1. Don’t ever allow your mastiff puppy to put his teeth on a human. Ever.
2. Have a basket filled with HER things only—include Kong toys, chew bones, soft cuddly puppy toys also.
3. If you don’t want the dog on the bed when she’s full grown, don’t let her on the bed as a puppy. Same with the couch.
4. Never ever hit her. Shame her, if she must be scolded, then turn away. It will be an indelible lesson, and will nearly break both your hearts.
5. Teach her sit, stay, heel, down, as soon as possible. They learn young and never forget.
6. Be careful that she doesn’t eat gravel. Some mastiff puppies love to chew it, for some reason.
7. Don’t play tug of war. This is a game that, if they learn it, they will ALWAYS get carried away. A smaller person, one that weighs less than the dog, could be accidently injured.
8. Do not let her jump up on you, ever.
9. No need to teach her to guard, it is bred deep in the bone. These dogs instinctively know who is safe.
10. If you are not planning to breed her, get her neutered. Female mastiffs are difficult to breed, sometimes need lots of specialized care, and are extremely protective of pups, even with their family.
These were the tips our breeder gave us. Here is our mastiff’s internet page:
http://www.flyingwfarms.com/amastiff/D%20Tinker.htm
This is a brilliant dog and will do anything to be near you at all times. Just remember—don’t allow her to do anything when she is a puppy that you don’t want her to do when she is full grown. Mine rides in the car beautifully, and attracts a lot of attention (which he receives as his due). He knows all the family names, by the way.
One thing I forgot—always keep the dog on a carpeted or non-slick floor. They can permanently injure their joints slipping on slick floors, as puppies. Try to keep her from jumping on and off the bed, same issue. Soon enough, they will step up, those legs get long fast.
Thanks so much for all of your advice. She has been with us for a week now and is doing really well except for one thing. She gets wound up and extremely agressive towards us. She bites and scratches me and my wife in most all parts of our bodies and pulls and tears at our clothing. I have tried to consistently correct her with the Cesar Millan method (saying no in a forceful but calm voice and giving her a pinch when I do it) as has my wife. I have also tried holding her down on the floor to establish dominance but it only seems to make her worse. I started out trying to give her a toy to throw around and that didnt work either. I took the last week off from work and have taken her for 2 or 3 walks around the neighborhood a day to try and focus her energy, again without much result. This is extremely worrisome to us because of your first point about not allowing her to put her teeth on a human. It seems that once she wakes up from a nap, it is all she wants to do is tear around and roughhouse and bite stuff until she gets tired and goes to sleep again. Once she gets that out of her system she is sweet for a little bit and then falls asleep for a couple of hours.
She is 9 weeks and 4 days old as of today. She was the largest of a litter of 13 and seems extremely smart. Is this just high spirited puppy behavior or a real problem developing? My wife is home this coming week so we can continue to socialize her and we would really like to get her under a little more control if we can. I just dont want this to go on for a couple of months until she weighs 40-50 lbs and is impossible to control.
Again, I really appreciate any insight you could give me. We are getting worried- Thanks, Big Red Clay