Newbie Question

[hccrn]

Hi all,
I recently got Kenzi my first mastiff. I have been reading all your posts to try to become as familiar with this breed as possible and I am getting a little worried. I have been around dogs all my life, my mom bred afghans, and goldens, and my sister breeds goldens, and we always had shephards and mutts. I know you cant judge a breed by bad publicity as my pitty is my lap dog. But I am reading about the mastiffs biting people and fighting,...before we got her I had read that these were NOT aggressive dogs. Was I misinformed or are these isolated incidents?

 

[chuckorlando]

Well thats gonna depend alot on the breed and how you raise thm. Mastiffs are gaurdian dogs. It's their job to protect their people, places, and things. It then becomes your job to teach that dog what is ok and what is not. Most Mastiffs are very easy going and either friendly or indeffrent to strangers. If you socialize them alot and do obediance training, your almost certain to not have an issue.

Thre are some breeds that can just be hard like Fila's. In their case some simply will never trust strangers. We socialize our fila and she seems good most times. But sometimes she just wants to bite if someone approaches. I figure we have at ;east a 75% chance she will have to hard of a temperment to ever be around strangers with out being controled. But we got a Fila for that very temperment though I would prefer indefrent I'll take hard. But being a mastiff, her hurting family is'nt even a worry of mine.

She is the exception not the rule to Mastiffs. That temperment is the Fila where it is not with other type mastiffs. Do you know the breed? Just raise the pup right and short of a serious issue, you will be fine

 

[angelbears]

What kind of mastiff do you have?

 

[hccrn]

American, which I understand is a cross between an english and an anatolian, and is now considered a breed of its own. I met both parents, although the dad liked to bark and made it very clear he was on guard he allowed strangers (me) come into the house without incident. The mom was very friendly despite people messing with her puppies. We plan on taking her to puppy classes as soon as they start up.

 

[angelbears]

I'm sorry but I have never heard of such a breed. I'm sorta new to mastiffs. The only mastiffs that I have owned are Filas which are very hard in temp. I know very little of the Anatolian but if I understand correctly their temp is much like a Fila. If that is the case I suggest you do a lot of researching and learning how to train this dog and keep on top of this dog. They are not easy to own. Socialize now while you can, the window will close.

BTW, my fila is the most gentle dog I have ever owned but only to 3 people, those he was raised with. He hates strangers, yes that means the neighbors, an adult child that had already moved out of the house when we got him, ect...I'm much more likely to be bitten by my ACD, the little sht growls at us all the time. The Filas you can cut their leg off with a butter knife and they will let you.

 

[stephanieb]

Each dog has a different temperment, but English Mastiff's tend to be very gentle and you have a good possibility that the pup will have pulled more of it's temperment from it's mother. I wouldn't worry just make sure that you take her everywhere you can to socialize her. Enjoy and welcome!

 

[natsan6]

I don't know very much about your particular cross...but at least you know what breeds are in the cross and can do your research from there. I personally would research both breeds and familiarize myself with temperaments, exercise needs and any medical or behavioral issues with both because essentially that is what you will be dealing with....your dog is crossed with an English Mastiff which is very gentle, lazy and sweet with a somewhat easy going temperament....the Anatolian Shepard (which I don't know much about) is busier and more of a work/flock type dog that is more than likely going to have a higher drive and need more "work" and have tendency to "run things" from what I have heard they can be some what independent when raised for "work" purposes. Having said all that even an English needs to know who is boss you have to be a strong leader with both and as long as you are and your dog understands your "top dog" hehe then you will be fine. Train, train, train, socialize, socialize, socialize good luck and welcome to the forum!!

 

[Smart_Family]

Unfortunately the American Mastiff is only recognized as a breed by the Continental Kennel Club which isn't particular about who and what they register. Be prepared to tell people pretty much every day that she is a English/Anatolian mix. Also be aware that some insurances and landlords have bans against mastiffs just like they do pittys. Usually it's not the English or Anatolian's though at least with what I've seen for landlords. We are military so when we go to another base they have breed bans. Every base bans pittys but most of them also ban Rotties, Dobies, some ban Huskies, Cane Corsos, Neos, Dogo Argentinos, etc.

 

[NeoBull]

English Mastiffs are generally "gentle giants" but Anatolians can be more difficult/aggressive/dominate types and definitely aren't for everyone so it's hard to say what you'll end up with. I'd spend A LOT of time socializing, socializing, socializing, and training. What part of the country are you in? I've been hearing a lot about "American Mastiffs" around here in Oregon. I've only met 2 Anatolians before, one was a big scary jerk and the other seemed pretty well adjusted, and both reflected their owners!

 

[hccrn]

English Mastiffs are generally "gentle giants" but Anatolians can be more difficult/aggressive/dominate types and definitely aren't for everyone so it's hard to say what you'll end up with. I'd spend A LOT of time socializing, socializing, socializing, and training. What part of the country are you in? I've been hearing a lot about "American Mastiffs" around here in Oregon. I've only met 2 Anatolians before, one was a big scary jerk and the other seemed pretty well adjusted, and both reflected their owners!

I live in Massachuestts.

 

[seeknoxrun]

We considered getting an American Mastiff before we decided to just go with the tried and true English Mastiff. We visited their ranch (Five B Ranch in Texas), met their dogs, and read references from families who had taken home puppies from their breeding program. Their dogs were inviting and friendly and out of the entire bunch, it was their cattle dog that was most guarded with us. We read endless glowing references from past customers and learned that several of their puppies (including one of their adults in the breeding program) had gone on to become therapy dogs.

From what I understand, the English Mastiff makes up roughly 7/8 of the genetic makeup - so what you're basically getting is an English Mastiff that drools slightly less. It's true that the Anatolian has a more independent and suspicious personality, but that doesn't necessarily mean more aggressive. And, because the Anatolian makes up such a small percentage of the mix, the likelihood of your American Mastiff taking more after the Anatolian than the English Mastiff is very slim.

I agree that its really going to come down to early and consistent training and adequate socialization. Even English Mastiffs can become very weary, suspicious and unwelcoming if not trained and socialized well. Personally, I think you made a great choice - living with a Mastiff has been one of my favorite experiences and has made me a lifelong fan.

What made the decision to go with English over American for us was simply price. We had a hard time spending nearly $2000.00 on an American puppy when we could adopt or purchase a quality English for a fraction of the price. I'm sure we would be just as pleased with the American variety.