MOK79

Hi Guys / Gals

Just wondering if anyone has/had them. We are very close to buying a pup and just want to check what people on here have to say about them. We have done quite a bit of research and met quite a few and all in all we haven't been able to fault anything.

Can any of you guys second that ????

248SPG

Some very close friends of mine had one.

The only down side was the slobber when: eating, drinking, getting excited - Well pretty much ALL the time

Could not fault it in any other department an absolutely gorgeous dog!!!

Good luck with yours

Steve

MOK79

Cheers Steve

Yeah the slober was the only thing but we are used to it as we have a slobbering Shar Pei too .

STi Lou

Meant to have great temperaments and be very good guard dogs from what I've heard, think they are prone to bloat (gastric torsion) so that is something to research and be aware of as it's frequent in large breeds and often fatal.
Good luck with your new pup

Jamo

iTrader: (23)

lovely dogs, but they grow very large and very strong, and need at least 1 hours walking every day!! id love one, but one huge dog in the house is enough for me

HUDDERS1

lovely dogs mate plenty of exercise, don't forget pet insurance.

paulwrxboro

I know 2 people who bred them both died in labour....one one on millenium eve . with the vet out all night £££££££££££££££££

Luan Pra bang

A friend has two they are massive very strong and need LOADS of walking. Not for the faint harted and if you don't walk him/her they will destroy your house.

MOK79

Went back to see them last night and the eldest has twisted my arm to go for it. So here's a couple of pics :-

The one on the left is the one we are getting

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y45/mok79/06062008.jpg

And this is the dad

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y45...9022008002.jpg

STi Lou

Gorgeous pups, good luck with your new addition.

MOK79

thanx

248SPG

Looks gorgeous Mok!!!!

Dads a good looking boy too

Good luck and enjoy

S

MOK79

Cheers S The dad is gorgeous. His head is massive the biggest Dogue head I have ever seen . But he was really gentle and willing for fuss. Which was a good sign. And the mum was the same. Neither minded us fussing the pups. So so far all seems good.

248SPG

So when do you get to bring it home??

Any ideas on names??

S

MOK79

Pick him up Saturday morning, actually quite excited. I don't normally get excited about things either

Name wise is a bit of a debate. But the eldest wants to call him Troy and seeing as he will be kind of his dog (obviously not completely) looks like we will be going with that. Which my 8 yr old girl is over the moon with because of Troy out of High School Musical. I was thinking more of the Troy out of the film Troy

JimmyBFC

Well, we don't have a dog de bordeaux but we have an English bullmastiff, he's 7 now and struggling from bad athritis, in his heyday he was 12 stone and a very big lad, heart of gold, wouldn't hurt a fly, but could sense when something was a miss.

All I can say about the mastiff group is that they are lovely loyal dogs, the only problem we encountered with ours (diesel) was that he was too big at times...lol....fault wise, they are big dogs, they can tend to pick up infections easily, in their masks, paws etc, plus they (like ours) might have some athritis problems later in life.

My advice is go for it, but definetely have insurance.

Another piece of advice is Id go for a choker on the neck, I know this sounds a bit harsh, but if you use these on big dogs from an early age, it won't be a case of them taking YOU for a walk, ours never pulls AT ALL and is always a pleasure to walk, they can be lazy knackers though and can fart for England.....but enjoy the ownership, we love the breed.

This is ours...

MOK79

Thanx Jimmy very informative. We did think that he may be too big at times. But they seem to such gentle giants we couldn't resist. We have got a shar pei at present who is about 7 he is an absolute gentleman and we are hoping his manors will rub off on the Dogue......

JimmyBFC

They are great dogs mate, he's great with kids aswell, our 1 yr old climbs all over him, pulls his ears (when where not watching lol) and allsorts, and the poor sod just lies there and takes it...lol...when im working late, he'll even sit with the missus and the daughter as if protecting them.....tbh I don't think he has that long left, the worst part is because they are big, they only really live til 8-10 yrs old at best.

You'll be forever stopped and asked questions if out and about with them aswell, so get ready. A lot of ppl take them the wrong way because they are big, but it couldn't be further from the truth, gentle giants.

Make sure you put some pics up!

