Big Paws Only Dog Forums

AWWW,  she is adorable.  I love her big head!!

Great pictures.  Kedge is growing so fast!

I brought Gunner in for his weigh in and 1 year check-up and this woman asked what breed he was. 
Her question was more of a statment,"He looks like a mastiff, maybe bullmastiff mixed with something, maybe pitbull."
I respond with, "he is a mastiff....(didnt get to finish my sentence and she replies) He looks to be a bit poorly bred because he is awful small for a mastiff, maybe he is mixed with a lab.
I reply with he is a mastiff mix, english/bullmastiff.
Her, "oh, goodness, your poor baby.  his parents must have awful conformation. 
I hope you didnt pay too much for him.
I asked her what makes her say that, she says he doesnt have a full black mask, he is small(his mother,bully, only weighes between 100-125 lbs) his nose is too long, his ears are too long and arent black.  He just doesnt have the stock to be a beautiful majestic mastiff.
I then replied with....we actually picked him because he didnt have a full mask, it set him apart from his siblings, his mom is small, but dad is huge 200+lbs and if he stays small, Im ok with that,  just as long as he is healthy and happy.   I dont care if you dont think he is beautiful or majestic, he loves me and I love him.
 We didnt get him to be a show dog or arm candy, he is a companion and family member.  I dont pick my pets for others approval.
She says,  you should care because you dont know what health issues may come up with him being mixed.  WHAT???
I told her, unless she was an expert and a reputable breeder of mastiffs, she need not speak to me any longer.
I was PI$$ed and surprised I didnt tell her to ram it!
The nerve of some people!!!!



On another note, my small mastiff mix at 1 year old weighs in at 110lbs...down 5 since we have started him on raw feeding.  Vet says for the next month, to bring him in for weekly weigh ins so we can adjust his food to support his growth.
Vet says he is perfect where he is, losing t he 5 lbs was ok since he is only 1 year old and still growing.  he doesnt want him to be overweight at all, not even by 5 lbs. but doesnt want him losing any more weight either.
I was totally surprised that he supported raw feeding as one of the other vets there doesnt and is very against it,
He says, as long as the pup and parents are healthy and happy and getting the proper nutrution he doesnt like to butt heads.  He says to keep on doing everything we are doing with Gunner, that he is a healthy, well mannered and trained boy with a wonderful personality.
I think I like this guy....lol!

Im not sure if dogs have lymph nodes in thier arm pit areas like humans do but that could be one and if it is it could be because she has an infection going on some where.
When my Akita gets her eye infections and when she developed a cyst over her eye the lymph nodes on her neck would swell.  They felt like almonds only a little bit larger.
It could be nothing, but I would see the vet just to be safe.

I have mentioned the aggression issues between Kira and my daughter's chi and how for awhile my husband and Millie had issues.
Well, we sought help from a trainer/Behaviorist and found out that she has quite the napoleon complex but were able to semi-fix her biting issues.  basically,  she doesnt like kids and doesnt want to be handled by them. PERIOD!
She likes smaller dogs but becomes psychotic with the bigger ones, much to the detriment of her own life.
The trainer called me this am and has given his recommendation .
He said that there is no doubt that our family loves her but 1) we have a younger child, as  well as her friends who are over all the time and 2) we have 2 BP's that she hates,  although Gunner thinks she is just playing with him.

He said that keeping her in our household will likely make her more aggressive due to the fact that what stresses her most is not going away, IE Kira, and that as good as Kira is one day she will snap and Millie may not survive that.
He has recommended rehoming her.  My heart is breaking.
He said he has a young woman with other Chi's that he would like to set up a meeting with to see how she does.

Im going to go ahead with it, as it isnt fair to Millie or our other pups to be locked away from us when they all want to be with us but, for Millie to just out of no where, fly off the couch and attack a sleeping Kira unprovoked just cant happen anymore.

Kira has become a little withdrawn the last couple of weeks as the attacks have gotten more frequent.
Yesterday, Kira had her whole body in her mouth and if my son hadnt grabbed Kira's head she would have started that head shake and turned Millie into a rag doll.
I NEVER imagined this would turn out so bad.  I honestly thought with training she would turn around. 
The trainer said that 5 weeks of training really isnt enough but at this point Millie is in danger and so is Kira especially since she has become depressed.

I am meeting with them in a few hours, I hope I can do this.
I called our vet for a second opinion, as she has witnessed millie attack Kira and she said that she thinks the trainer is making the right recommendation .

GAHHHHH, this day started out with laughs and smiles with my kids but now im a complete mess.







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Thank you all so much for the support.  It means alot to have people who understand what it means to have to make the decision to give up a pet, a pet that we consider a family member.

Millie has a new home as of 3 pm this afternoon.  We met at the girl's house, her suggestion, so I could see who and where Millie would be living.
She has a very nice home with LOTS of toys and a huge backyard, 2 other chi's as well as a pappy and a french bulldog which Millie gets along with so far.
Millie took to her quickly but when I got up to leave,  she ran to the door ahead of me and that is when the tears came.
I know she will be taken care of there, I could see that in how well she takes care of her other babies.
I told the older kids and they are ok with it.  They rather that she live some where else and be safe.
Now I just have to tell Baileigh,  even though Millie bit her several times, she still loves that dog.
So, im gonna buy her , her favorite ice cream and tonight after dinner(she has dance classes tonight, so she wont be home till later) we will tell her and we can bawl in ice cream together.
I have told Logan and Tyler as well as my husband that we will NOT be bringing another pet into this home until after Kira's days with us,  even though this is not Kira's fault.  It's just too hard.

I must have missed why he is going in.  Healing smoochies to you big guy.

I see the Akita in there, but the coat looks shorter than Kira's and she is a fb akita and she isnt a wooley either but like someone else said it's hard to really tell coat texture in the picture.
Whatever he is, he is a handsome boy!