Im back
Hi Im back , watch for new posts

Is The mastiff good with Children

The Mastiff and Children .

I often get asked if mastiffs are good with children. My answer is, if the mastiff is raised with children they are wonderful with children. I am going to be very frank and honest in this article .

I have sold mastiffs to homes with children and in every circumstance the mastiff has been gentle and loving towards children when raised with children. I have even sold a mastiff in 2 situations where the child was handicapped and both these mastiffs were the perfect dog to have in a household with a handicapped child.

The mastiff owners had nothing but praise about how good the mastiff was with their children.

But I have found that if a mastiff is not raised around children they can sometimes find children frightening. Children tend to move faster and be louder and more unpredictable then adults. If a dog is unfamiliar with children it can cause any dog to be nervous with children,. If a dog is nervous of children there is the possibility of a fear bite.

As a mastiff owner you have a responsibility to make your dog safe around all people, especially children.

I highly recommend all mastiff puppies to be exposed to young children . When you have a mastiff puppy, fill your pocket full of doggy biscuits and walk past a few schools in the morning or at lunch time. Get children to be gentle and pat your puppy ON THE SHOULDER , NOT THE HEAD, and feed treats to your mastiff puppy , get your mastiff accustomed to having a good experience with children. Go visit friends with children and closely supervise you puppies experience with the child , Make your puppy think children are a jackpot of wonderful treats and lots of love . Teach the children how to walk slowly when approaching a dog how to properly pat a dog and how behave around dogs..

CHILDREN SHOULD ALWAYS BE SUPPERVISED AROUND ANY DOG.

Here is what children should be taught about meeting a new dog.

1. Never disturb a sleeping dog.

2. Never bother a dog when it is in its crate , let the child know that the dogs crate is the place a dog goes when it dose not want to be disturbed and the dog should be left along when it is there .

3. Never approach a dog that is eating a bone or food and never try and take food from a dog.

4. Before giving a dog a treat make sure the dogs owner is present and you have asked permission first .

5. Approach all dogs slowly .

6. Play quietly around strange dogs .

7 Do not pat a strange dog with out permission.

8. Always speak to a dog before patting a dog so it knows you are going to pat it.

9. Do not ever reach to pat a dog on top of its head. Always pat a dog on the shoulders or body.

10 Never put your face near a dogs face.

11. Never blow in a dogs face, many dogs take this as a direct threat and may bite.

12. Never run around dogs, the dog may get excited and nip. Also many herding breeds or protection breeds will chase and may bite in the excitement of the chase .

If you have children and want a mastiff I would say the mastiff is a good choice in breeds, but please teach your children to respect the dog and to treat it well. Do not allow a child to sit on a mastiff , no matter how large the dog. Never allow a child to play tug a war with a mastiff. I also highly recommend that the children partake in obedience training with the dog . When your pup has learned to sit on command give your child a dog biscuit and have the child instruct the dog to sit for the treat . Make it a rule that the children never give the dog a treat with out the dog first performing a command for the child . This teaches the dog that it is not dominant over the child . Include your children in as much training of the dog as possible . The teaching of recall is a good way to include your child in the training aspect of dog owning.

Have the dog on a 10 foot leash and have the child hold the leash . Let the dog wander about on the leash and then have the child say Duke come , If the dog comes the child gives the dog praise and a treat if the dog dose not come directly to the child have the child pull the dog in close to him , once the dog is close enough to touch have the child praise and give the dog a treat .. NEVER ALLOW A CHILD TO PUNISH A DOG. . A child should only use praise and reward forms of training with a dog.

Never allow a child to take a dog for a walk with out and adult present. Teach your child if they are ever around a dog fight, to stay clear of the fight and to NEVER try and stop the fight , but instead to run for adult help.
 MASTIFF LITTER ANNOUNCEMENT TO SEE MASTIFF PUPPIES FOR SALE OR EXPECTED LITTER , CHECK HERE www.englishmastiff.com


By Sharon Medforth

Island West Mastiffs.

