How do you socialize an adult mastiff?

[TxHorseMom]

I finally got my English Mastiff! My plans changed and instead of a 10 week puppy, I got an older puppy. He is beautiful and 20mths old. Unfortunately, he was not socialized at all with people. He is very shy with adults, but is great with my 2 y/o granddaughter and our other dogs (supervised of course) He was kept in a 10 x 10 kennel outside by himself. He IS leash trained (fortunately) but that's about it. We are working on "come" with a lunge line and he wears a leash at all times so he doesn't run from us in the house. He is very mellow and sweet. Doesn't have a mean bone in his body, but is very shy. He fear pees in the house, but we just ignore that and clean it up. (hurray for tile floors!) I want to give him a couple of weeks to settle in, then he needs some major socialization. Problem is, we are about 20 miles from town, which is a small town itself. There are no parks that I know of, because it is a very rural community. We have 35 acres and that is considered a small hobby farm. Other than taking to the vet, does anyone have any suggestions for socializing him?

Also, I am a firm believer in crate training. He of course has never been in a crate. I attempted to feed him in a crate this morning and after wrestling him in, he just stood there for an hour. Didn't touch his food. Wouldn't sit down or even lay down. Any suggestions?

He goes to the vet tomorrow for his shots and heartworm check and preventitive. Also to schedule his brain surgery aka neutering. I found out this morning the the previous owner didn't take him for his shots because he couldn't get him in his truck. I don't want to bust on this guy too much, because he at least knew we could give him a better home than he could. Not everyone can/will admit that, so kudos for him for that anyway.

 

[Cody]

Sounds like you have your work cut out for you.
I would suggest making those trips, and just hanging out with him in town. But keep an eye on him, don't let him be mobbed by too many as he could snap in fear.
Any farm supply stores/pet shops, if you have a groomer in the area you could go into, and training classes. They are great for socialization as well.
Make sure to have a pocket full of GREAT treats and give them to people to give to him, try to make meeting people the best thing ever.
If he is being fearful just ignore and continue to do what ever it is you are doing. It is hard but don't comfort him, no soft tones when afraid.
Just keep working at it and good luck.
Glad he is in a better situation. With your work he will come around.

 

[Marrowshard]

What Cody said. We also live out in the boondocks (though not as far as you do). I try to drive out to the next large-ish town at least once a week to take Eb to the park there. It's a small park, but there's a short "wilderness" trail for some solitude if she's having an off day and a playground. We try to hit the overcast days or go in the mornings when there won't be as many people with dogs there. It's much easier to handle her around the occassional dog-walker than with the hordes of after-school/work people. If there are kids in the playground, we'll usually chill out under the nearby pavillion and just kind of "people watch". Sometimes parents bring their kids over to pet the doggie, and in that relaxed setting she seems to do really well.

If the drive-to-a-park thing isn't feasible (understandable, the drive gets tedious for me and I've only got half as far to go), you could try to organize a few dog-owning neighbors to do walks together. Dogs that "travel" together are mimicing pack behavior, it seems to help de-stress meetings when everyone's mobile.

I'm sure he'll do fine ... we're continuing to work on our adoptee's social skills but we've also had to admit to ourselves that she's just not going to be reliably dog-friendly.

~Marrow

EDIT:
Regarding the crating troubles ... we also crate our Bullmastiff anytime we're away from the house or sleeping. She was fortunately used to being in a kennel, but to help get her used to staying in there and being quiet we brought in a blanket she'd already been cozy with on the floor and a couple of familiar toys. If we feel we need to distract her while she's crated, we give her a Kong stuffed with either peanut butter or that canned Kong Stuff'n. With that thing in her mouth she doesn't care where she is or what's going on around her. Have you tried giving your boy a "puzzle"-type food toy that he has to work at? We left Eb's crate as "her" space. We filled it with her favorite things and she started using it without being asked. Maybe your pup just doesn't feel comfortable there yet, and a favorite blanket or stuffed toy might do the trick. Best of luck.

