jeffbotteril
Boxer Booster
Hope Starship will not mind me posting this great info about Brinks on here, made me chuckle as well as informative.
Ahhhhh Bullmastiffs, what a great family dog.
BUT, keep in mind they are guard dogs and still strongly have the tendency to guard their home and especially the humans that they own. The Bullmastiff is not as laid back and easy going as the Mastiff. They tend to be the dominate dog and will try to be dominate to humans (if you’ll let them).
There’s a big difference between a guard dog and a watch dog. The watch dog will bark and let you know something is going on. The guard dog will just take care of business. If a Bullmastiff barks you can bet something is going on so you better check.
Our Bullmastiff was a male, named Brinks (our home security system) and weighed about 140 lbs. He was big even for his breed. He would sit on the couch with his front legs on the floor, then roll over sideways and viola he was laying on my wife’s lap, or at least his head was. The grand-kids crawled on him, pulled his ears and his jowls (just playing) and never so much as a peep out of him. If he got tired of it all he just stood up, kids went flying, and went to his bed. He knew they weren’t allowed to bother him there.
Brinks was not fond of other male dogs at all but he took to our Golden Retriever (female) within a week. We had Brinks for 3 years before we got the Golden. The day we brought her into the house (he was three and she was 12 weeks) he wouldn’t stay in the same room with her. After a couple of days it was okay I’ll stay in the room but don’t let her touch me. After another week it was well I guess she’s staying and stay she did. She laid on him (literally), took bones right out of his mouth (talk about living dangerously), would put her nose in his food bowl, while he was eating, and never did he growl or do anything toward her. She had him so snowed….
If you have some experience with training dogs, be sure to socialize him/her early, and let them know who the boss is, I would highly recommend a Bullmastiff as a family dog. If you're going to have more than one dog with a Bullmastiff you really do want to make sure it is NOT male/male or female/female. They will definately (eventually) fight for dominance if same sex. If you have any specific questions please don’t hesitate to ask.
I told my wife if we ever got a female Bullmastiff I would name her Rolex (she would be an “expensive watch” dog). Having recently lost Brinks due to old age (yet he was only 9) we have decided for many reasons to not get another one. It was a hard decision but after some soul searching and some researching we are going with the Boxer. Now I just need to come up with a good name. How about Cayoss (as I’m sure that’s what we’ll have if we bring home a puppy)..
.
