English Mastiffs, anyone?

[Mirzam]

We will be adding a mail English Mastiff puppy to our family in four weeks, and would love some insight into what we have gotten ourselves into! The puppy is the grandson of my DD's Mastiff, and we know and love her well, a very sweet being with a wonderful temperament. We have also met the mama, who is also an awesome dog.

Is there anything specific to English Mastiff puppies we should be aware of, we plan to feed him raw food. Also I plan on crate training him. This is our family's first dog, so we have a great deal of learning to do.

Any words of wisdom would be most welcome.

[Shahbazin]

Sounds like you're off to a good start! The main thing I'd mention is training - with very large breed dogs, you have very large puppies - in my breed, they're hitting 40-50 lbs by 4 months or so, so you want to start training & manners right away. Definitely be gentle & encouraging - I use food rewards to teach early heeling, sits, downs & recalls, no corrections, just hands & leash on a buckle collar to sort of guide the pup into what I want them to do - lots of praise. Definitely enroll in an obedience class, if only for the experience of working around other dogs & with distractions - go in to see some classes before you sign up though, make sure the instructor's style is a fit for you.

[ErynneM]

I second everything Shahbazin said.

And buy a couple of Pat McConnell's books; he advice is always spot on, and she is terribly wise when it comes to dog training and ethology.

http://www.patriciamcconnell.com/cat...training-books

- E

[Carolinamidwife]

Big stack of bath towels... for drool. Seriously. We have a German Mastiff and I have a stack of old bath towels handy at all times.

And training, serious amounts of training and things for him to chew on other than oh, say, your sofa.

Good luck!

[Mirzam]

Thank you all for your advice. I will definitely get one the suggested books, they look great.