So you want to breed mastiffs . Breeding mastiffs .

So you want to breed mastiffs. Breeding mastiffs is not an easy job , Please take a moment to read this before considering being a mastiff breeder.

Breeding the Old English Mastiff .

The English Mastiff is one of the hardest and most expensive breeds of dog to raise and breed . Fertility problems in both the male and female mastiff is common . Whelping difficulties are normal for the female mastiff as well as post delivery problems are a high probability in this breed. You can not breed a mastiff until they are at least 18 months of age and if you try breeding after 6 years of age you will be courting disaster. So you would be very lucky to see 3 litters out of a mastiff female , I have been breeding mastiffs for 10 years and have never managed to get 3 litters from any of my bitches. .This is one of the reasons the cost of buying a mastiff puppy is higher then other breeds .Reputable mastiff breeders seldom ever make money breeding mastiffs.

Before deciding to breed a mastiff stud dog or bitch , the breeder should be confident that their mastiff is a good example of the breed in both temperament size and confirmation and dose not have health or temperament problems that can be passed on to their puppies.

Health problems that should be tested for are Hip and Elbow Displacia , Heart problems, genetic eye problems , and thyroid . Many reputable breeders go even farther and do testing for many more genetic health problems.

If you are thinking why bother testing , I will tell you that from a monetary standpoint you do not want to be refunding money to unhappy puppy buyers because their pup has Hip dysplacia or a bad heart. You could go broke really fast , You may even find yourself in court over an unhealthy puppy. Your goal as a breeder should always be to produce a healthy , sound, friendly, mastiff, of outstanding breed type.

You can contact you local veterinarian and he can make all the arrangements for the testing you should do before breeding your mastiff.

If you are thinking of breeding your mastiff to make money let me show you how wrong you can be.

First of all you will need to factor in the cost of buying a breeding quality mastiff , you are looking at paying $1800 to $3000 dollars for a mastiff puppy from a breeder who dose genetic and health testing on their lines . . Then the cost of caring for that mastiff for 2 years before you can breed the mastiff.

Then you are looking at about $700 dollars to do X-rays on hips elbows , eye testing , and heart and thyroid .

You can then expect to pay $2000 for stud feel to the owner of the male you are using .

As I stated before mastiffs are very hard to breed so you may well have to do progesterone testing on the female to make sure you have bred her at the right time , so factor in another $400 dollars on progesterone tests . 60 percent of mastiffs need some sort of veterinarian help whelping and many end up in C-sections at a cost of about $800 or higher . After the mastiff whelps you have a very high probability of mastitis in this breed , this is an infection in then mammary glands , “My last 4 breedings my females all got mastitis” and you may well end up bottle feeding pups and have a bitch so sick she needs strong antibiotics and sometimes surgery to drain the infection, you could well be looking at another $400 to $600 dollars for this common complication. Then you must supplement the pups , pay for worming and vaccination and health checks before you can sell the pup , as well as the cost of registering the pups . Add another 600 dollars for this expense . We are not even going to factor in to this the cost of laundry , whelping box, puppy food, milk replacer, thermometer and other whelping and medical supplies . Now suppose you only have 4 pups in the litter ,, Guess what even if you sell your pups for $2000 each , you are in dept big time . Now to make matters even worse , lets say some of the pups have a genetic health problem after you have sold the pups , You will ether have to refund the puppy buyers money or they can take you to court and sue you. . Gee should have done that genetic testing and X-rays right !!

So you wonder why anyone would every want to breed mastiffs , There is only one reason reputable breeders keep on with the breed and that is LOVE OF THIS BREED, Any long time mastiff breeder will tell you they have gone in dept , that breeding mastiffs is hard on the pocket book . I know many mastiff breeders and do not know a single one who can say they make a profit.
island West Mastiffs


Here is a great article by Dr. robins on whelping and breeding the difficult mastiff.


