Is it weird that I have "size envy" of those of you with pure DDBs? :-)

[Nik]

Don't get me wrong I absolutely adore my Diesel and rescuing my 1/2 DDB 1/2 pit mix pup is the best decision I ever made. He is a wonderful loving stubborn little clown and makes my heart feel more full then I ever thought possible.

But I think I may suffer of "size envy". I religiously weigh diesel every weekend and while most of my family and friends who are oddly "small dog ppl" (something I will never understand) keep exclaiming how huge he is getting I am secretly lamenting how tiny and petite he is. An odd thought coming from a petite 5 ft tall woman (I can admit I'm a weird one) and I suffer some guilt over this size envy.

But I really had hoped he would end up DDB size and not pit size - as it is it seems like he will fall somewhere in the middle. We aren't quite 5 months old yet and we are now 41 lbs.

Still petite as he may be I still think he is quite a handsome guy.

Unfortunately he still hates having his picture taken. The little scamp.

And yet even with all the photo torture I put him through he is still wonderfully forgiving and loving... Lots of puppy kisses for me and everyone else always <3

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[karennj]

I know how you feel but for me I feel like it is worse because I have a great dane and they are supposed to be huge. Bear is still a puppy but I still feel like I need to explain to people he is only 15months when they ask if he is full blooded dane. It is kind of an insult I guess that they think he is a mix because he is not huge. At the end I think he probably will end up just average size which is completely fine for me. I actually don't want a gigantic Dane because I feel like the smaller ones do better health/joint wise. Plus he is short enough to not be able to reach the back of the counters yet and i kind of like that! Anyway, people get mastiffs partly because they like large dogs. Your pup will be whatever size it is meant to be and even if he is on the small size people will still be afraid of him because the way he looks. I am not scared of a lot of dogs but I am weary of strange pits no matter what the size.

My sister has a full blood pitbul. She was the largest pup of the litter and now she is TINY as an adult. Literally the smallest pit I have ever seen. Her parents are a good size so even with pureblood, you can still get the odd one here and there.

 

[DDSK]

It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog

 

[DDSK]

I just thought of another analogy but I might get banned if I use it here

 

[my6katsrule]

I think he is super cute you can see the playfullness in his eyes

 

[Nik]

Karenjj - that is a very good point about the health. Anything that keeps my diesel healthier is certainly a blessing

DDSK - lol I can imagine! Analogies are fun

My6katsrule - thanks!! He really is a playful loving little clown.


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[Nik]

Still suffering of size envy but at 8 months he is almost 65 lbs (64.5 lbs). Am still hoping that he somehow makes it to at least 80lbs and a few more inches in height. But, I somehow doubt this...

Still a handsome cute little guy though:

Here's the latest pic of him after I caught him going for cat poo the other day. "Leave it! No cat poo!" And this was his reaction:


I just love how expressive my Diesel is. lol

 

[Liz_M]

He's a very nice-looking dog, whatever size he ends up!

I had Rottweilers for 30 years and they're classified as "medium-large" per the AKC (many Labradors aren't much smaller) yet for three decades I've been regaled with BS anecdotes from random people about 200lb "Rockwilders" they've owned.

 

[Lisa P]

He is very cute! Curious as to why all the collar/harnesses?

 

[Ginurse]

Don't get me wrong I absolutely adore my Diesel and rescuing my 1/2 DDB 1/2 pit mix pup is the best decision I ever made. He is a wonderful loving stubborn little clown and makes my heart feel more full then I ever thought possible.

But I think I may suffer of "size envy". I religiously weigh diesel every weekend and while most of my family and friends who are oddly "small dog ppl" (something I will never understand) keep exclaiming how huge he is getting I am secretly lamenting how tiny and petite he is. An odd thought coming from a petite 5 ft tall woman (I can admit I'm a weird one) and I suffer some guilt over this size envy.

But I really had hoped he would end up DDB size and not pit size - as it is it seems like he will fall somewhere in the middle. We aren't quite 5 months old yet and we are now 41 lbs.

Still petite as he may be I still think he is quite a handsome guy.

Unfortunately he still hates having his picture taken. The little scamp.

And yet even with all the photo torture I put him through he is still wonderfully forgiving and loving... Lots of puppy kisses for me and everyone else always <3

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Your pup is gorgeous and healthy looking. I would rather have a healthy pup, than a huge one that is overweight. I have seen some pics of mastiffs, where I really feel sorry for them, because the owner appears to have bought into the "bigger is better" gestalt, and their pup looks unhealthy and horrible.

I have raised the same question here, and people much wiser and with more experience let me know that a pup will grow the way they were meant to. Any manipulation to change things, can end in an unhealthy dog?

 

[Ginurse]

I get what you are saying. I have an 8 month old EM. No one guesses his breed correctly, because he is a long-haired mastiff (a recessive trait). Some say he must be a Leonberger or a St. Bernard? He is pure EM, but people stop in their tracks and second guess his breed all the darned time.