MOK79

Will do matey. I'm sure the camera will be worked hard on Saturday
Thats one of the reasons we went for the Dogue. I have 5 kids and although Frank (the shar pei) loves them to bits the moment my littlun (18mths) goes to climb on him he gets up and walks off. Which is hilarious cause she is left standing there holding her hands out as if to say "Whats wrong with you"

MOK79

Another question whats your opinions for pet insurance companies ??? Which would you reccommend

JimmyBFC

I think we are with M&S tbh mate, the premiums have creeped up though as the other year we must have raped them of 10k in bills for specialist operations, and tbalets etc, and of course, they don't have the small tabs lol....for stuff like worming I think she found cheap drontal (spel) on the net, the Vet was charging 2 x as much etc.

MOK79

Ok for the guys with a Mastiff :-

My Dogue pup is now 5months and he ***** for England. Is this normal. I mean he must go on average 5 times a day And they are big

davegtt

Might be the diet, my Bulldog used to be the same, changed his food from something at the cheaper scale to Iams and its twice a day now. Theres a few brands that are recommended by vets. basically the foods going in one end and straight out the other without any goodness going into the dog. the 5 ***** a day used to be quite soft to (i.e. close to looking like diahorria)

MOK79

I feed him "Burns" which was recommended by vet and its the food I use for my Shar Pei too.
And yeah the 5 ***** a day are soft and close to Diahorria. A change in food then.....

Alas

Hmm - just come back on here for the first time in ages. I've got a 9yr old Dogue so if you need any info then give me a PM. For all the rest who may be thinking of getting one I've known 3 and all are psychotic. There is an excuse for mine as he was a rescue at 1yr old and a lot of the craziness had been trained in by that time. If you saw the Turner and Hooch film that was not far from the truth With regard to sh*t that is not right. twice a day is about the norm. Ours is on dry food {Eukanuba) and has been all his life with no probs.
Here's mine in a quiter moment.


Cheers
Alasdair

MOK79

Thanx mate. Mine is somewhat subdued, but I think my old Shar Pei rubs off on him alot. He has his mental moments, but generally very well behaved. Having said that whats yours like with other dogs ??? Mine all of a sudden yesterday went for a Husky type dog (but much bigger) He's met him before never had any problems with other dogs. But yesterday they were sniffing each other and mine went for him. Took me by surprise. Couldn't believe it.

**** wise just spoken to Burns and they said its because i'm feeding him too much ?? He's always bloody hungry. And I don't over feed him at all.

Alas

Sounds right about the overfeeding. As regards to other dogs they are quite strange.
If at kennels mine gets on with most dogs.
If with myself and the wife he is always suspicious and guarded with other dogs. We tried to socialise him as much as possible but with his size you have to be so careful some little yappy git doesn't have a pop as he could really hurt them.
The best way I can describe it is I was walking him on a forestry walk when I met a friend of mine with his Lab. The 2 dogs sniffed, wandered round and then lost interest in each other. About an hour later we met them again and as the Lab came wandering over ours snarled, growled etc. I never can be sure on his reaction. I always have him on the lead if there is a chance of meeting other dogs though and tend to walk him in the forests around here so he can charge about.
He had lots of probs when we got him, underfed, flea infested, ticks, severe ear infection etc. He cost a fortune to the original owners and then they dumped him in a rescue home in a bad way.
He's been a nightmare at times but is hilarious and I'm glad we got him. Speaking to other owners it seems to be 1 - 2yrs old when they start to flex their muscles so be ready. I'm sure you'll enjoy every minute - well most of them
As I said just PM me if you want any more info.
Cheers
Alasdair

MOK79

Nice One

Alas

Forgot to say about the feeding. Mine only gets 2 cups of food a day + a small amount of fish/meat or vegetables in his food. I fish a lot so he gets plenty of fresh cod/mackerel/pollack etc. Nothing processed or with sauce just plain. He also gets dog biscuits twice a day(4 shapes each time and 1 Bonio)
He's been the same weight now since he was 3 yrs old as extra weight will kill these big breeds years early. Always get him weighed twice a year to see how his weight is progressing.
Good luck
Alasdair

JimmyBFC

^^

Agree, people always ask us how much he eats and are shocked when we reply, "twice per day"

MOK79; the breed do tend to be subdued, its in their nature to be peaceful dogs, lol, or the majority, they were bred as gamekeeping dogs (well our bullmastiff was) but also used as therapeutic dogs to the elderly.