Bullmastiff and little dogs

[Newbie88]

Hello,

we just 'rescued' an 8 month old Bullmastiff x American Bulldog. We have been doing some research about Mastiffs for a while, since we have 3 little dogs (2 Schnauzers and a Pomeranian x). We did the couple where we got 'Kevin' from a huge favor, since they were not able to care for him, due to their age. I've come to this forum to get some advice and maybe share some stories with other people. I also hope not to be judged, since I've been getting some mixed reactions from people when they hear Mastiff and small dogs. Kevin is an absolute sweet heart. My pom is a feisty little guy who likes 'his space' and growls at Kevin, who doesn't really care, he just walks away. I know we cant leave them alone for a while, which I understand. So my question:
Does anybody have experience with that breed and little dogs? Like I said Kevin seems very calm and loves dogs, he's an absolute suck and totally latched on to me....he was supposed to latch on to the hubby lol Oh well, it could be worse, right?

Thanks so much for the answers. I appreciate them!

 

[lilliesmomma]

Lillie my EM was raised with a Yorkie, they are just 2 wks apart in age. She was so good with the Yorkie and always played well with his as they were growing up. My sis has since moved across the street from me and we set up play dates for them and they are great together.

 

[fila4me]

these are some videos I shot of my 8wk old boston terrier/mini schnauzer mix pup Daisy and my 18 mo Fila Flower. They love each other. Daisy is now 1 and Flower is 2 1/2 and Daisy lays on top of Flower all the time.

[video=youtube_share;EC-dN9w4n7s]http://youtu.be/EC-dN9w4n7s[/video]

[video=youtube_share;G2ouP0F0_FE]http://youtu.be/G2ouP0F0_FE[/video]

 

[dpenning]

I've got 2 5 year old poms and a 6 year old chihuahua and just brought home a 10 week old mastiff puppy. One of the poms is timid and the other doesn't know a stranger. The mastiff wants to chase and play with the timid one, most of the times she just growls, snaps and moves away. If the mastiff gets her tail she gets mean about it until the mastiff lets go. Fair enough. The outgoing pom scared the puppy at first but she is learning how to play with him and I think ultimately they will be great friends which is what we were hoping for. It will just take time and to get over the jealousy factor on the pom's side. The chihuahua snapped at her and made all those mean sounds chihuahuas are so good at and the mastiff hasn't looked at her again.

 

[Oak Hill Farm]

I have the crankiest toy fox terrier who deserves to get eaten, lol. (he has little dog syndrome) But both my cane corso and my CAS largely ignore him. My corso was more tolerant of him. My biggest issue is watching the chew bones, toys and other things with size difference; most things small enough for him to play with can easily be swallowed by my bigger dogs.

 

[Newbie88]

Thanks for all the replies! I am a little less worried now that we've let the dogs play together at the dog park. Kevin, the Mastiff is so nice and doesn't really care about the small ones. He'd rather play with dogs his size, but doesn't mind getting chased by my pom x. I was just worried about him actually hurting them out of the blue. He got into a tizzy with the male min Schnauzer over his food dish, since the Schnauzer somehow got through the baby gate, so we definitely need a different place for his bowl or just put it away once Kevin is done eating. I've noticed that he doesn't finish his food but I can't leave it on the floor because the others will eat it. Any suggestions?

 

[bullyBug]

Adorable video! I love how Flower is still so gentle in her excitement.

 

[Oak Hill Farm]

For the food issue, I feed mine, give them time to eat and then pick up all the bowls. If they choose not to eat it all, they get it next time. It helps prevent the issues of the other dogs sniffing each others bowls and creating guarding issues.

 

[fila4me]

Adorable video! I love how Flower is still so gentle in her excitement.

thank you! Flower is so good with her and Daisy is always on Flower either laying on her, biting her or attacking her.

 

[LadyDogLover]

I don't own an OEM, but have lots of giant breed experience. IMO it's an individual thing depending upon the prey drive
of the larger dog. If the dog has a high prey drive then you're asking for trouble.

 

[Newbie88]

Thanks again! I'm currently putting the bowls away, so they haven't had any issues so far.
Kevin doesn't seem to have high prey drive. He's interested in the pom and wants to play but Max just growls at him and then Kevin just walks away lol He's so mellow and a bit of a whimp haha

 

[GibsonSG]

When I got Jemma (my 2 year old DDB that we rescued) we had a 5 month old beagle already. We asked the lady at the rescue how she thought Jemma would handle a small dog, she thought it would be just fine, but had us bring Huckleberry up and put them together. They seemed just fine, she mostly ignored him. It was a different story once we got home, though. She came in the house and immediately got up on the couch, and proceeded to growl/bark/bare her teeth as soon as he got close. So, we banned her from the couch (she's kind of big to be up there anyways). But for probably the first week, it would sometimes sound like world war three out in the backyard when they were out there together. We were worried at first... but after a couple of days we figured if she was going to hurt him, she would have, and just let them go at it to establish pack order.

Oddly enough, I'm pretty sure the beagle won that battle. He's the boss of her, even though she's 3 times his size. He chews on her ears all day long, and attacks her all the time. When we let them in the house, if shes in a spot and he wants to be there, he'll run her off. But they are buddies. We recently got him neutered, and the whole time he was at the vet she was just going insane because he wasn't there. Then when he got back, we had to keep them separate and be careful because of his stitches, and they were both mopey the entire time.

Now the girlfriend is wanting to get some sort of small dog (apparently the beagle wasn't small enough for her) like a dachshund, boston terrier, miniature pinscher, etc.... so we'll see how that goes. The lady at the rescue told us that she didn't do well with other female dogs... and there was a female boxer in the crate next to hers and they would growl/bark at each other. But since then we've had her out and about and she seems to fine with other females, as long as they are spayed.