Does anyone have any good information or personal experience with this breed of dogs? Such as their temperament with children?
I picked up a 7 week old BullMastiff puppy today with the intentions of having it as a pet for my two boys. (A 6 year old and a 2 year old)
Upon bringing this puppy home I have to admit that I knew nothing of the breed except for that it will be a large dog.
I did a little research and learned that this dog can reach 120 pounds! I'm not sure how this is going to work with having children. 120 pound dog.....small children. Those are scary numbers. Can anyone give me some information? How are they with children?
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Soap Making Mama to Mason(11.20.98) and Jacob!(11/01.02)
Not too sure about Bull Mastiffs....but we have and English Mastiff and he is awesome! He is about a year and a half old and weighs about 165 and still getting bigger. He (Clifford) is the sweetest dog with our children, ages 4 and 2. He lets them do ANYTHING to him and just lays there. I would highly recommend a mastiff to anyone! The only down point to a mastiff is the drool and a lot of it! They need little exercise other than daily walks. In fact, Clifford will lay in the middle of the street when he gets tired of walking. That's a lot of fun!!! Enjoy the puppy!!!!
My mom had a bull mastiff when I was an early teen. He was a very big, wonderful, sweet, gentle dog. That is until the day he snapped and bit my friend in the face, totally unprovoked My friend was sitting on the couch behind the dog, petting him. The dog turned, looked at him and bit him, almost severing his lip. It was awful. The dog had to be put down of course. My Mom learned after the fact that there had been quite a bit of in-breeding with bull mastiffs, and that some where likely to snap for no apparent reason.
Please do some research on your breeder!
__________________ ~Heather
Mama to my two sweet boys Carter (10!) and Owen (3),
and my sweet girl Leah Charlotte, born 12/10/03
I don't have any first hand knowledge about this, but I do distinctly remember a month or so ago a story on the news that a child had been attacked (killed) by a dog, and they believed it may have been the family's bullmastiff. Can't remember where this happened, it wasn't here locally so I'm not sure. I want to say Wisconsin maybe but I could be thinking of something else.
I would definately look into it though. Maybe you could find the news story on the web somewhere and more information about it. Since it wasn't local, there was just a two sentence blurb about it on our news.
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Christina
The Natural Newborn.com
Well, after searching the Internet and talking to people I have decided that the Bullmastiff would not be the proper pet for my family. I wish I would had taken the time to fully study this breed of dog before I jumped in head first.
She sure is a pretty dog. Maybe when the children are much much older I may feel comfortable with one. I think right now the risks are to high.
Thanks to everyone for thier replies!
Location: moving to BFE with the lady and all the wees
Posts: 5,265
hoenstly even if this dog was right for you as abreed i mean. i would suggest you take this dog back and get one from a responsible breeder or rescue. anyone who woudl sell anydog, much less a giant breed, to someone who didn't even know how big they get..welll iwon't curse but they have NO Scruples. and i would doubt the yare breedign their animals responsibly either.
good luck finding the right dog for you
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“ That child is an abomination! ... Her mother deserves a punishment greater than anything in history.
Death! It cannot come too quickly for that child or for the one who spawned her! ”
OMGoodness, yes, make sure you not only meet the parents of the next dog, but that you check the paperwork to make sure said parents are both OFA certified and free of hip and knee issues....a BIG cost, pain and concern/risk with larger breeds. As for Mastiffs in general, they can be awesome dogs, but you absolutely must get the right one. Meeting the parents, talking to the owners, seeing the line, etc. They can be sweeter than sweet, but I have seen a few vicious watch-dog type ones too. Really though, ANY dog you get you must check out thoroughly...unless a mutt. LOL. They get the both in most cases of the parents, and you don't get the nasty in-breeding issues, which cause 75% of problems in dogs.
__________________ "Custom will reconcile people to any atrocity."
George Bernard Shaw
My friend was sitting on the couch behind the dog, petting him. The dog turned, looked at him and bit him, almost severing his lip. It was awful. The dog had to be put down of course. My Mom learned after the fact that there had been quite a bit of in-breeding with bull mastiffs, and that some where likely to snap for no apparent reason. 
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