Lab or mastiff?

Which breed does your dog tend to act like more? I have done a lot of research and they all say pretty much the same thing that with the mix of breeds you can get characteristics of either breed and that you might even get the worst of both?....what do you think about it?

I might be getting a Mastador.....

Hello, I need a little help. I am looking into getting a dog. I love big dogs so I am leaning more twards those breeds. We already have a 9mo boxer and he is spoiled rotten. (all my fault) I also have kids from school age to 1 year. I found a Mastador at my local Animal Shelter she is only 5 weeks old and they said I would have to wait two weeks before I could take her home. So I am using this time to make sure she would be the right pet for our family. Are they good with kids and other dogs? How large do most Mastadors get? I know how big labs are and I have researched Mastiffs but there really wasnt anything other then your site about the mixed breeds of the two? Could you give me a little over site and let me know what you think of one of them beautiful dogs joining our large family of 7 including our boxer. So lots of kids and other animals.Thanks
-- Heather

Confused

Buford can't seem to decide which type of ears he would like to have. Most of the time when we are inside they are down but when I walk him outside they both stand straight up (he looks like a rabbit). This picture was taken right after a long walk so I guess he was in some sort of transition mode. He does often walk around with one up and one down. I think it looks pretty funny. Does anyone else's dog do this?

Rocco's latest mishap

Well, Rocco ran into an SUV today. Yep... He didn't get hit. He hit the car. I wasn't exactly sure what was going on in his mind since I didn't see any animal, though he could have seen a squirrel.

Anyway, the car was already coming up the road and Rocco was beside me in our yard so I wasn't worried. But then he just ran into the street and smack into the side of the car. The driver stopped and I apologized. I said my silly dog ran into her, she didn't hit anything. The car was fine, so was Rocco. Though he looked kind of sheepish afterward.

I know we are very lucky he didn't get injured. Things could have been much worse!

Welcome Buster!

I'm posting this for the owner of Buster. Mark, I asked the person to e-mail you if they want to blog. Anyway, this is Buster, at 13 months old. He looks huge. When I get more info I'll post more up.

Here's another photo of Buster, at 4 months old.

He's a French Mastiff and Lab mix. He's a tiger brindle and lives with his family (mom, dad, 2 kids and 2 cats, which he adores). The family lives in Scotland. Buster was last weighed at 7 mths old and was about 38 kg (83 lbs). He cant be far off 57 kg now (which makes it a whopping 125 lbs!). He's very powerful, has a lot of muscle mass but is very friendly.

Bali

This is a photo of Bali, a brindle mastador pup. I'm posting this up for the owner until she gets her own blogging thing set up. :)

(check out the muscles in her back legs! wow!)

"Here is the pic of my brindle mastador pup. Bali is 16 weeks old and about 30lb. She came from a litter that had two brindles, two blacks, and a fawn with black mask."

Buford is 4 1/2 months old now and 40 lbs. I think I can finally say he is housebroken! He knows how to sit, lay down, and shake but he still isn't warming up to the idea of walking on a leash. We are going to a trainer this weekend.

I think Moosey asked about different color mastadors. If you are curious about what different colors look like try going to www.petfinder.com and search for mastiffs (most are mixes). Some mastadors will come up in tan and brown and mixtures of multiple colors (I search for FL). This is also a good way to find a mastador if anyone is looking b/c it searches all the local shelters in your area.

I have also tried the bone pieces with marrow for Buford and he seemed to enjoy it (I boiled it first). If anyone is looking for good treats I recommend Marrobone by Pedigree I think. Buford LOVES those treats and will do pretty much anything to get one. They make training a lot easier.

Good treat alternatives

Instead of buying expensive, processed biscuits, you can give your dog carrots and apples as treats. Just don't give them apple seeds since the seeds, like seeds of many other fruits, contain trace amounts of cyanide. (Yes, so it's bad for you, too). Although, eating one apple and all its seeds won't do much harm to you or your dog. Just avoid them to be safe.

