Hey Melissa,
Sorry I didn't post earlier. Life is crazy, you know?
I have a smaller mastiff, the bullmastiff. He is about 27-28" at the shoulder and weighs about 120 lbs at 2yrs old. He is the biggest couch potato! If he's outside for like 10 minutes, thats 9 too long as far as he's concerned, unless he's in the pool. Then again, I live in Flordia so it's too hot for me!
Jager gets glucosamine every morning to help prevent hip/joint issues. The breeder I got him from had started him on it has a wee-giant puppy. I do force him to walk with me occasionally. We' go about a mile and it's like walking with a steam-engine! Socialization is huge though! Jager didn't get as socialized as I would have liked (my fault). He's pretty good but does get excited with new people and will sometimes jump.
We have a 5-6 month old kitten. Jager can take him or leave him. We brought him as a pup with an adult cat (Stitch tolerated Jager). When we had her put down we got another adult cat, they didn't get along either. The kitten, totally fearless! They play together, chew on each other, share food. It's crazy, annoying, and cute. It all depends on the animals.
Pros and Cons? Geez I could go all day. Just kidding! Pros are that you have HUGE loving puppy kisses when you come home. Most "large breed" toys and food are the near the same cost as the small toys and food. Friends are always fascinated and wanna play with him. Sometime I can get them to dog sit for me here! Jager loves my 18 month old niece! If she's here and cries he gets very worried and protective of her. It's just too bad that she's allergic, otherwise I'd be having pics of my "babies" together. Cons are that vet bills can get high. Same with boarding. You can't just move into anywhere either. I was looking at a townhome when Jager was about 6 mos old. I was told full-grown he couldn't be over 17". I was debating about just saying he was a monster and a freak of nature but I live in an actual house with a fenced yard that is full of "land mines," which can be another con. Big dog. Big poop. Not always good with kids running around you know?
Honestly, with the all the cons of a big dog, no less the "beast" I wouldn't trade him for a million dollars. I love him to death! He's a tough dog. Like a freakin' tank!
I have a couple of books on mastiffs/bullmastiff that your welcome to. Obviously I made my educated choice (which kudos for doin research!) and love it! Oh one more thing: they fart and snore. Their farts can be killer, most times SDB (silent but deadly) sometimes your can hear them. Thankfully I'm sick and can't smell but he just ripped one next to me. He's cleared my house before! Seriously 6 of us were standing outside for like 10 mins trying to breathe! Snoring isn't too bad though. It's cute and I can easily ignore it, which is A LOT easier to ignore than the barking.
Sorry for the numerous pics. I'm a proud mommy!!