LOLAFOLATA

Lola couldn't either. The other 3 are thriving on the lamb. Would be ideal to have one food they could all eat.

Thanks everyone for info - very interesting. Had Daisy-Mae to vet on Monday. From physical exam he thought there was a problem. Mentioned TPO and said I'd need to have x-rays done pretty soon, if I decide on this procedure as it would have to be done before she's 12mnths. Bit numb during consult and didn't ask all the right questions that I'm thinking of now. She's a good girl and has come in heat well and truly so original plan to do de-sex & x-rays together can go ahead in around 3 weeks. Have done some reading up and this procedure has to be done before fully mature/grown. I thought being a Mastiff she wouldn't be finished growing until 3yrs which would give me a bit more time to review condition & consider options. Has anyone had this surgery done and on what breed? I'm interested in recuperation time and re-hab as well as approximate cost on larger breeds. HW can you please PM me your recommendations for specialist surgeons? Are there any locally? Once I have x-rays I'd like to get second opinion anyway. Interesting about the anal glands. Lola's about 8 and starting to stiffen up in back end. Recently had course of cartrophen. She's had real trouble with her glands for the last couple of years with nothing prior to that. ETA Wish we had a hydrotherapy pool closer than Berrima.

Hi HuskyFever, I've found smaller kibble better, especially for my older dane/mastiff x girl. I used to feed advance which is quite a large kibble and she'd hoover it and nearly choke. She seems to chew the smaller kibble. My other 2 bigguns seem to chew this well too. Maybe it's self preservation - they could actually choke on it! :D Any news on how far away a chicken variety may be?

Thanks for replys. As never witnessing this in any of the many dogs I've had over the years (I've obviously been very lucky), condition was completely unkown to me. Wasn't until I became interested in Danes, Mastiffs & other giant breeds that I started to read more about hip/elbow scores etc. No bunny hopping and afraid I'm not sure if her gait is un-natural. Although as you mentioned HW not much rear drive. It's like she seizes up after laying down for prolonged periods and once mobile for a while seems to be okay. ST & Bjelkier How sad for you both. Were you able to treat or opt for surgery? Must have been dreadful to watch young vibrant puppies in so much discomfort. Have had some advice from Mastiff breeder and it appears it may be nothing to worry about straight away. Vet did mention she appeared to have growing pains in her lower legs on our first visits at 16 & 20wks. Could well be the case here. Hope so anyway. We'll be seeing him next week.

As owner of 10mnth old giant breed pup, are there any symptoms to look for that may indicate early onset of HD? ETA Daisy-Mae shows signs of stiffness in hindquarters and appears lame when she first gets up from extended periods of lying down. Once she gets moving appears fine. I'm wondering if it may just be growing pains that will pass once fully mature. Have posted question in Mastiff thread also. Will be seeing my vet as soon as we can. Were holding off on x-rays of hips/elbows to be done same time as de-sexing after first heat.

Received message that she'd been adopted from pound. Wonderful news.

Interesting responses. Will keep some in mind for future reference. Didn't think about the microchipping - it's very unlikely they were. Wish I was one of those articulate quick thinkers that's able to say the just the right thing in sticky situations, leaving everyone baffled and no feathers ruffled at all. :D Think I was dumbstruck by the whole thing. Who in their right mind would just lob into an aged care facility with animals without getting the ok first? You have to go through hoops to take an assistance dog in. Some folk think they're a law unto themselves. Wish I could just rock up with Lola - Mum used to love her. Think I will have a quiet word with director today and leave it with her to action. Don't think she will be too impressed. Maybe she will take her staff & the family aside and have a word about what's appropriate. As for the language from the boy - in this instance, glad Mum's pretty deaf and has some dementia. She would have been horrifed otherwise.

Hi, This girl was on DAS list this week. Thankfully she was held over. If not adopted she'll be back on this week's list and unlikely to get second reprieve if no rescue options available. Would it be possible to have her profile added to Senior Dog Rescue's website this week for a little more exposure? Thanks, Lola

