OT-Anyone here have a Mastiff

fkdenton

Active member
I have been looking for a dog for a while and after reading on them I think I want a mastiff. I am unsure which kind. I like the English, bull and Neapolitan. I do think the English might be a little to big though. Anyone have any experience with them? I need to know how they are with kids.
 
have a short haired Alpine mastiff. I have had a Neo as well. Make sure you get it from a very good breeder. Too many of the Neo's are bred with too many wrinkles, as it is the chic thing, and it causes many skin problems.
Have you had experience with such a large and head strong dog?

This is Hercules at 13-14 months and he still has about another 2 years of growing. That is a regular size male Golden Retriever next to him. A lot of food and hair! He more than likely end up at around 36 inches at the shoulder and about 200 plus pounds. He is still a pup and when he gets the puppy flurries it is nuts!
Neos are very loyal to their immediate family and can scare the crap out of someone walking by.

What color are you thinking? Great dogs but any type of Mastiff takes a ton of work. I love Mastiffs! good luck



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we had a bull mastiff he was great but they fart alot lol Im not kiddin eirher will clear a room in a heart beat! but he was a very lovin and loyal dog and they get big i mean BIG! lol but he was happy in out trailer :)
 
in sticking up for the bull mastiff, I feel obligated to mention that my 6 pound maltese can clear my living room with a fart

Phil, when you say a lot of food, can you give an example of how much they eat (just out of pure curiosity)

my golden retriever mix (55 pounds) eats 3 cups per day, I am dying to know what a giant dog eats
 
5-8 cups per day of 5 star food none of that Iams, Science Diet or Natures way crap, only Innova or raw meat-bones/guts included.
I have a bunch of buddies that hunt and I also fish so their diet consist of whole raw meats, fish or mixture of. I also include fresh veggies, eggs, fruit and anything left over that is in raw form. If not Innova dry.

You should see them tear at a dead deer or chicken! They salivate when I am gutting a deer or animal. I do not like feeding them doves or small birds
 
If it was Purina I would say 15-20 cups per day. I feed almost no grains. Dogs in the wild eat meat not corn or wheat as a primary.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11638533#post11638533 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by geoxman
1. Make sure you get it from a very good breeder.
2. Have you had experience with such a large and head strong dog?
3. What color are you thinking?


1. I am planning on this. Any that you know?
2. I haven't had much experience but I have plenty of time and patience.
3. I am open on color. I do think that I am more interested in the bull mastiff than the other ones. The Neapolitan is next than the English. I think the English might be a little bit to big.
 
I know one, from a few years ago, I will talk to my dad and see if he remembers his name but had a champion line of dogs...we fed ours ol roy....about 10-13 cups but I donno if they still make it....we also added in fresh raw meat....lol my dad was a butcher so free meat :)
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11640419#post11640419 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by geoxman
5-8 cups per day of 5 star food none of that Iams, Science Diet or Natures way crap, only Innova or raw meat-bones/guts included.
I have a bunch of buddies that hunt and I also fish so their diet consist of whole raw meats, fish or mixture of. I also include fresh veggies, eggs, fruit and anything left over that is in raw form. If not Innova dry.

You should see them tear at a dead deer or chicken! They salivate when I am gutting a deer or animal. I do not like feeding them doves or small birds

It's rare to meet someone who feeds a raw diet. When my Great Dane was still alive, we fed raw...it helped his food allergies more than I can describe. A great way to go if you have access to enough organs, but I had a hard time finding a good variety of meats and organs where I live, so eventually we went back to dry. I chose Solid Gold Hund-N-Flocken, but always heard great things about Innova.

To the OP, the lower quality the food, the more you have to feed to satisfy the dog's appetite (the chaeper the food, the more grain-type fillers they have...which passes right through the dog and makes bigger poops...trust me, with a mastiff, you want the poos to be as small as possible!!). So, asking folks how much they feed is kind of subjective to what brand of food they use and also subjective to the dog's activity level. My Great Dane was on the small side (about 140 pounds) and wasn't very active, and he only ate about 3-4 cups of dry food a day.
 
Saw this a while back on Dry Dog Food. I don't remember the link. Beware it's long.

Start with a grade of 100:

1) For every listing of "by-product", subtract 10 points
2) For every non-specific animal source ("meat" or "poultry", meat, meal or fat) reference, subtract 10 points
3) If the food contains BHA, BHT, or ethoxyquin, subtract 10 points
4) For every grain "mill run" or non-specific grain source,subtract 5 points
5) If the same grain ingredient is used 2 or more times in the first five ingredients (i.e. "ground brown rice", "brewer's rice", "rice flour" are all the same grain), subtract 5 points
6) If the protein sources are not meat meal and there are less than 2 meats in the top 3 ingredients, subtract 3 points
7) If it contains any artificial colorants, subtract 3 points
8 ) If it contains ground corn or whole grain corn, subtract 3 points
9) If corn is listed in the top 5 ingredients, subtract 2 more points
10) If the food contains any animal fat other than fish oil, subtract 2 points
11) If lamb is the only animal protein source (unless your dog is allergic to other protein sources), subtract 2 points
12) If it contains soy or soybeans, subtract 2 points
13) If it contains wheat (unless you know that your dog isn't allergic to wheat), subtract 2 points
14) If it contains beef (unless you know that your dog isn't allergic to beef), subtract 1 point
15) If it contains salt, subtract 1 point

Extra Credit:

