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My little angel

TMmom

Well-Known Member
It's so funny, I read alot about the TM's being aloof with strangers, but my sheltie is aloof with strangers, that doesn't mean she wants to eat evreryone that comes in the house. LOL
 

ruthcatrin

Well-Known Member
If we're home, Apollo's pretty good about it, and pretty much NO ONE just "walks into" our house anyway when they've been greeted by a TM who's standing on his hind legs (wich puts him damn close to eye level to most people) and barking like a devil dog. We put alot of effort into getting him to allow my inlaws into the house at any time, whether we're home or not, and he does, but he still barks alert when they show up.
 

broccolini

Well-Known Member
It's so funny, I read alot about the TM's being aloof with strangers, but my sheltie is aloof with strangers, that doesn't mean she wants to eat evreryone that comes in the house. LOL

Yeah, TMs are a lot more up front about their aloofness. And they are guardy and independent so their dislike of strangers can be accompanied by warning behaviors. Most people do not understand that warning behaviors are good and they freak out when your giant dog growls or barks.

And they run on a spectrum. Some TMs will not let anyone in your house, and you will need to lock them up when you have visitors. Some are openly friendly to people. Most fall in between, but you don't know where your dog will be until it matures. And being proactive about socializing them in the house helps a lot.

I'm surprised you didn't come across this information. I think the tibetanmastiffinfo site is pretty good at describing what they can be like. A lot of general dog sites just use 'aloof', but I don't think that really covers it. They describe almost all of the mastiff breeds the same, but there are a lot of differences. What they should say is that TMs are happy to be 'aloof' but don't push it. As long as people respect their boundaries, they are fine. But that aloofness turns into overt displays of protectiveness pretty easily.

Strangers, literally, cannot stare at my dog or talk to her without her thinking they need to die. Sometimes she looks like some crazy, non socialized beast. But that's not the case. Like I said, we were very proactive about her socialization. She went somewhere every day and met all kinds of people. And most were dog savvy enough to ask before petting her so it's not like she had bad experiences with new people. Then one day she was done. So we still take her out but when people ask to pet her, we tell them no. She also has a harness with 'DO NOT PET' patches on it. That helps.

Also, do not expect your dog to follow your lead on situations like this. When you read about TMs and they are described as 'independent,' they aren't kidding. These aren't dogs that care about pleasing you. Especially when they think there is some sort of danger.

Also, also, when Athena was young, people were always commenting on how mellow and well-behaved she was. And to outsiders, that's exactly what she looked like. Calm, non-jumpy. Like a really well-trained puppy. I'm talking about 10 weeks and up. She never bounced around playfully like most puppies do with other people. Except kids. She loved kids. Anyway, my point, she looked so mellow because even at that age, she was starting to guard. So her seriousness was just her assessing people. She would just sit and watch everyone, thinking about which ones she would eat when she got bigger.

Keep asking questions. Do you stay in touch with your breeder? The owners of the rest of the litter? All of that is important. Athena was an only puppy, but D'Argo was one of 9. I know what's going on with every puppy in that litter. I keep my breeder updated on D'Argo. She keeps me updated on the other puppies and both parents. We've taken D'Argo to a show to see some of the other puppies and their father. We'll also be going up sometime this fall, I think.

Foster those types of relationships. Knowing about the temperament of the parents and the other puppies will be very useful to you.

I feel like I wrote a book. o_O
 

ruthcatrin

Well-Known Member
's'ok Broc, if I'd not spent the last few days running in circles I'd have probly typed out a book too lol

and omg "what a well behaved puppy he is! He's only 12 weeks old?! Wow, you must spend alot of time training!" Yah, not so much. Trying to explain to the random stranger that he's not "well behaved" he's watching you to try to figure out if you're a threat or not doesn't go over well. Most of them don't believe you, the few who do promptly get freaked out. Unless they've owned a LGD type before. Then they get it.

