?)
We’ve got some sort of Mastiff next door. She likes to try and dig into my yard. Thank goodness she’s so big and can’t actually fit through the hole. Not likely a baby gate is going to do much good. You might just have to try and bride her into excepting you as her human replacements and let her follow you everywhere you go. Or maybe one of the kids could take that on too. Dogs are really very much like toddlers in a lot of ways.
Wow. You are brave.
You are very brave. And for a split second, when I opened your blog and saw the picture on the post, my first thought was “Is the dog really THAT big?! Goodness!”Then I read the rest…lol.
Those wire leases are among one of the WORST INVENTIONS EVER. Both because people who have not trained their pets to walk on a loose leash use them to avoid actually having to do any work on a walk, and because of the situation you describe…there have been many severed fingers. Children, especially, think nothing of wrapping a loose part of the wire around their fingers or hands, and that wire becomes a tool of distruction when the dog tries to take off after a squirrel. I will NEVER purchase one of those leashes…my little German Shepherd is already a puller and I can’t seem to break her from it. She figured out the gentle leader very quickly, so I use a prong collar (I don’t like choke chains). But to use one of those wire leashes would be akin to saying goodbye to one of my appendages after I accidently wrap it around myself or after she wraps it around me. Not. Worth. It. Mastiffs are good dogs, though, as are St. Bernards and other large breeds. The large breeds are typically MUCH easier to deal with than the little overbred small breeds. And less likely to bite than the small breeds. (Yes, really).
We use a prong collar for Greta, too. A choke collar just wouldn’t work with her.I think the wire leashes *seem* like a good idea (all neat and tidy), but I agree that they are dangerous. We had a St. Bernard when I was a kid. We loved her. But she was protective and territorial, and neighborhood kids scattered when we left the gate open and she started to roam. If only drool were not an issue…and long hair that requires maintenance…
We have a Leonburger. He is huge too and very sweet. He will put up with anything from the kids! The BEST dog we ever had and not drooly at all. That is the problem with big dogs, so many of them are doolers.
When I was a kid I was adopted by the neighbor’s St. Bernard. She WAS territorial, and the entire neighborhood was her territory. She loved children (especially me, apparently, I was 18 mos old when she wandered over to say “hi” and decided I should be one of her “pups”). She was a great dog, so that breed will always have a spot in my heart. The pastor at the parish where I work has a dry-mouth St. Bernard, and what a sweetheart she is! Makes me consider contacting a St. Bernard rescue…if I ever get a fenced yard, that is. And I have to get another greyhound one day, too. And if I ever lose my Tikaani, another German Shepherd. And I’ve always wanted a Golden, too. I really need to be living on a farm, because it doesn’t end with dogs…I want horses and goats, too. Maybe I can raise Alpacas?I digress….🙂 (Just throwing some humor into the mix…)
We have a 200lb English Mastiff that looks just like the one in photo. He is our second one, the first one lived 10 years and died two years ago. Both, great family dogs.They are wonderful with kids…I know because our kids are always crawling over them, pulling on their lips (no, I don’t generally allow this, its just that sometimes I don’t get there fast enough!) amd generally pestering them.You are right, though, they are big. And drooly. And stinky. But as long as they are good with my kids, and they are, I forgive them almost anything else!