Have been stewing over this. Did I miss an opportunity to inform & educate??? Or, in the circumstances, things were best left unsaid. When visiting my Mum in aged care facility last week, the family of patient in bed opposite, son, daughter and 3 grandchildren, had brought in 5 maltxshitzu pups to sell on behalf of a friend. They were asking $50. Initially I wasn't aware of them as they were all inside a family member's jumper. Through gritted teeth (still in shock they even had them there) I asked how old they were, they were so tiny, and told 7wks. In trying to contain my anger and disgust, and helping Mum with her dinner, it was a bit of a blur, but think they managed to sell 2 to staff on the spot. The bitch's owner needed the money that day. It gets worse! The patient informed me that she had two boys from the bitch's previous litter. Two of the kids asked their mum if they could keep a pup each. After much banter and stating she wouldn't have the $100 until next week, she agreed. She went on to say to the kids that the 2 dogs they already have would now have to live outside and the puppies inside. They chose a male & female . Not sure what happened to last pup - they may have decided to keep that one too. I suspected they were much younger. Though, not having any experience of very young pups, was unsure. It was when the Mum put the pups on the floor to choose their child , felt my suspicions confirmed. Both puppies huddled together on the floor and just squirmed not really standing up and alert. I think they mentioned them having their first vacc but have my doubts on this too. The young boy, around, 7or8, stated he was going to call his puppy DC for Dumb #$%^ (use your imagination) At the time I was furious, so thought it better to say nothing. If I had and it hadn't gone well it may have escalated and caused repercussions for my Mum, her room-mate, the staff and facility. Without wanting to sound snobbish or judgemental, these folk are from low socio-economic and poorly educated background. The puppy farmer byb's, aren't the major problem in animal over supply - it's ignorant people like these we're up against. Should these pups survive parvo or worm infestation, (I don't imagine they will be neutered) so am in no doubt, in 6 months or so, they will be selling a litter from this brother & sister. Alternately, they will end up in the local pound, a matted mess, once the puppy novelty wears off. I do give some credit to the Grandmother, when she said to the kids "they were animals that you had to have for life and not discard when the novelty wore off". Sadly, fell on deaf ears. My one regret, had I handled the situation better, I could have mentioned the risk of parvo and the importance of vaccinations at the very least. Apologies for being so long winded. PS. They were so damned cute too!!!

So glad to see this thread back towards top. Hadn't seen it before. Wonderful photos of everyone's beautiful dogs. them all :)

Me neither Stan's mum. And although my children are not angels by any means, neither of them would torment an animal. But then, they have been raised to be interested in/ care about all creatures big and small. I don't think they deliberately torment him to hurt him - I think it is more a case of he is there and they come to the fence so he gets excited and they respond by putting something through the fence and he grabs it.. I honestly don't think they mean to cause harm to him, they really are just being kids (kids who lose their toys to the boofhead next door type kids)... Staffyluv The children certainly may not be trying to hurt him but they are obviously trying to get a reaction. When they don't get the desired reaction from your guy, will they escalate their actions? I'm sure the boys over our back fence weren't intending to hurt Arnie either - they just enjoyed stirring him up. It's the psychological damage that's been inflicted that's irrepairable. If the parents aren't approachable, I would be quickly confiscating the items that land in your yard and insisting the kids come to your front door to get them back or they won't. Maybe put back the colourbond and if you're concerned about them getting cut cover raw edge with some plastic/rubber hosing. We bought cheap capping to put on ours from Pinus Sawmills. Wishing now the turds got cut on our fence.

A colleague boarded her 2 dogs at kennel at Collector a few times and recommended them highly. It was some time ago so not sure if still a going concern. They found it handy on their way to & from Sydney. Maybe worth checking out.

I am planning to send my girl to Tara for day care when she comes on heat. It is located close to my work so I can go to see her at lunch time and take her for a walk. Would this differ from longer term care?

This is a serious problem and if not addressed with your neighbours can become an ongoing issue. The parents need to be made aware that their children are doing this to your boy. It may be harmless fun for 7 year olds, but then again maybe it's not. They could grow into sadistic torturers of animals. Our boy "Arnie" had his lovely temperament destroyed by young teens over our back fence poking brooms etc deliberately tormenting him to aggression completely unbeknown to us. We only discovered this when our adult daughter was home from work sick one day and heard him going off down the back. After being made aware of this I caught the boys on two other occasions teasing him when I was at home. God knows how long they had been doing this to him. He now goes into red zone rage if one of our neighbours are working near the colourbond fence and on one occasion bit me in this state. We built an internal fence on the back to keep him separate mainly to protect him from a dangerous dog charge. Sadly now he hates children we have to be wary of him with strangers and we have to muzzle him to go to the vet. eta These a%#*holes ruined a beautiful dog

Amazing transformation. Well done to all involved.

As well as factors mentioned above, other major considerations are cost and space. Large/Giant breeds don't come cheap and you need to be prepared for far greater outlays for everything. Big dogs = big dog beds and floor space. Have discovered this with my 3 taking up the whole front room Adequate seating also needed. If I let my guys on the lounges - no room for humans :laugh:

I find this bizarre. It use to happen at the vet practise I worked at. If people are so hell bent on having a certain breed I can't understand why they don't just go to a breeder in the first place. Weird. Honnestly breeds misidentification annoys me and I do correct people. Rescues naming any large tan x as a mastiff drives me nuts.Having Samoyeds is alot of fun. We get all kinds of things from long haired siberian malamutes to polar bears :laugh: I love it though when people ask me the breed, I tell them and then they say....'what's a Samoyed?...' I'm with you on the 'Mastiff' thing. I've seen some recent pound listings as Mastiffs and photo would indicate some are not much bigger than an SBT and are described as being around the 30-40kg. An adult Mastiff, regardless of type ie Neo, English, Dogue, Bull etc should be 60-70kg & upwards. My 8 mnth bitch is close to 40kg. They should allow 'Heinz' as breed description - would be closer to the truth in a lot of cases :)

Dear SAS So sorry to hear of your loss. Thinking of you all at this sad time.