Article on Determining if your mastiff is breeding quality https://www.angelfire.com/biz4/MastiffBreeder/m3ap2adetbrpotmast.html

Are you a wanna be mastiff breeder , this mastiff breeders site has lots of great article


Carting , draft work and weight pull with the mastiff


Island West Mastiffs

Mastiff puppies http://www.englishmastiff2.com

Mastiffs in Sandlot 2 movie



























Enter supporting content here


Sharon and Lloyd
Greenway RD Ladysmith
BC
Canada
mailto:mastiff@shaw.ca

see our home site

http://www.englishmastiff.com

Caring for the Mastiff puppy
Mastiff puppy , what you need to know

Bringing your new mastiff puppy home.

What you need to know.Preventing disease in your mastiff puppy.

Your new mastiff puppy should have had its first set of vaccinations and have been wormed by the breeder when you get your new mastiff puppy.

The first thing you need to be aware of is that even though your puppy has been vaccinated , your pup is “NOT” full protested from diseases, especially PARVO. Your puppy will need to get a booster shot 2 week after it’s first vaccination and then again at 6 months before it is fully protected . In the mean time to protect your puppy from disease such as parvo follow these steps.

Do not bring your puppy to any place where other dogs may have been such as ,

Public parks,

Trail and paths frequented by other dogs,

Public streets where others walk their dogs.

Do not let the puppy great or play with strange dogs .

Do not let your puppy sniff where other dogs, or sniff where other dogs have gone to the bathroom.

Do not let your puppy eat from a dish that another dog has used.

If you are traveling with your puppy and it need to exercise or go to the bathroom take it to a spot where it is not likely other dogs have been.

Even though your mastiff puppy has been wormed by the breeder you will have to have your puppy wormed again. I suggest when you take the pup to the vets for it booster vaccination you ask the vet to worm the puppy with a “BROAD SPECTRUM WORMER” . While your puppy was with the breeder it was to young to be wormed against all worms and was probably just wormed for a few types of worms.

Feeding your mastiff puppy.

For the first 14 days, only feed your mastiff puppy the food the breeder recommended , no table scraps for the first 14 days . After 14 days start introducing new foods and snacks. The reason for this is if the puppy you have just bought gets sick you will know it is not from a change in food or diet . All so, your new puppy, even though looking happy, is stressed because it is in a new environment away from its , littermates and old home, this in it self can cause stomach upset. After the 14 days your puppy can also start chewing on ‘large’ cow bones. Never feed pork or chicken bones.

For the first two week you can give your pup strong Kong chew toys , and nylon chew bones.

Buy bottled water and only give the pup bottled water for the first 5 days , one thing that can really cause up set tummies in puppies is a change in water , gradually over a few days mix in your tap water with the bottled. water to get your pappy used to your water . I live in the country and my dogs drink well water. The chlorine in city water can very much upset a new puppies tummy.

Exercising your mastiff puppy.

REMEMBER , even though your mastiff puppy is large, it is a very young delicate baby. Your mastiff pup will sleep a great deal the first month, and much like human babies ,will start to get more energy and be awake for longer periods as they get older.

I tell mastiff puppy buyers “do not take your puppy for a walk any farther then you can carry it back” . When your mastiff is tired it will lay down and not move.

As your mastiff puppy grows you must not let your mastiff puppy play to hard with other dogs or over exercise . I strongly recommend restricting exercise . There will be periods of growth when your mastiff puppy is gaining up to 5 pounds a week. The muscles and tendons do not grow at the same time as bone structure dose. So some times the muscles and tendons are tight over the bone structure . When this happens, if the puppy is jumping or playing to hard , it is very easy do permanent damage your young dog or pup.

Never let your young mastiff, Jump up or down off of things. Never let your mastiff puppy ride in the back of a truck.

Never let your mastiff pup play in a rowdy fashion with other dogs.

It is very common when your mastiff pup is 5 to 14 month of age to wake up in the morning acting stiff and sore. Watch your pup careful, if as the young mastiff walks around a bit the sore and stiffness goes away then do not worry. But ask yourself if the mastiff had an overly active day , the day before. You know then that your pup is going threw some growing pains and the muscles are taunt over its structure.

