I take the same precautions with my female bullmastiff. She does not have an aggressive bone in her body, gets along famously with our cat, allows my children to hug her, poke her, and prod her with endless patience. She has been to obedience classes and mutiple to vet’s offices for an allergy problem, and she is beloved by all for her sweet temperament.
However, when she is around other dogs, particularly the typical out-of-control, yapping toy dog with a Napoleon complex, I keep Maggie on leash and as distant as possible. I was asked by one of these numbskull owners one time why I wouldn’t let Maggie play, and my response was “If something goes wrong, the big dog always gets blamed.”
““If something goes wrong, the big dog always gets blamed.””
Sadly, that is often the case. The larger breeds, even the gentle giants, get a bad rap, and the smaller breeds are often cast as the helpless victim of the “big bad dog”.
My American Mastiff is very gentle, and my husband trained him from 7 weeks old to never ever put his teeth on a person anywhere. He can actually close his flews over his teeth when taking a treat from fingers.
On the other hand, I have to say that I saw him get protective, moving to between me and a man, for no reason I could determine. I have to believe my dog knew better than I. In any case, he didn’t even growl but the man got the message somehow. Must be a guy thing.
On the other hand, I had a minpin for 15 years, she just passed away last December. She was 7 or 8 when we got the mastiff as a 7 wks puppy from the breeder, and she mothered him, and actually housebroke him for us. It all depends on the small dog, too. My daughter’s little bichon was very playful, and he and the mastiff got along. Nobody was aggressive, in these instances, and all of them had learned how to play with another animal.