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| pouf Member Since: 05 Aug 2010 Location: Athens Posts: 456   
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marvelous dog tatra !!!!!! 
.............but i think this is an old english mastiff and not a bull mastiff or no :? Admin note: this post has had its images recovered from a money grabbing photo hosting site and reinstated  www.newfoundland.gr |
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2nd Dec 2011 10:48am |
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| scottish110 Member Since: 10 Nov 2011 Location: Inverurie Posts: 363  
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Thats what i was thinking pouf....looks more like an english mastiff Admin note: this post has had its images recovered from a money grabbing photo hosting site and reinstated |
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2nd Dec 2011 11:39am |
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| tatra805 Member Since: 16 Aug 2011 Location: Dolany Posts: 436  
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of course you're right, he's an English Mastiff; i saw mastiffs and bullmastiffs mentioned so tuned in.
Did have a bullmastiff before, was poisoned by a lunatic neighbor at 18months while temporary living there when rebuilding our house.  (he's now infested with rats for the past 4 years as i refuse clean out/maintain the stables at that place. doesn't compensate anything of my bitter feelings but dont feel the need to be tolerant or reasonable towards that type of xxxxx  )
Decided towards the mastiff because of breeders. too many testosterone or money oriented Bullmastiff ""breeders"" around here. 
type of conversation: No sir, i do not want to know how hard he can bite some intruder, nor how fast he can kill him and i dont care that i can put him on the company as guarding dog and reclaim VAT from all expenses. But may i ask you, will he allow my children to ride on his back? regarding the ramp, If you dont want to have a double floor you can make the ramp pivoting so it stands vertical when driving, will limit your rear view but if you make it out of a walkable grid and as wide as the dooropening it can be used as a big ventilation door in summer when parked with the dogs inside. (put a padlock on it and you can even leave the car+dogs alone like this)
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2nd Dec 2011 1:55pm |
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| tatra805 Member Since: 16 Aug 2011 Location: Dolany Posts: 436
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Warpig, hard to say not knowing your family...
He's called Boston and thanks you all for the compliments. 
I had several dogs over the past 22 years, just so you have an idea about my experiences, New Foundland (6), Bullmastiff (1), fox terrier (2), Italian Spinon (1), German Shepherd (1) and Mastiff (1) and have 7 years of intensive dog-show experiences so have seen quite some group behaviour also. ( from this list you can point the active types to my girlfriends choice and the slobbering types to my choice) Public opinion wise a Mastiff is about 10% less family dog than a newfoundland. Just because a newfoundland has absolutely no guarding instincts, they care about ... almost nothing. (yes the may bark when someone enters the driveway but most of the time they have no idea why exactly they are doing it). Which actually makes the Mastiff more family dog to my opinion, but opinions differ. What i very clearly see is that Boston has no sense of materialism or territory AT ALL. He simply doesnt care about those secondary things. BUT his personal attachment is 100%. To describe this; a burglar can come in, take the TV and walk out. He will look, observe, maybe bark 2 times and be exited when you come home telling you something unusual happened. But, and i had this now clearly and multiple times confirmed, if some stranger enters and he doubts him (and be sure they know better than us) he will with motivation position him between you and the stranger. Not aggressive or verbal but very firm as making a sign i dont want you to come too close but even more preventing you to go closer to the 'danger'. Therefore i also have no doubt when this stranger would do harm it would be a very short fight with a certain outcome. (they can be surprisingly fast and their grab-my-arm-play-bite is a vice) Comparing this example with a Bullmastiff, i would say these will not ask permission to hunt the bad stranger away. They'll much more act on instinct and then see what the boss thinks of it. Hey, I'm a bullmasstiff, I know what is right and wrong! and therefore also much less family dog. Kids/family have to be aware about the character of these. A Bullmastiff barks in the dark to scare away, a mastiff to warn his owner. Comparing it with a newfoundland (or majority of the over domesticated labradors), you'll have to throw them on the intruder yourself and hope that they dont think it is a game.