Good one thanks Sway. Will investigate where I can source near me Thanks Kadbury will have trawl through Gave her two, megan, my yard is covered in cardboard 'confetti' :laugh:

Thanks CBD, Have checked out 'Staffy ball' and decided to purchase. They are pricey! If it keeps baby occupied and from destroying other items around yard - worth every penny ;)

Hi, would be great to get some ideas for toys/games that don't cost the earth and are relatively indestructable - in short term, anyway Bought Daisy-Mae (Mastiff) a giant Kong on Sunday threw it around a bit and left her with it while I did some chores around garden. All of 20mins and she'd chewed through one end She has already destroyed and de-squeaked one of those indestructable rings. Very reluctant to leave rubber items for her as they don't show up in xrays if large piece ingested and can't be passed - been there done that This morning gave her heavy plastic screw topped container (ones fish oil capsules come in) with some rice inside. She showed it no mercy and it was gone within minutes - had a great time in the process. Also some cardboard boxes, they were finished before I left for work - once she got over being afraid of them initially. Any new ideas gratefully appreciated

Won't do that. Don't feel I can sue someone for my own stupidity They didn't force us to take pup. In fact, assured us they understood if we didn't. I seem to be a sucker for "special needs" cases. Have had a few - that's for sure.

Fair point. We were just talking about that the other day in relation to microchipping & dog registration forms. Dogs, especially mixed breeds, can get all sorts of creative labels. And 'mastiff' is popular for any dog that's really large & not recognizably anything else. Of course, I was using Bluebelle, in a not very subtle way, to point to rescue dogs. But, I got busted. :) Never any harm in plugging a rescue Mita. ;) There are times tho, when you just want the "real deal".

Andrew, Also, check out the breeds 101 Mastiff thread. There's some good info there as well. Cheers

Sorry, the English Mastiff is what I am after. Hi Andrew, Welcome. I was originally looking at Great Danes but after doing a pet dog selection test, the Mastiff ended up on the top of the list to suit our family and life style. Still love the Danes, but after plenty of futher research and photo surfing, I was hooked. They seem to be great with kids on a whole too. There's a great Youtube video of an infant with his mastiff. ***Word of warning & advice from one who's been burned, and very recently.*** It was difficult to justify to my family the $2.5 - $3.5K purchase price of a registered puppy. I found a BYB 16wk old on Trading Post for only $1000. The owners of the parents were very nice people and their dogs appeared to be well cared for, sound & content. I was assured they were both pure Mastiffs (they looked the part) but they had not been able to get their papers from the breeder. I have no real guarantee that she is pure. Alarm bells should have rung when my daughter and I couldn't approach the puppy at all without bribing with roast chicken - she was terrified of us. We brought her home Anyway, to cut to the chase. Over the coming months, Daisy-Mae will most likely cost me way more than the $2500 I saved. Ongoing behaviourist fees for her fear issues due to poor socialisation. Possible large medical bills loom as she may be already showing signs of HD and growth plates in legs closing prematurely. I have a real "reggie reject" albeit, that we've become fond of, and will do the very best we can for her. Find a reputable registered breeder whose dogs are hip/elbow scored, that socialise their puppies well from a very young age and that will offer you ongoing support after you take puppy home. I don't believe the feed costs are exhorbitant for an adult. Lola (avatar) is 50kg Dane/mastiffx and quite porky on only 2 1/2 cups Black Hawk a day with some chicken mince & chicken wing treat. Daisy-Mae's going thru it at the rate of knots while she's growing - currently on 4 1/4 cups BH with mince & treat. It's the basic vet costs that knock the wallet around. Not much change out of $400 :rolleyes: for annual vacc & heartworm injections. Not to mention quarterly worm tablets based on weight. I usually spend about $70-80 on these from vet for 3 bigguns. Surgery costs - not even going there!!! Hope I haven't put you, or your wife, off entirely. :rolleyes: If you go ahead, I'm sure, with the right match you'll be sold. I'm researching breeders and dogs again already for my next one in a few years when my oldies have gone over the bridge. Doing it right second time around. :) If you're not set on a puppy, there was an adolescent purebred male in the mature dogs for sale (re-home) in Qld you may be interested at looking into. All the best with your search and join the Mastiff thread even if you don't end up getting one. Trying to breathe life back into it just for lots more info, hints & tips and wonderful pictures. Shay Another great reason to find a REPUTABLE registered breeder!!!!! Im sorry for the disappointment you must of felt when discovering the problem - and im glad you are sharing your story so that others can see the risks that come with buying from anyone else, and that although you expend more in the first place, it can save you financially and emotionally in the long run. Do you mind if i cross post your story to facebook? No, not at all.