Rocco loves carrots and apples. I don't give him too much though, because I'm afraid too much of the fruits and veggies will upset his stomach. Just like it will upset mine.

I've read on various web posts that dogs seem to like regular carrots over baby carrots. Since I buy baby carrots for myself, I haven't given Rocco any regular ones, but I might try that next time I go to the store.

Also, does anyone feed their dogs raw chicken? I'll have to ask the vet next time we go, but I've seen on a lot of mastiff breeder sites that they feed their puppies and dogs raw chicken (plus bone). The say raw, the bone doesn't splinter. And the raw meat is good for dogs.

I know a dog's stomach is much stronger than humans, so they can overcome salmonella in ways we can't. I've given Rocco raw chicken only a few times and he seems to love them and had no issues. Again, I can't be sure.

I've also read that you can give your dog cooked cow bones -- like from the leg. There's good marrow in there, and after they get that out, they have a safe bone to chew on. I've made this for Rocco several times (I just boil the bones for about 20 minutes). He loves the bones and just keeps playing with them and trying to chew them long after any marrow is gone. And the bone doesn't seem to wear down much at all. I just replace the bone when I think it's time. Pretty arbitrary though.

Webbed toes -- not just for ducks

Sorry the photo isn't so good, but it's hard to get a photo of the webbed toes. It's easier to just feel between your dog's toes and see if they are webbed. If they are webbed, you'll feel like a piece of skin between each toe. If you spread the toes out, you can feel that the webbing joins almost from the tips of the toes.

Spreading out

Jake lies like this often so I decided that it would be kinda funny to take shots of him with my Treo every time he lies like this. I'm going to link the homepage image to this post. Hope it looks funny over time.

Rocco, at his finest

Here's a couple of photos of Rocco doing what he does best.

A lot of black mastadors

I'm just curious, but has anyone seen any other color mastador? Most of the ones I've seen online seem to be mastiff and a black lab mix. Although like I said, when we got Rocco at the SPCA, they said he was with his brother. And that dog had a tan body with a black face. But I don't see many non-black mastadors. Curious if anyone else has seen different colors. I know mastiffs come in many colors -- apricot, brindle and even "blue" and labs have many colors, too.

Also, after doing a bit of research, I found that they say in a lot of black lab mixes, the dog will have a white chest and either some white hairs on their toes or white-tipped toes. They say that is left over from a now-extinct breed, the St. John's Water Dog. It's actually the ancestor of modern retrievers and, likely the Newfoundlands. I just thought it was interesting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._John's_Water_Dog

Also does everyone's mastador have the webbed toes of a lab?

Mastadors are Bomb

Guys Mastadors are awsome. They may be big and intimidating but they are lovable, playful, and great with kids. They do need attention though. Without excercise they will get hyper and start to destroy everything. so if you think of getting a mastador do it, you will never regret it.

Darwin

My husband and I purchased Darwin fairly soon after our 13 year old dog had to be put down due to cancer and other ailments due to aging. We didn't want to get another dog so soon but our 4 year old Chihuahua (Pedro) was in such a deep depression that we knew we had to get him a playmate.

We began searching for a Mastador and didn't have any luck finding a puppy. We noticed an ad for a Mastidane and called the number and they still had 2 boys and 1 girl. We wanted a boy so we drove out and looked at the pups. As soon as we got in the kennel with them, Darwin came up and kissed me with such love that it was all over. He had my heart.

Darwin is 11 weeks old and weighs 31 pounds. He's 100% PUPPY!!! It took Pedro a few days to get used to him but now they play chase and "let's see who can keep taking the toy away". Pedro is only 7 pounds but he rules the roost.

Darwin rotates from toy to toy to toy to toy....if you get my drift. He is an escape artist also. We bought an indoor kennel that is supposed to be a "play area". Well, Darwin manages to push the door open and get out. We barricaded arround the door and he just moves it out of the way and gets out. But the good news is that when he does get out, all he does is go in the living room and play with his toys. He doesn't destroy anything or use the bathroom anywhere. Darwin has only had 3 or 4 accidents since being with us. He's pp'd on the ceramic tile but never on the carpet. He poops outside only. He's awesome.

