First off Congrats Phelan that is awsome.
Second off I have never said anything about this before but now I would like to tell you all a story. This is very hard for me because I still love Sasha and miss her daily. This is the reason why we moved from my dads place and explains why he will NEVER accept Morph or feel "Safe" around him.
It was 2 days before Masons third birthday he was out in the yard playing barefooted with alot of other kids from the neighborhood. Sasha our bullmastiff that we had rescued about a year before was out side with the kids along with Oso our neighbors keeshound and AJ our keeshound. The dogs were all given a rawhide bone each and were chewing on them. Sasha brought hers inside and layed down on the couch with it when all of the adults came in to get some drinks. While we were inside Mase came in limping and said that his foot hurt so I took him into the livingroom and sat him on the couch beside Sasha. This was nothing new because they layed that way everyday while watching TV and I sat on the coffee table not a foot away from him. I checked his foot and saw a bruise. Smitty got up to open turn on a light and in a split second Sasha jumped up and grabbed Mason in the face. I had to jump up and punch her in the head to force her to let go. We put her outside and took Mason to the hospital. He ended up with a torn saliva gland, cuts on his gums cause she went all the way through, and a total of 58 stitches to sew him up.
Did I send her to the pound?? Walk outside with my gun and shoot her?? No !!! Why you might ask?? Because that 2 year old little boy on the way home from the hospital with his face all swollen to where he could barely talk told me " Mommy.. Sasha isnt a bad dog.. she didnt mean too, it was an accident." When we got home Sasha would not come into the house untill Mason called her. He walked over to her and gave her a big hug around her neck and told her it was ok she didnt mean too. We took her back to the rescue two days later and she now has a Great home with an older couple who has no kids or grandkids.
Was this an unprovoked attack?? It truely may seem that way. And that is what we though for the first day afterward. But in hindsight here are the things that I did not tell you... Sasha was laying on the couch with a rawhide bone. AJ and Oso Were on opposite ends of the couch watching her eat her bone and us dealing with Mason. Mason was crying and may have possibly put and elbow across her nose when he tried to sit up and get away from me.
Knowing what I know now I could have changed one of the things listed above and maybe this would not have happened. Do I hate bullmastiffs now because of what happened to my son?? No Am I more cautious around them? yes to a certain exent. Am I a bad parent because this happned to my son?? I dont believe soo. My father however will never accept Morph because he is a Matiff and he belives that all Mastiffs are the same. My dad looks at Masons face and sees a vicious dog that attacked his grandon. I look at Masons face and see a mistake that I made by not being aware of my surroundings and a wonderful dog that was forced out of our lives by that mistake. I firmly belive that you can not judge the Breed you can only judge the actual dog. And yes accidents do happen but sometimes as in my situation you have to look at what was going on in the BIG picture.
This is just my personal experience and my views. Please dont take offence to anything that I have said as it was not meant that way. I agree with Jenn that I still love all dogs and always will.
Here is a pic of my beautiful girl Sasha. She was a full blooded Long Haired red Bullmastiff. Before we got her she was hit by a car and broke her jaw. That is why her tongue hangs out of her mouth that way.