Another good example of this is how he behaves with small children ( and yes i am very aware and nearby etc etc bla bla bla) He tolerates them and when these kids get exited or anoying (overdoing it a bit in his eyes) he moves away, near me. As if he tries to hide or search cover under his owners protection. He will hunt a cat in the garden but when walking together with me we had cats and dogs running in front of him at less than a meter. The only reaction is a fascination-frown and a look-up at me to see if i agree the cat/dog is there. One more, I adopted the german from a company where this dog was master of 15 hectares of estate. Nobody cared about him and for him everything that came into his comfort zone had to be attacked. But, long story short, he knew me from his first months and i had no problem 'handling' him. At first introduction at home i ordered Boston to stay put at his place and opened the car releasing the german into his new habitat. (leashes are a bad idea in such situations). The german ran up and down between me and 'anything', expanding his radius while ignoring Boston. So all ok i thought after half an hour and went inside, I moved in the direction of where boston was sitting and observing. The german attacked boston at that moment (trying to kill the danger for me). With 1 voice command Boston was altered from answering the attack (and shredding the german) to go back on place and ignore. That way i had a chance of pulling the german off and away from boston and correcting him. Boston didn't interfere at any moment even while he got a couple of bites and bleeds from the german. We are one year later now and the german is still very nervous and protective around Boston but besides their own arguments there were no further fights about me. Our bullmastiff once had a conflict about food with our fox terrier and since that day they had to live separated. Once on the blacklist you never go off. (same towards bad people, he would destroy your fencing to get to them) For a mastiff the aim in life is to serve you, and he is very sensitive to corrections. Just train an tread them as grown ups, explain why you are not happy with something. Sounds stupid but if you make harsh corrections he wont understand them, he'll think he destroyed your life and walk away and lay thinking for 2 days before he can accept you are still allowing him to be your friend. So a family dog? 100% to me. For clarity, I would not prevent having a family because of any of the dogs i had and vise versa BUT the way i would handle the dogs and train the family would differ greatly. They all act on loyalty so are not to blame. PS: Napolitans are a complete different story, to me a grade "worse" than a bullmastiff phew, second favorite subject i guess, sorry for the rant
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2nd Dec 2011 4:46pm |
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| WarPig Member Since: 05 Dec 2009 Location: Sheffield Posts: 1748  
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Not a rant at all tatra, I really enjoyed reading your post. And what an excellent name for a mastiff, Boston! That name really suits him
To your credit you certainly seem to know how to handle dogs , I feel many owners allow their dogs to own them. With my labradors I make sure they know they are at the bottom of the pecking order, they are the last to walk through any door/gate etc and they only get affection from me when I decide to give it, if they approach me and rest their head on my lap I ignore them till they walk away. Then I call them back and fuss them. Always on my terms. But I ensure they have a very comfortable/enjoyable life.
I also feed them the BARF diet which consists of raw meaty bones, raw whole fish, raw blended vegetables etc, but thats another story. The reason why I ensure my family are the dominant members of our pack is because we once owned a female Bullmastif from a rescue centre. Beautiful looking dog but very unpredictable. She would suddenly try and bite without any obvious warning. My brother was once sat stroking her head when after a couple of minutes she suddenly tried to clamp her jaws on his face  . I would have been happy to keep her but having small children in the family meant I couldnt risk it. I returned her to the rescue centre the following day. Heres a photo of her..
If you have any photos of your other dogs Id love to see them, especially your New Foudlands & German Shepherd :thumbsup: Admin note: this post has had its images recovered from a money grabbing photo hosting site and reinstated |
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2nd Dec 2011 5:51pm |
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| Zagato Site Supporter Member Since: 08 Jan 2011 Location: Billingshurst West Sussex Posts: 4990 
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Used to use a plastic telescopic ramp for a 14 Stone Lab but it became too steep for him to walk up as he got older with dodgey hips!
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2nd Dec 2011 6:48pm |
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| xatzhs Member Since: 12 Dec 2010 Location: Northumberland & Down South Posts: 258 
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I feel like this point was overshadowed slightly by the following enormous one (not saying I didn't enjoy the large one) but this is an incredible idea!  Great thinking... A spring project I think! |
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9th Dec 2011 12:53am |
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| WarPig Member Since: 05 Dec 2009 Location: Sheffield Posts: 1748
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But for the ramp to fit vertically inside your Defender it might be too short to act as a ramp and possibly wouldnt be long enough to touch the floor? Unless it was made in two sections and pivoted in the middle? But it would then perhaps get in the way when accessing the back of your landie, even when folded out? |
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9th Dec 2011 10:32pm |
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| Jas Member Since: 08 Dec 2007 Location: UK Posts: 23 |
Click image to enlarge
My threepeneth :) Admin note: this post has had its images recovered from a money grabbing photo hosting site and reinstated |
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13th Dec 2011 9:19pm |
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