1) If any of the meat sources are organic, add 5 points
2) If the food is endorsed by any major breed group or nutritionist, add 5 points
3) If the food is baked not extruded, add 5 points
4) If the food contains probiotics, add 3 points
5) If the food contains fruit, add 3 points
6) If the food contains vegetables (NOT corn or other
grains), add 3 points
7) If the animal sources are hormone-free and
antibiotic-free, add 2 points
8 ) If the food contains barley, add 2 points
9) If the food contains flax seed oil (not just the seeds), add 2 points
10) If the food contains oats or oatmeal, add 1 point
11) If the food contains sunflower oil, add 1 point
12) For every different specific animal protein source (other than the first one; count "chicken" and "chicken meal" as only one protein source but "chicken" and "" as 2 different sources), add 1
point
13) If it contains glucosamine and chondroitin, add 1 point
14) If the vegetables have been tested for pesticides and are pesticide-free add 1 point

94-100+ = A
86-93 = B
78-85 = C
70-77 = D
69 = F
 
Here are some foods that have already been scored.
Dog Food scores:

Authority Harvest Baked / Score 116 A+
Bil-Jac Select / Score 68 F
Canidae / Score 112 A+
Chicken Soup Senior / Score 115 A+
Diamond Maintenance / Score 64 F
Diamond Lamb Meal & Rice / Score 92 B
Diamond Large Breed 60+ Formula / Score 99 A
dick Van Patten's Natural Balance Ultra Premium /
Score 122 A+
dick Van Patten's Duck and Potato / Score 106 A+
Foundations / Score 106 A+
Hund-n-Flocken Adult Dog (lamb) by Solid Gold / Score
93 D
Iams Lamb Meal & Rice Formula Premium / Score 73 D
Innova Dog / Score 114 A+
Innova Evo / Score 114 A+
Kirkland Signature Chicken, Rice, and Vegetables /
Score 110 A+
Nutrisource Lamb and Rice / Score 87 B
Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Puppy / Score 87 B
Pet Gold Adult with Lamb & Rice / Score 23 F
ProPlan Natural Turkey & Barley / Score 103 A+
Purina Beneful / Score 17 F
Purina Dog / Score 62 F
Purina Come-n-Get It / Score 16 F
Royal Canin Bulldog / Score 100 A+
Royal Canin Natural Blend Adult / Score 106 A+
Sensible Choice Chicken and Rice / Score 97 A
Science Diet Advanced Protein Senior 7+ / Score 63 F
Science Diet for Large Breed Puppies / Score 69 F
Wellness Super5 Mix Chicken / Score 110 A+
Wolfking Adult Dog (bison) by Solid Gold / Score 97 A

I feed Royal Canin. I've heard that a quality dog food is around $1.00/lb. If you look at the food grader it's not always true. Like geomax stated about science diet, and Iams
 
Interesting...

Just curious: Obviously it is better for the dog to have a higher grade dog food. I'm sure they are more active and healthier in their old age if they've eaten higher grade foods all their lives.

Do studies show that they live longer on a higher grade food?
 
I fed a highly varied BARF diet to Bogie for the first year of his life, but I always had doubts that he might not be getting what he needed nutritionally. He did have some bile vomitus a couple times a week too....also, he would sometimes bury his chicken in the couch which Ann didn't care for too much:D

After talking with a couple holistic vets here in Saint Louis, I decided to go with a dry kibble diet. Innova was highly recommended by several people raising my breed and that is what he has been eating without problems for the last year now.

I know baxterdawg on here is a phD in canine nutrition and he recommends a high quality kibble versus raw diet as well.

The breed I have is a rare Mastiff and perhaps the oldest breed in dogs known. I would not recommend this breed for most people because of their primitive dominance....but, we love him more than I could imagine!
 
MichelleL I will send a PM. I have a good source for organs and I can get them CHEAP-but frozen. I would like to hear about your formula.

The studies are more than likely done by large companies that will have theirs at the top. What is funny about many of these so called "healthy" store bought brands--the ones I mentioned before, can use preservatives that are known carcinogens because of misleading regulations on pet foods.

If a carcinogenic preservative used in a byproduct it does not have to be listed, and the list goes on and on.

Dogs for the most part are carnivores and would eat meat in the wild, not corn????

Icepick that is some good info and I have a few sites that rate dog food as for a quality breakdown. People that feed their dogs Kibble and Bits, Ol Roy and most grocery store brands are basically feeding their dog/cat cardboard IMHO


Icepick how are the pups?? They should be tearing apart the house very soon.

fkdenton. I do have a list of Neo breeders-most are in PA, OH, and IA.
You might want to send icepick a PM since he also deals with Molosser's and he might have a source down there, a little closer.
 
BTW and FYI an RC sponser also makes a very quality dog food. drostersmith.com

Their food on most studies/sites is rated 4 out of 5 stars. Their only down fall is not using whole eggs and beets as a sugar source. I have used it and you can get 4 30lb bags shipped to your door for $122 about $1 per pound for some very nice food.

If you cant find quality food at your local store-I would spend the extra 20% and get this food, instead of crap. It is not the best out there but very good!
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3307+8734+8960&pcatid=8960
 
Nook your Tibetan cant be more head strong than my Saint? It is a battle every night and I am very dominate, but he challenges all the time. I have had Neos, Pyrs, and Filas-but this one takes the cake. Some deep seeded Mastiff protection gene must have kicked in. It is very hard to bring another male in the house. Females children no problem-males he wants to dominate. I have gone to numerous trainers to no avail.
He will also since fear quicker than any other dog that I have had. If a person male, female comes through the door and they are scared/afraid it is on! Not attack, but close to it
He is actually more protective than my fila brasileiro ever was???

All medical tests are in order-he is just a dominate dog even after the snip.

You will never know what trait will come out in a Mastiff breed. So anyone looking for one expect a lot of work.

fkdenton-good luck!
 
After doing a ton of research my wife and I think that the best dog for us would be a Newfoundland. They seem to have a better temperament and we like the look and history of them. I am having trouble finding a breeder in the area though. Anyone know one?
 
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