Your dog is quite majestic looking, and I don't think his size will detract from this, his noble lineage is quite apparent.

 

[Liz_M]

I get what you are saying. I have an 8 month old EM. No one guesses his breed correctly, because he is a long-haired mastiff (a recessive trait). Some say he must be a Leonberger or a St. Bernard? He is pure EM, but people stop in their tracks and second guess his breed all the darned time.


Your dog is quite majestic looking, and I don't think his size will detract from this, his noble lineage is quite apparent.

Do you have photos of your fluffy EM? PM if you want so as not to derail this thread.
I had a fluffy Rottweiler who became quite the rock star in certain circles. And I met someone at a dog show who'd had a fluffy Shar Pei; she showed me photos and that dog was very strange looking! Wrinkles + long hair on a dog are an interesting combination.

 

[Nik]

He is very cute! Curious as to why all the collar/harnesses?

Lisa P - Oh this was before I found the Freedom Harness which I love. Before that I had found an ez walk front attach harness and we had a regular back attach harness as well. Sean prefers walking him on the back harness but if he pulls at all with the back harness he drags me. On the front harness he walks better for me. Sooo whenever we went on walks we would put both harnesses on him so we could switch walkers back and forth and train! Imagine my extreme happiness when we discovered the Freedom harness and could do just the one. The collar is on him alllll the time... it has his id tags and such on it.

 

[Nik]

Your pup is gorgeous and healthy looking. I would rather have a healthy pup, than a huge one that is overweight. I have seen some pics of mastiffs, where I really feel sorry for them, because the owner appears to have bought into the "bigger is better" gestalt, and their pup looks unhealthy and horrible.

I have raised the same question here, and people much wiser and with more experience let me know that a pup will grow the way they were meant to. Any manipulation to change things, can end in an unhealthy dog?

ginurse - Oh I agree! I don't want an overweight dog at all. I was just hoping he would take a little more after the DDB side for size.

Not sure why I like bigger more actually. As many of you have mentioned he is majestic and probably intimidating enough to dissuade bad people at the current size. I think it has something to do with being such a small person myself (I'm barely 5 feet tall). I've always liked big men and big dogs.

Sean prefers medium/small dogs and really likes slender willowy dogs like the whippet or a grey hound. What he really wanted was either a whippet or a dacchund both of which I vetoed. I have bad experiences with dachunds as some of my friends had these dogs growing up and they were very badly mannered and untrained and had a tendency to bite people. Of course I know now this was likely the owners fault but its such an old bias that I really can't see past it. Whippets are nice but I can't help always seeing them as breakable. I would be nervous of any dog that thin and constantly worrying it will shatter like glass. Irrational I know but its just one of those things.

So anyhow when we were looking for a puppy his compromise to me was a mix DDB instead of letting me rescue a full blooded one. Now from the moment we picked up Diesel he was praying Diesel would stay smaller like his mom while I was praying he would get bigger like his dad. lol It is all rather silly and irrational and if he is healthy I am happy. He is a great dog and I love him to death and I don't suppose that will change no matter what size he ends up. But, still I am a little envious of everyone else's giant dogs.

 

[Nik]

I get what you are saying. I have an 8 month old EM. No one guesses his breed correctly, because he is a long-haired mastiff (a recessive trait). Some say he must be a Leonberger or a St. Bernard? He is pure EM, but people stop in their tracks and second guess his breed all the darned time.


Your dog is quite majestic looking, and I don't think his size will detract from this, his noble lineage is quite apparent.

Ginurse - Thank you for the compliment. I think he is pretty beautiful also but I am also a little bit biased. I am pretty much in love with him in all his bratty, stubborn undersized glory. lol ;-)

 

[Lisa P]

Thanks! I was just curious

 

[DDSK]

Only thing you can do now is to get a Neo or an EM they should satisfy your size envy

 

[Nik]

DDSK - Oh they are on my wish list for certain. So far I have been vetoed by Sean on that count... He says that I need to be able to physically lift and carry any dog we get. But I have at least two years before we are ready for another pup so I consider that two years of time to convince him. I've also been putting in more time at the gym with the weights. lol Have to attack the battle from all directions of course and hey two years time is realistic for that.

I also have "wrinkle envy" in addition to "size envy". Diesel lost most his adorable wrinkles in the growing up but darned if I don't adore those wrinkly faces of many of the full blooded mastiff breeds. <3

 

[Ginurse]

Ginurse - Thank you for the compliment. I think he is pretty beautiful also but I am also a little bit biased. I am pretty much in love with him in all his bratty, stubborn undersized glory. lol ;-)

He really is a gorgeous boy Nik; I would be quite proud if he were mine?

 

[Nik]

Thanks Ginurse! Your's is absolutely gorgeous too and I especially love his uniquely fluffy ears. Your avatar pic is just too darling.