If the soreness gets worse as the day goes on, you will need to take your pup in to the vets to have it checked out. What you will need for your new mastiff puppy

To prepare for your new mastiff puppy you should buy .

A extra large dog crate.

Blankets and bedding .

Food and water dishes.

An adjustable dog collar.

Leash.

Lots of chew toys.

Dog food.

Bottled water.

Drool towels for paws and lips.





Article by Sharon Medforth Island West Mastiffs

More information on mastiffs can be found here http://www.englishmastiff.com or check out http://mastiff25.tripod.com

feel free to email us about mastiff puppies mailto:mastiff@shaw.ca

Mastiff puppy care

Yes I am a breeder from "Island West Mastiffs". I have sold many mastiff pups over the years Many to great homes and a few, not so good . I have also bought and Imported mastiff pups . I too have been on the search for the right mastiff puppy.

By reading this you have started searching the right way . There is lots of information on the internet.

When buying a mastiff you will have to decide if you want a dog with a history of less health problems in the blood line or a dog from unknown health back ground.

In order to buy a pups with know family health history you must buy from a reputable breeder who knows their lines well, and not a back yard or inexperianced breeder.

If you buy a mastiff pup from a person who is not a known breeder, someone who has been not been breeding mastiffs for several years and dose not know the grandparents and great grandparents of the pup you are buying , you are risking health problems in you pup. Health problem that the breeder may not even know exist in the lines,

A breeder who can talk to you about all the ancestors in the pups pedigree is more apt to be aware of any health issues in the line and is more capable of avoiding genetic health problems .

I personally would not buy a pup from a breeder who has not done testing for hip and elbow dysplacia on the parents.

You should ask the breeder if they have a health guarantee on the pup “a written contract”.

Will the pup have its first vaccinations . Will the pup have a vet certified of health before you buy it. Will the pup be wormed .

Is the pup registered with the Canadian Kennel Club or American Kennel Club or main registry for that country.

Personally I would not by a pup who is registered with any other North American Registry. You will want to know what health problems the contract covers .What is the temperament of the parents and grand parents. Is the breeder willing to help you day or night if you have a problem with the pup. Warning signs are breeders who do not ask you questions like , why do you want a mastiff? Do you have a fenced yard?, Do you plan on breeding ? Will the puppy be along during the day? Have you had a large breed in the past ? How many dogs do you have right now? You want to buy from a breeder who is concerned what kind of home there pup is going to .Do not expect to get pick of the litter. If a breeder tells you the pup is definitely show quality and the pup is under 4 months of age be very skeptical . One thing I have learned as an experienced mastiff breeder is there is never any guarantee of what the pup will look like when it grows up.

On more then one occasion the smallest pup in my litter has grown to be the largest . I have seen pups with great rear ends at 8 weeks grow up to be cow hocked .If the breeder says the pup is a show PROSPECT, this means that the breeder thinks this is a good pup and may grow up to be show quality. If you are at the breeders home you want to note the condition and temperament of all the dogs .

Do not be to upset if the mother dose not want strangers around her pups. What you want to see if all the dogs look healthy . Are the pups kept in clean conditions .Are the pups getting contact with the people . Are the pups all fat and healthy looking .Do not be offended if the breeder makes you disinfect your hands or were a gown, or not were your street shoes around the puppy area . This is a breeder who cares for there pups and dose not want strangers to infect their litter with Paro or other diseases .

When picking a pup in person , think first of your own personality. If you are firm , bold , person you should pick a bold out going pup.If you are not assertive , and a quiet person , pick a quieter less dominant puppy. If you have children do not pick the rowdy, pup. But pick a calm pup who dose not scare easily. I hope this information is of some assistance

PLEASE COME VISIT OUR WEB SITES WE HAVE TWO . COME SEE OUR GREAT MASTIFFS . LOTS OF PICTURES , AND CHECK ON AVAILABLE MASTIFF PUPS

Island West Mastiffs

Mastiff puppies for sale