Visciously attacked when I got home from work.

He thinks he's tough, eh?

 

Thanks.

He's a 120lb teddy bear. He likes to play rough but he won't even chase the bunny rabbits out of the yard.

 

He's a blast. He's a Bullmastiff, he is 2 1/2. That was mostly a play bark, he does have a slightly meaner bark when he really does think something is amiss. He doesn't bark too much, but he definitely has a wide range of barks that all mean different things.

I'm fine, though he's left some pretty good bruises and scratches before when we rough house.

 

Pretty much that. Though between the days I work from home, and the fact my wife works part time, he rarely has more than 2 days a week that he's home alone for more than a few hours at a time.

I don't think taking a video of him caused him to react any differently, he was already going a bit nutty trying to get my attention. But I do know that he absolutely hates when I talk on the phone. I have a bad habit of getting up and walking around when I talk on the phone, and it makes him do much the same as he does in the video. My theory is because he doesn't realize I'm talking to someone else, and thinks I'm walking around talking to him.

 

Thank you both. He's old enough that he's mostly out of the rebellious puppy stage, and listens well, but he's young enough that he still wants to have fun all the time.

Kind of like my wife, but don't tell her I said that.

Yeah, he loves just about everyone. I'm pretty sure that if we were gone and someone broke in he'd be wagging his tail wanting to play.

That's too bad. I love big dogs, and always have.

 

I definitely agree. He is not too property protective, but he's definitely personally protective. There have only been 2-3 people that I've seen him not like (and to be honest, I found them sketchy too) and he was absolutely on full alert. I don't know if he would actually get aggressive unless he saw someone being hurt, but I wouldn't want to be the guy testing it.


He's been through Beginner and Intermediate Obedience classes through a local trainer who was awesome. He's the type where, if you are smart enough to communicate to him what you want, he'll do it. I think part of that is because we got him a week early, so he's very bonded to us and is always seeking eye contact. I'm told that makes a huge difference (dogs that seek eye contact ) in trainability. But no, he's not been specifically trained for protection.

As far as Mastiff types, it seems that there is a little variation between types, but the same general traits throughout the entire group. In my experience, they tend toward dominance, so you really have to make it clear who is the boss. There were a ton of times, especially when he was 6-12 months old, that I had to force him to submit on his side or back because he was feeling his oats and seemed to want to surpass me as pack lead. I tried to be consistent and always put him in his place (never by striking, always by firm voice, submission, or proper use of a prong collar) and he's pretty much outgrown it.

I could bore you with more detail if you want (and I think there is another thread or two here if you search), but I couldn't ask for a better dog. I'm extremely happy with him.

 

Yeah, he's pretty smart about knowing how to act when. We have lots of friends with little kids. It's hilarious watching him play tug-of-war with them. A couple of weeks ago he had one side of the rope and there were three little girls pulling on the other end and he was giving them an even battle. Then later only one of them wanted to play, and he again only pulled hard enough that it was a fair fight. He also seems to sense that he can wrestle around with my young guy friends, but he's calm and doesn't jump when it's an older person or a woman who isn't instigating him to wrestle.

As it stands now, if I ever get another dog, either as a companion for him, or after he's gone, I'm almost certain it will be some sort of Mastiff.