This is what we call Togo's "flat puppy" position. I think it has something to do with him trying to get all the "coolness" out of the hardwood floors to his body. It is also when he is very tired and just observes the life and does not really participate. You might get a tail wag out of him if you really talk to him, but most of the time he is too far gone to wag his tail. If you offer him food it is then totally other matter - he will pounce back to life in no time. This is mostly on his mastador moods - when he is in a Labrador mood he will chase his tail for hours without any reason. During the hot summer (that is just now starting here in Georgia) we see more of the Mastador. It is way too hot during the day for him to be outside. We try to take him for walks in the late evening when the sun is setting and not so hot anymore. He absolutely loves his walks. And when we come back his treat is bowl full of ice cubes. Togo likes to eat ice versus drinking water after we come back from walks. Don't even think about putting ice cubes in his water, he thinks they are intruders in his water bowl and he just barks at them until they melt. Silly dog. But those little quirks are part of reason why we love him so much - they make Togo the lovable Mutt he is.

Happy Summer everyone

Leena

New pup in the group!

Hello! I'm new to the world of Mastadors, I recently brought my first one home. Her name is Jade, and she's 8.5 weeks old right now. She got shots yesterday, and weighed in at 16 lbs, so it looks like she'll be a pretty hefty girl! Jade's mom is an English Mastiff, dad is a Chocolate Lab/Rottweiler mix. His body type is a Lab, markings of a Rottie, color like a red Doberman. Jade got her markings from him.

Jade lives with me and Kai, my 1 yr. old male Kai Ken, in Texas.

She is independent, loves every dog and person she meets, learns quickly, and doesn't like to get in trouble. When she does, she will walk to the other side of the room, plop down, and pout! We start puppy kindergarten next week, and she's getting bigger every day, so I'm sure I'll have plenty to write about in here!

Jasmine

Introduction

Hello everyone! My name is Leena, I am Togo's Mom and I am new to this site. We live in state of Georgia, in the northern side of Atlanta, we have three adult kids (last one is graduating high school in a week) and we have Togo.

Togo was a Christmas Present to our youngest for Christmas 2006. When he came to us he was 12 weeks old and weighed 22 pounds. We got him from a Mastiff breeder in Wisconsin - they had had an "oops" litter, when their black lab male got too closely acquainted with a young female mastiff. The breeder's guess was that Togo would grow up to be about 125 lbs - and guess what, he is currently 125 lbs! Togo is still a puppy, very eager to please, very loving and affectionate - and totally unaware that he is a size of a small horse and therefor not a lap dog!

We have a blog spot page for Togo on his own, where my children also blog for him. That page is http://mistertaco.blogspot.com if you are interested in Togo's life through the eyes of all of us. I will also blog on the mastador site for updates every now and then. I should have plenty of time in my hands next year since all the kids will be out of the house. But we will have Togo.

Leena

Old Yeller - the mastador?

I have read in a couple places that the dog who played Old Yeller in the 1957 Disney movie was named Spike and he was a mastador (half yellow lab, half mastiff). Although I am not 100% sure (can't believe everything you read) Here is a video clip of the movie. I think I can see it, what do you all think?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7SnGX_x8is

Barks

Have you guys noticed two distinct barks from your mastadors?

Rocco has a very lab-like bark when he wants to play. But when he's "alert" -- like when he sees something he feels might be a danger (or if he's scared) -- he's got a very deep, mastiff-like bark that almost ends in something like a growl. It's a longer bark and drawn out.

Also, I have never heard Rocco really growl before. And he really doesn't bark too often, even when other dogs bark at him. He does bark when we tell him to "speak." Sometimes it seems like he doesn't really like barking, because when we say speak his first bark sometimes is more like a huff of air.

He's a funny dog.

Buford @ 5 months

I adopted her

I got my mastador today! We are naming her Bella. She is very cute looks more chocolate lab to me then mastiff. But we couldnt bring her home today because shes only 5 weeks. So two more weeks and will be able to love and cuddle her all we want.

heres a pic of her at the shelter.