Rescued a 4 year 8 month old English Mastiff

[cs1981]

Wanted to introduce myself and brag on my new family member. Hercules is almost 5 and weighs in at 175lbs. He is very well behaved and so laid back. Walks on a leash better than any dog i have ever walked, (stays beside me with the lead dragging on the ground between my hand and his collar) sits, stays, army crawls to a treat, shakes, and is house broken. He is great with other animals, and my 6 year old daughter. I am so impressed with this good boy.

So sad that he is so scared though. If my Siberian Husky makes a noise or unexpected move, Herc bolts. He ran into me almost knocking me over today when ice fell from the icemaker, and yesterday coming back from the doggypark i dropped my keys and they hit him on the head. The poor guy instantly dropped to the ground and tucked his tail. I can't stand that someone was so mean to this big ol teddy bear.

So that leads to my first question. He appears to be happy for the most part after a week in my home, but not near as happy as i would hope. He doesn't play or anything and i would say that 50% of the time, his tail is tucked. He enjoys walks, slow ones, but not as much as i had hoped. Does anyone have any idea what i can do to ease this transition from an abusive home, to the SPCA to my home? I talk to him all the time, give him treats for good behavior, walk him nightly, and try to play with him. But i feel like there is more i can do, but i just can't think of anything that would help any more than what i have tried. I kinda just think i am expecting to much and i should give a little more time and stay consistent with my praises and reassuring him that i want him here and cherish his companionship. Any thoughts or ideas are welcomed.

My second concern is that he won't eat unless i am sitting with him. I figured after the 3rd or 4th day of this it would go away. But it didn't. So yesterday i decided i would put food out for him, and he would get hungry enough to eat. Tonight i gave up and sat down with him so he would eat finally. I don't want to go 24 hours without eating and enjoy my 3 meals a day. I want him to have that luxury as well. I thought maybe it was the food. He is getting Science Diet's Ideal Balance Adult Chicken and Rice for large bread right now. The SPCA gave him just regular Science Diet Adult whatever. I have been doing a lot of reading on this site over the last few days and am leaning towards getting him so Blue Buffalo Life Protection Large Bread. I don't expect this to solve the codependency or separation anxiety or whatever is going on with this eating thing. But i hope if i find some food he really likes it will help. Am i on the right track? I know the Blue Buffalo has had a few recalls in the past, but i really don't know what other food to get locally for him. I figure i would just go to PetSmart. But if someone has a recommendation for good quality food that he might like that i can get locally here in Houston, I would love to hear it. Ideally, this food will also be good for my husky, he has been on the ideal balance for a long while now. But that doesn't seem to work with Herc. Oh, it also makes him gassy. Will the Blue help with that? I have read some stuff that says it will. But i have also read that the Blue might have more protein in it than he should be getting. This is confusing. Can anyone offer any advice to help me be a better parent to this adorable giant?

Thank you,
Charles

 

[Smokeycat]

He needs time to realize that this is home now. He spent years being afraid of someone/something at home and then even the familiar surroundings were gone. Then the surroundings changed again. Thats a lot of changes for an animal that likes routine. Just keep showing him that his new home is a great place to be and in time he will come to accept and love his new home and those who make it wonderful. Best luck and thank you for giving him a second chance.

 

[Gunny]

First off, welcome to the forum from a fellow Houstonian (sort of). What a lucky guy to get rescued by someone who really wants to give him a good life. I'm not too sure what the best kibble would be for your situation but Smart_Family would be the one to ask. Chances are there's a specialty pet food store somewhere reasonably close where you can get the really good food they don't sell at the chain pet stores. I didn't even realize there was one 10 min from my house until I started searching some of the foods Smart_Family was reccomending for puppies. Of course it's going to be more expensive so that's up to you if you can swing it.

That's a beautiful Husky you have as well. How does he/she like the new addition?

 

[cs1981]

Thanks for the input. I'll continue working with him and making sure he knows he is welcome and that this is his home as well now.

 

[cs1981]

Thanks Gunny, I'll take a look at them and see what I can find. The Husky doesn't mind him at all. I've always been pretty active with him so he was use to other animals and since we have been fostering animals for the last two years, he has gotten used to other animals being in the house. The only thing that has changed with him since Hercules came home, is he has suddenly forgot how to walk on a leash.

 

[Duetsche_Doggen]

Welcome to the forum, I agree with what has been stated everything is still "new" to him so he has to get settled. He is a beautiful boy though and sounds like a dream.

 

[musicdeb]

Welcome aboard~ Thank you for rescuing a baby!!! I agree with everyone. Give it time. You'll find that Mastiffs do not have a lot of energy and they really do not like the heat, although they will adjust to the heat. My baby boy, goes for walks twice a day. We go in the morning and late evening because he hates the heat. He will have "zoomies" about once a day. Zoomies are when they run for about 5-6 minutes and then it's over.

Your husky is gorgeous! I used to have a Husky, he passed away in 2009 at 13 yrs old. The hardest loss I have had to deal with to date.

Enjoy your new family addition and be patient. It appears he will be worth it!

 

[Sabrina]

He is beautiful! Congrats on your new baby

 

[cashbasket]

We had a similar situation with our baby. She was so flinching and got scared at any sudden moves. If you moved your hand to pet her she would brace like you were about to smack her. It made me so mad that some one could be so terrible to such a gentle baby. It took her a couple of weeks to get adjusted to our house, and eating. She wouldn't eat at first either, but we stayed by her so that she could eat and she slowly got used to eating on her own. Now she is happy as can be and living life as queen of the house! So glad we were able to save her and give her the perfect life she deserves.