What I usually tell people who're considering a TM is to socialize as much as you can. And then double it. The more you expose the dog to daily life and normal people the better the understanding the dog will have of whats a threat and whats not. Individual dogs vary of course, some, like Athena, will just flat out warn everyone off. While others, like my Apollo, will generally ignore you as long as you're not a threat

In some ways its almost worse with a dog like Apollo. People will meet him under controlled conditions, and he'll seem "fairly friendly", meaning: he let them pet him briefly and didn't SEEM to mind them there. Then they'll ignore my instructions to CALL BEFORE JUST SHOWING UP IN MY DRIVEWAY DAMMIT, and be scared out of their minds when they step up on my front porch cause we're not home and Apollo is.....
 

TMmom

Well-Known Member
I have to tell you how funny Laufey can be. If she feels she not getting enough attention, say I am doing the laundry, she will sneak over like I can't see her and steal a pice of clothing and when I say give it back she runs around the hosue with it in her mouth at top speed and jumps on the couch waiting for me to try to grab it away from her. She also loves to terroize my sons. I know she is only playing, but they don't find it funny. As soon as they walk in the room she could be dead asleep, she will jump up and run over to them trying to get them to play with her. As soon as I put my foot down she'll run away. I have to laugh at her.
 

TMmom

Well-Known Member
Believe me, I enjoy the books. Keep it coming. Ok, I have a confession...I purchased her online from a breeder in CA and they shipped her here. I've only been in contact with them a few times since getting here and them seem kinda busy. They never gave me info on sibilings, but I never asked. I can and will if you think I should?
 

broccolini

Well-Known Member
Which breeder did you get her from?

Yes, I would ask if they could share your email with the other puppy buyers. They you could all share information as they grow.

It's not unusual for breeders to be busy. Do you feel like they are uninterested in your puppy or do they not answer questions? That would bother me.
 

TMmom

Well-Known Member
The breeder is Laurel S.Cain Denk, DVM and/or Marc C. Denk,Temecula,CA Flashpoint Ranch. I wouldn't say disinterested just that I felt they were busy, so I really haven't contacted them since the last email to them. But I am going to contact them this weekend to have them give my email to the siblings owners.
 

Doggyhelpplease

Well-Known Member
If you like temperament stories my girl also changed and it was a pretty quick change one day she woke up and said I AM NOW A TM...at about 20 months she just decided to become super territorial and a little of the other things like protective. She was friendly as a pup with people as we walked down the street and wanted to say hi too all, she loved dogs too much that she had barrier frustration and we met tons and tons of dogs and she played in a fenced in area behind the vet office with our training (doggy play date with dogs mostly the same ones, 2 times a week from 4 months to 20 months - we were also present), we have friend dogs come over to play, our one neighbor has the key and she still accept him to come in alone. Now she will totally ignore people when we walk but don't try to run up to us or pet her especially on the head (she doesn't like intense staring or direct talking to her but will take it from kids and sometimes ladies)...if you are man and you stop and talk to her she will be protective but often will listen to its ok, I got it. If she thinks you are hiding behind something (lurking in a tree, around objects etc) or doing something odd while we walk past in a 30 foot radius she will let me know. If you are drunk you better not be on our side of the street.

She still loves all the dogs she grew up with and will even share her bones and stuff with them but had to stop going to playdate as (they get new dogs sometimes) she thought she owned the territory. Her friends could do anything to her and she accepted it and was not dominant but no new friends could even come near the fenced in area so we basically were kicked out of playdate :p. She can probably still make a new friend how like Athena excepted D'Argo eventually but it would be slow and not just a pup walking by. She now takes about 2 times to visit a fenced in area to completely claim it if left her to her own...We have brought her to fenced in large land up north on farms of people we know and the first time she will accept new people animals around the area but the second time there after she runs the perimeter, it is her to protect and no one new is getting in unless she saw you there last time. She doesn't like other dogs walking by are car (small dogs are ok walking by) or common places that we have been like our closes pet store. We for the past 1 month have brought her all new places on her walks so when she looks at another dog or animal she is not territorial in mind and then we tell her leave it. Now we brought her back to our neighborhood for walks and the leave it has worked better since we built it up in places where she felt it was less of her territory. I personally don't care if she doesn't like any of these strangers or dogs or anything I just need her to keep walking on by...though this is a huge change as even at 15 months she was know in ever pets store, park, basspro, as the social buttery fly as there wasn't a dog she didn't want to meet and it was pathetic watching her react on the time we told her she couldn't. She was very social butterfly with people too but that ended sooner maybe 10 months.

