dalisdante
New Member
Asking for any suggestions. Our family adopted a 9 year old mastiff from a Humane Society. He had been there for 10 months. Many failed adoptions. I have a young disabled wheelchair bound son and was looking for a dog who was good with children. I have had 4 English Mastiffs over the years and thought that this would be a good fit. We were told that he was surrendered because his previous owners were in their eighties, the dad (his bonded parent) died, and the mom’s children urged her to surrender him because they were afraid that he would knock her down.
When he arrived at the shelter, he was diagnosed with heartworms and was only 127 lbs.
They had never had a dog that large, so what he wanted, he got.
No big deal. Mastiffs are kind of like big kids. Plenty of experience here with loving mastiffs & reading their emotions.
And then… Holes in the narrative… He has lines of callouses on his tail and sides that indicate he was kept in a wire cage for long periods of time. He snaps at you (sometimes, accidentally, drawing blood) if you touch his collar. I think that maybe he was on a prong collar before, because he has lumps around his neck. (The collar that he wears now is a nylon weave FI GPS collar. Very, very loose in case it gets hung up on something since we live in the country.) Have tried to desensitise him to having his collar grabbed (especially since he did inflict long scratches on my husband’s arm at 3am while said husband was opening the door & reaching for his collar to guide him out to use the bathroom. (I’m the only one now who lets him out at night, lol.) He’s doing better with the collar now, but he’s only been a family member for 3 months. He used to be terrible with food guarding, but (with quite a bit of training) he is perfectly fine with letting you pick up his food & give it back to him. (Big success.
) He gives the impression of one who has always gotten his way via snapping. Not sure why, although if I guessed, I’d say that he’s been beaten in the past. (If you move too quickly near him, he flinches. This has vastly improved over the past couple of months though.) When I took him to our vet, that was a disaster. (In retrospect, I think that he thought that I was taking him back to the shelter.) He was snapping a lot (a sight to behold) and very unhappy. Once we got home, he was fine. (All of his meds are ordered online now with the veterinarian’s blessing, lol.)
I guess that I’m just trying to figure out how to make the rest of his life the best that it possibly can be. He’s come a long way in three months. In case you’re wondering, there’s no way that he’s ever getting returned to the shelter. (Once you’re a member of our family, you’re here to stay & we’ll work on the rest together.) He’s a city (apartment) dog and is loving living life out in the country. (You should see him bouncing up and down like a little puppy while barking at the tractor!!!)
He is incredibly loving now. - I did tell my young son not to maintain eye contact for too long with him though because he bit the face of his last prospective adopter. Not a bad bite, but enough to scare the guy. I think that our new “puppy” has adopted us back now, but just want to stay safe.
These are not traits that I ever experienced with my previous Mastiffs. They were so gentle & well socialized. I could trust them completely.
The vet did not get a chance to check him over completely, due to his attitude. With much research, based on his symptoms & veterinary records, I think that he has a dual fungal/yeast ear infection. Have started treating it with 1% Clotrimazole. Hope that it helps with his irritation, head shaking, itching, greasy hair (even right after bathing), and odor. If that is it, it would have been nice if the vet had prescribed something for him a year ago (before we adopted him) when he noted that there was “something wrong with his ears”. … You mean, other than being scarred ragged by fly bites?? *grrr*
I’m sorry. This was a long initial post. He’s my kid now, and I want to protect him and give him the best life ever.
Btw, he’s now almost 10 years old (next month) and a healthy 237 lbs.
Thank you in advance for any insight/advice that you might give.
When he arrived at the shelter, he was diagnosed with heartworms and was only 127 lbs.
They had never had a dog that large, so what he wanted, he got.
No big deal. Mastiffs are kind of like big kids. Plenty of experience here with loving mastiffs & reading their emotions.
And then… Holes in the narrative… He has lines of callouses on his tail and sides that indicate he was kept in a wire cage for long periods of time. He snaps at you (sometimes, accidentally, drawing blood) if you touch his collar. I think that maybe he was on a prong collar before, because he has lumps around his neck. (The collar that he wears now is a nylon weave FI GPS collar. Very, very loose in case it gets hung up on something since we live in the country.) Have tried to desensitise him to having his collar grabbed (especially since he did inflict long scratches on my husband’s arm at 3am while said husband was opening the door & reaching for his collar to guide him out to use the bathroom. (I’m the only one now who lets him out at night, lol.) He’s doing better with the collar now, but he’s only been a family member for 3 months. He used to be terrible with food guarding, but (with quite a bit of training) he is perfectly fine with letting you pick up his food & give it back to him. (Big success.
) He gives the impression of one who has always gotten his way via snapping. Not sure why, although if I guessed, I’d say that he’s been beaten in the past. (If you move too quickly near him, he flinches. This has vastly improved over the past couple of months though.) When I took him to our vet, that was a disaster. (In retrospect, I think that he thought that I was taking him back to the shelter.) He was snapping a lot (a sight to behold) and very unhappy. Once we got home, he was fine. (All of his meds are ordered online now with the veterinarian’s blessing, lol.)I guess that I’m just trying to figure out how to make the rest of his life the best that it possibly can be. He’s come a long way in three months. In case you’re wondering, there’s no way that he’s ever getting returned to the shelter. (Once you’re a member of our family, you’re here to stay & we’ll work on the rest together.) He’s a city (apartment) dog and is loving living life out in the country. (You should see him bouncing up and down like a little puppy while barking at the tractor!!!)
He is incredibly loving now. - I did tell my young son not to maintain eye contact for too long with him though because he bit the face of his last prospective adopter. Not a bad bite, but enough to scare the guy. I think that our new “puppy” has adopted us back now, but just want to stay safe.
These are not traits that I ever experienced with my previous Mastiffs. They were so gentle & well socialized. I could trust them completely.
The vet did not get a chance to check him over completely, due to his attitude. With much research, based on his symptoms & veterinary records, I think that he has a dual fungal/yeast ear infection. Have started treating it with 1% Clotrimazole. Hope that it helps with his irritation, head shaking, itching, greasy hair (even right after bathing), and odor. If that is it, it would have been nice if the vet had prescribed something for him a year ago (before we adopted him) when he noted that there was “something wrong with his ears”. … You mean, other than being scarred ragged by fly bites?? *grrr*
I’m sorry. This was a long initial post. He’s my kid now, and I want to protect him and give him the best life ever.
Btw, he’s now almost 10 years old (next month) and a healthy 237 lbs.
Thank you in advance for any insight/advice that you might give.