Although Darwin is considered a mixed breed and not recognized by the AKC, his breed is recognized by the Hybrid Association. Not that I care who recognizes him. He's our baby and part of the family!!

Thanks for letting me be part of this site!

Sasha the Mastador on Easter Sunday...

http://houstonryan.deviantart.com/art/Sasha-the-Mastador-Dog-2-80854967

Sasha's mother was a mastiff, her father is a black lab...

Buford Update

Buford is almost four months old now. He is looking more and more like a dog and less like a puppy. He probably weighs close to 30 lbs. now I would guess. One of our friends recently came across Buford's sister at the dog park. We plan on going to try to meet up with them. If we do we will definetly tell them about this site. I'm sending in a couple picutres we took last night of him.

Mastador Open Post: For Sale / Wanted/Questions

Mastador Open Post: For Sale/Wanted/Questions

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Sasha the Mastador

Print available at
http://www.deviantart.com/print/2840971/

Her mother is a Mastiff and father is a Black Lab

Rocco, black mastador

We got Rocco from the Maryland SPCA in January 2007. He was three months old then and 35 lbs. He's now about 96 lbs, but the vet says he should lose some weight.

Rocco is not a very large mastador. We're not certain what breed of mastiff he has. The SPCA says he was a neopolitan mastiff mixed with a lab. Rocco certainly has the loose skin, but not very wrinkley. He's a mostly black dog with brown highlights, a white chest and some white hairs on the tips of his toes. He has a brother (who we were unable to get). The brother was more mastiff colored -- brown body with black mask on his face. We often wonder where his brother is and if they will ever meet at the dog park one day.

-- Moosey (Rocco's favorite stuffed toy)

Jake

Jake was born June 10th 2006. His mother was a pure bread Black Labrador and father a Mastiff. I picked up Jake in August of 2006 as a 9 week puppy for my daughters birthday. He cost the price of the vet fees, $100). It was a hard decision for me because it took 2 years for me to consider getting another dog after my 14 year old Akita, Max passed. If I didn't have kids, I would have chosen another Akita, although I would have been just trying to replace Max.

At 9 weeks old Jake looked just like a Black Lab puppy. He had more of a square muzzle like an English Lab. When we picked up Jake my children were 3, 9, and 11 years old. From then until now he has never had any aggression towards my kids or and other person. He gets along with other canines, loves to chase deer and squirrels, and spends lots of time looking in the air at birds. He has not had professional training, and for the first year and a half, we had problems with him wandering, or chasing deer and not coming back. Now, almost at 2 years we have not had any problems, and although he runs loose with me at work, he always keeps an eye on me, and comes back if I am not in sight. He has always been a shop dog, and although some people are pensive when they see him, he only wants to greet them with play.

I can let him out in the morning to urinate and if he sees deer, he now knows not to chase them, even though he wants to. He will only defecate in the woods at home and at work. He doesn't pull on a leash, and if not distracted will come on demand. It is a different case if he is preoccupied. Its like trying to get my kids attention when they are playing the Wii, when I call him when he analyzing the markings of another canine. He loves to fetch ball, frisbee, or stick, and doesn't bug me all day to do so. After a 10 min workout he is satisfied with a day long nap until another workout in the afternoon. I have been told by other Black Lab owners that he is not hyper like Labs. He love to sleep near the fireplace or wood burning stove. He likes to sleep at night next to my bed on a pad. Eats once in the morning and once in the evening. Food doesn't seem to be a priority, although if presented with something to fetch, he would play in a moments notice. He has droopy joules like a Mastiff, and gets the trademark drooling when playing or in presence of food. Takes a while to get use to, especially when it flips over his muzzle. One strange thing he does is when he lies down, he stretches on his stomach, crosses his front legs and stretches out his rear legs by pointing them straight back. He has done this since a puppy.