sorry I suck at replying. Bonded in foster care, no relation at all!

 

Not a good week for my kitties. Last Saturday, we took both cats in for their annual wellness exams and rabies shots. Of course, they protested and growled (Max) but they were better than usual. Princess has been limping in recent months but the vet, a senior cat specialist, found nothing amiss and suggested a baby asprin every 3-4 days for pain. Dental work and a shave down was needed so we took them back yesterday for that. Well, during the shave down, the groomer found a growth on Princess's right rear leg. I decided to have it removed and biopsied ... the results won't come back for 5-7 week days. But in the meantime, she has to wear a collar to prevent her from pulling out the stitches. She is miserable.
I finally got her to asleep early this AM and hope she adjusts. (this is ) Counting the days until the stitches come out!

 

Since thanksgiving I have been making the effort to find another mastiff.
Since both Barb and work we've been looking at rescuing older dogs that have already been house trained.
I found one that a breeder in upstate was selling. She had had one litter and was being "retired" from breeding.
I got excited as this might be the answer and after trading emails for several weeks, I honestly thought I'd be taking a long drive today to go pick her up.
.... then I read the reviews/complaints about this breeder.

sigh. you wouldn't think it would be this hard.

 

Barbara, miserable babies make mom unhappy. I get it. That's a long time to wear a collar. Is it a plastic one? I've seen soft ones advertised that seem like they'd work just as well. I only had to use the collar on one of my German Shepherds.


Jerry, it is hard to get a rescue. I wanted a rescued Siamese but finally have up and bought a kitten. BTW, I'm curious about the reviews/comlpaints about the breeder. Would it make the dog bad?



^Feb. 28, 2014.

 

Patty,
If rescue was viable I would do it. but we just haven't found the fit with the right dog, a young, BIG mastiff, preferably male.
Most of the rescues are older dogs that seem to have health issues which is why the owners gave them up.
Either that or have aggression issues because the previous owners were idiots and didn't train the dog correctly when it was young.
The last thing I need is a 200 lb aggressive dog with bad habits.

I don't know how much you follow breeding.
Whereas in humans inbreeding is considered bad, it is a relative common practice among dog breeders.
The advantage and problem is traits get magnified. You can use this to get a better dog but you also have to make sure you 'cull out the bad.
If a breeder continues to breed with "bad stock" i.e. using animals with known problems it weakens the breed instead of improving it.
When this occurs you wind up with a lot of weak and unhealthy dogs.
There is also the question of what age you breed the animals at.
While they can technically get pregnant at their first heat, it is best to let them get a little older and see their attributes as a full adult and then make the decision if this dog should be bred.
Mastiffs don't really finish maturing until they are 3 years old.
The breeder had a lot more complaints of dogs dying at an early age than I would have expected. Her reported response was not what one would call positive.
There were also parts of her website that made me uncomfortable. Her reaction to my questions about the health and behaviors also made me uncomfortable.
I'm sure there are always to sides to each story but the collective of all of it, caused me to pull back and it's not just the economics of it.
I don't want to become emotionally vested in a dog only to have it die after a year. it just hurts too much to say goodbye.

 

Jerry, I'm glad to learn that you communicated with the breeder. If it feels icky it is icky.

 

In the last day or so I've had conversations with some other folks in the mastiff community.
The breeder in question definitely has a problem with epilepsy in her lines.
Definitely not something I want to deal with but......

ooh ooh ooh Pending development... stay tuned....

that is all for now.

 

With two kittens in the house, my old girl, Crystal, is always growling at the young'ns to move away from her. For the second time in a few months, I took her with me to my trailer at Kennedy Meadows. I'm still surprised at how much she likes being outside exploring and rolling in the sand. She was a happy camper.

^3-14-2014.

 

Really nice, Patty!!

 

I agree.