 

[TxHorseMom]

Thanks for those suggestions. We do have a TSC and there is a groomer across the street from our vet. There is a petsmart in another town about 40 miles away, near where hubby works. Any suggestions for crate training? He is pretty good once he is wrestled in there. Doesn't try to get out, but getting him in in the first place is the hard part. Lol. Marrow, I thinkwe were typing at the same time. Thanks. He doesn't have a favorite toy yet. He doesn't know what to do with them.
Good news! Tank is heartworm negative!! He got his shots and has started hw preventive for the first time.

 

[Marrowshard]

Sigh of relief on the negative heartworm test! Ebony doesn't actually play with her toys, but the shelter we adopted her from gave us a couple she'd had in her kennel there. One she completely ignores, the other she takes to and from her crate. She brings it to people when they visit, but she never plays with it. She'll deliver it to my hand, then wander off like "mission accomplished" and it's the first thing she goes to look for if we forget and leave it out at night. If he's not playing, per se, maybe just a stuffed toy with scent all over it. If he's got separation/fear issues it might really help to have something that smells a lot like his human pack.

Don't know what to tell you about him not eating his dinner in the crate ... if it were my mother giving advice she'd say "he'll eat when he's hungry". I'd say just leave the crate door open with the food inside. Eventually, his tummy will win.

Agreed about having tile/wood in the house. Saved us much trouble from hairballs, slobber, and the random territorial pee from our cat.

~Marrow

 

[Little Monster]

Be careful with the big guy, sometimes taking a shy dog in a public place like a store or groomer too soon can make him hate it even more. Be sure to pick a time to go when you know there wont be a lot of people there. I am definitely not a behaviorist, but I imagine at this age and considering his past, he will never be an out going dog. You can't change that he is shy, it's a little too late for that. He missed out on all the first key cycles of life from 4 weeks to 12 months. What you will have to do is teach him that it isn't all that bad to be around people. He may never like strangers coming up to pet him, but you can teach him that people walking around is not a bad idea and that he needs to at least tolerate it. I would consider putting a vest on him that says "In training, don't pet" for a while so people know to not invade his space. I think it will be very important for him to see people and not be touched for a while. Once he is comfortable with the sounds of people and commotion, take him out during busier times so he sees more people. Then, once he is comfortable with that bring treats. Have people approach him with food. Don't let them pet him, just let them give him treats. He will eventually start to associate people approaching as a good thing and will look forward to approaching people. Then very slowly, allow people to touch him but only a little at a time. Read his body language, if he is leaning away, ask them to stop. Watch his ears, they are a great way to read a dog. Don't push him and try not to correct him with people, just don't give him the room to mess up. Praise, praise, praise when he is being good for people.

 

[TxHorseMom]

Well, we took him to petsmart this weekend and he did really well. He was very nervous at first and peed on the floor. After we cleaned it up, we mostly walked around the store, let him sniff people if he wanted to. No one was allowed to pet him yet. (I could tell he wasn't ready for that yet) We met a very nice clerk there who fosters mastiffs and we are going to come back on a weekday when it's not so busy and have the workers give him treats (if he seems ready). We were there for about an hour, bought him 2 new collars, some treats, a huge cow hoof to chew on and some toys. By the time we were ready to leave he was much calmer and you could tell he had more confidence. Head up, tail up etc. He also jumped into the back of the explorer himself instead of my son having to lift him up! He was praised mightily for that one! Also, today I was able to get him into the crate myself for his breakfast. I just took his collar as if I was walking him, showed him the food, sorta shoved the food bowl to the back of the crate and gave the command "go to bed". I can't say he immediately walked right in, but almost!! Believe me, there is no way I could "make" him go in there physically. I can honestly say, the longer we have him, the more confident I am that he is going to work out. He's even trying to play with us some. I am going to give him some more time to settle in before we take him out to socialize some more, but he is making great strides in leaps and bounds!

 

[Marrowshard]

Oh well done! That's fantastic news! I'm glad he's making such good progress. PetSmart is great that way ... most of the employees are smart enough not to overstimulate your pet and there's enough floor space to keep dogs from tripping over each other.

Ebony LOVES cow hooves. We spent a long time finding a safe, durable chewie for her and it looks like cow hooves have won.

Keep up the good work!

~Marrow