Hope this helps!

 

[angelbears]

Charles, you are fantastic. Your boy appreciates what you are doing more than you know. You are doing all the right things. We have had our abused rescue for a year now. There are still a lot of times we ask ourselves is she really happy. There are times that if she is startled or unsure, she will run and get in her crate instead of running to us. On the other hand most of the time she is so happy and a wiggle butt. It can take a long time but you will see progress.

As far as eating goes I'm not sure. Maybe he was attacked when he tried to eat or was picked on. When you are there with him, he feels safe enough to eat. Have you tried putting him in a crate or a room by himself to eat.

BTW, we are in the Houston area, Cypress. Where are you?

 

[AKBull]

Welcome to the forum, and thank you for rescuing that big boy!

 

[babyjoemurphy]

We just adopted a 2 1/2 year old EM.  He was the opposite of abused.....SPOILED! We have had him for 5 days now and he has eaten very little.  I sure hope he picks it up soon because I'm super worried he is  hungry.  <br>Murphy came to us on Blue Buffalo and if you think it will stop the gas...think again, this guy clears the house out.  We are going to change his food but want to wait till he is a little more comfy here.  I am trying to keep everything as it was in his previous home as not to confuse him.  He went from 2 adults, to 2 adults,3 young teens, and a cat.  that's enough change for a while unless I should be making all the changes now?

 

[cs1981]

Thank you everyone for the replies. This morning when I left for work he followed me to the door with his tail wagging a bit more than I've seen this last week. But he took off when I hit the garage door button!! Plowed over the husky and I found him next to my bed in his bed hiding out. So I talked to him a bit and gave him some attention before I took off. I'm sure we will get there, and like everyone has said, it's just gonna take time. I was just worried that I could be doing more for the guy to make this easier on him. Thanks again for all the feedback and compliments.

 

[cs1981]

Angelbears, in in the southwest area. In the city limits, but a stones throw from stafford.

 

[babyjoemurphy]

My husband gives muscle massages to our new guy, it really helps. Our past guy that passed away got them all the time and he would go cross-eyed and relax to the point of falling over. Murphy loves it too, so does my neighbours 2 sheppards. So 4 dogs can't be wrong. Maybe that just what Hercules needs. Take 20-30 mins and relax him.

 

[angelbears]

babyjoe, your dog is too cute. Love the pic with the kids.

cs1981, keep us updated with his progress. It will be fun to hear about how much he changes.

 

[babyjoemurphy]

angelbears. that pic was taken the first day he came home. Murphy is such a cuddle bum, but he does not like when I am out of his sight. I will have to start leaving him inside when I'm outside and visversa. Just so he doesn't get dependant on me alone. I hear that's also him dominating me but I feel that he misses his old people and house that I don't have the heart to maybe make him sadder. I never thought Mastiffs could be so suckie and so darn cute. Murphy should be the poster boy for "gentle giants"

 

[cs1981]

This whole eating thing is so weird. I just figured out by accident that if I don't put his food in a bowl he eats just fine. I spilled about half of his dry food tonight and he ate it off the floor. So out of curiosity, I put the rest in a pile, and walked off. And he ate without requiring me to sit with him. I don't think I want to condone this, but I need him to eat more. I can tell he's already lost a few pounds since coming home with me. I was thinking, maybe of I give him a bigger bowl, not more food, just a larger container that it might help. Pure speculation, but I bet his food has always just been dumped on the ground and he was probably scorned or chastised a little too harshly for eating people food out of a bowl at some point and time???

 

[cs1981]

Oh and the pic is my fiancée and Hercules. She was brushing buddy, her husky, and Hercules decided he wanted some lovin so he started pawing at her.

 

[Marrowshard]

Just give him time. We adopted an adult male EM last year and we ran into a lot of the same problems: overly cautious, wouldn't play with toys, and wouldn't eat his kibble unless we were hovering over him. The caution went away the more he bonded with us. We took lots of walks, even just around the yard, let him get used to our voices and the noises the house makes (we also have an icemaker that sometimes makes off noises) and all the new smells and he slowly figured out his place in the whole thing.
Toys were kind of a trial and error thing ... Oscar won't touch a rubber Kong of the ball-on-a-rope type toys but likes any toy with tentacles/arms that he can flail around like a terrier on a rat. We now keep a stock of stuffing-less soft toys and Kong Wubbas that we rotate to keep him entertained. He'll only chase a ball if it squeaks. Start with something simple and cheap and try new things from there.
The food thing was soooo annoying. At first he'd only eat kibble off the floor, a few at a time, and then eventually out of the raised dish but only if I or my husband was standing right there. If we walked away, he'd leave his food and go lay down somewhere and our female cat would munch the leftover kibble. We tried making the food super-tasty by topping it with tuna or drizzling it with chicken broth or cracking an egg in the dish but he wouldn't stay if we weren't there. We found it sometimes worked if we "ate" his food first ... ducked in and moved our fingers from the dish to our mouth making lots of rattling noise. After a few seconds we'd stand up, back away, and leave. Oscar came from a house that had other dogs in it, and we thought he might be used to being made to wait by an alpha dog eating first, so we mimicked the way an alpha would behave. Usually that did the trick, and after a couple of weeks we didn't need to do it anymore. Oscar will still wait to be given the go-ahead to eat and if I want to I can take the dish from him with no argument. Like your boy, I think he might have been punished for stealing food. I can put a plate full of tasty human food on the coffee table and leave the room and when I come back it's still there. Oscar will watch it, but never touch it.

~Marrow