She does not bark at the door but will go there and sit and wait to see who it is if you look in the door window before we get there and she doesn't know you she will bark. If she is looking at you on the porch and you are not invited in she will be very alert...once let in by us as soon as you take that step across she smells you but will be must friendlier inside the house if let in. She will bark alot in the backyard we planted to trees to try and get some green higher than the fence as if she sees it, it is hers. She can be sleeping (which she does alot) in the top hall way and all of a sudden bold down barking and huffing (the huffing is ridiculously how worked up the girls get) and want to go outside and it could be something like a new gardener in the neighbor lawn. We never had the windows open but they head all. If there is a barrier between her and what she thinks she protect is getting removed...she can open doors though she crush the handle and she can open the winding part on the window if you don't lock them. She hates not being able to see stuff and that makes her reaction worse.

She goes with us to my parents every week and their yard is alot bigger with a pond and stuff but she owns that...someone once tried to hop the fence but they decided not too as you would of though the end of the world was coming (he hopped 3 neighbors down instead and she still didn't like it (he actually told me to hold her back and all she was wearing was her small tag collar with is only for tags and no strength...I thought to myself, I could even hold her back right now if I wanted too lol, she was nuts). After he was out of sight she calmed right down and lied down beside me.

With people she knows my parents, my 2 close friends that are over a lot she act like a golden retriever pup just running to the door, bowing and jumping.

Oh one more thing, it may not effect you but they tend to get like 10 fold at night...so walking at night she may act super alert to where I call my girl the speed addicted at that time. We still walk and expose her to all this stuff as its ongoing socialization forever.

I just rambled but if you have more questions just asked and I can let you know so far what I experienced.
 

Doggyhelpplease

Well-Known Member
oh the people she knows, let me clarify, she never jumps on them (even as a pup she never jumped on anyone) but she will jump around with a toy trying to make you want it.
 

broccolini

Well-Known Member
The breeder is Laurel S.Cain Denk, DVM and/or Marc C. Denk,Temecula,CA Flashpoint Ranch. I wouldn't say disinterested just that I felt they were busy, so I really haven't contacted them since the last email to them. But I am going to contact them this weekend to have them give my email to the siblings owners.

That breeder is listed as an Akita, Bernese Mountain Dog, Pyrenees, and Tibetan Mastiff breeder. Possibly more, I stopped looking after that. Where did you find them? They don't seem to have a website.
 

TMmom

Well-Known Member
This is just so funny. I can see my girl in your younger TM. She is very social and I hardly ever her more than a little woof out of her, she just seems so laid back. Now I know what to look for and to expect.
 

ruthcatrin

Well-Known Member
Pretty much all their dogs come from Drakyi lines, so they'd better reference him in the pedigrees if nothing else!
 

TMmom

Well-Known Member
Yeah, I am at my office so I can look better when I get home, that's just what I remember. Are you saying they didn't breed her parents that they just got her from him? Do you know of them?
 

ruthcatrin

Well-Known Member
I don't know your girl's pedigree, so I can't state one way or the other.

The pedigrees I can find for their dogs in the TMinfo pedigree database their dogs are almost exclusively parented by Drakyi dogs. Thats neither a bad thing or a good thing, Drakyi is a major TM kennel and has been "in the breed" for just about as long as the breed has been in the USA. Their dogs appear in the pedigrees of a large portion of the TMs bred in the US, and their dogs (or descendents) are in a large number of the European kennels too. Including my Apollo. The exclusivity is a bit odd to my eye, but not necessarily good or bad.

The owner of Drakyi is a member here actually, though I don't believe he wanders through much, he might know more about them.
 

TMmom

Well-Known Member
Very interesting. I love the fact that you are so knowledgeable about this breed, everyone here has been so helpful, I really do appreciate it, thanks. I will look at her papers closely when I get home. It really doesn't matter anyway, she is my baby and I couldn't love her more.