Wil Bull mastiff get along with my wifes little Shitzu??

[dvdman]

Im about to pull the trigger and get a bull mastiff or english mastiff but my wife read a few bad stories on the internet. She read that it got along initially with the shitzu but as it got older was too rough and bit the shitzu deep. It was establishing itsel as the pack leader I guess. It took me 2 months to convince my wife to get a mastiff and now she doesnt want it. Is this just a 1 sided story? Does anyone here have a little dog with a Mastiff?

 

[AKBull]

I've seen the pairing of Mastiffs and smaller breeds, so I know people have done it. Only thing I'd be worried about is the puppyhood. Your little pup will want to play, but that little pup is now 3 times as heavy as the Shitzu.If you monitor their time together through this period things should be ok.

As for the Bullmastiff biting... That scenario could have gone either way.I've seen little dogs light up their big friends, more so than not in fact.These things can happen between any dogs. Get the Bully (I am biased, owned both though and both are great) as a pup and I'm sure the Shitzu will lay down the law and they will both be friends.

 

[Caleb]

My big dog gets along with all small dogs and has only snapped at them to correct them when they are overly aggressive. As long as the dogs come up together while the mastiff or bullmastiff is a puppy, things should be fine. It has been harder for me to get him to not bite bigger dogs. Both of those breeds are sweet dogs, usually better temperaments than smaller dogs, only they are so big and cant get away with as much.

 

[turncoat]

I have a mastiff x staffy and he lived alongside a 13 year old 4kg fluffy white dog. Nothing ever went wrong

 

[sleewell]

yogi gets along great with all dogs, even the little annoying yipper ones. cats too.

 

[thundergod]

i have EM 5.5 mo and 7 yr old Pomerainian they get along great so far sleep together the only time i worry is when Zuess gets a little rough when playing. but the little guy will put him in place. though they are dogs and you can never know for sure but i have seen big dog small dog households work great with freinds.

---------- Post added at 07:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:36 PM ----------

Oh yeah forgot to mention i also have two cats that he loves also.

 

[thundergod]

Oh yeah forgot to mention i also have two cats that he loves also.

 

[lilliesmomma]

I have a yr old 100+ lb EM and my sister has a 13 lb Yorkie. They are two weeks apart in age, the Yorkie being the older. They have been together since they were 4 months old, and they get along great. Lillie is the protector of the Yorkie. If she hears him yip or bark she comes running to see if he is hurt, they are best buds.

 

[Marrowshard]

I'd echo what others are saying here: socialization is key. Ebony is extremely touchy around other dogs. There are a lot of times we're out walking and someone's got tiny dogs out without leashes, either in a yard or on the road, and they go on the attack. If your wife is concerned about the little dog, make sure not only that your pup gets familiar with it but that the little dog is minding its manners as well. There's the usual pack-hierarchy business and then there's straight-out aggression. I'm not sure what the Shih-tzu is like behavior-wise, but it'll definitely be unfair to bring a mastiff puppy into a home that's got an ankle-biter with a complex and expect them to be friends.

~Marrow

 

[Ripsmom]

I've had large breeds with toy dogs for years and they got along fine but my little ones didn't start anything with the bigger ones either...I will tell you however that when no one was home the dogs were separated, usually I just crated the little ones. JUST IN CASE anything ever happened because there was such a size disparity the little ones wouldn't have stood a chance. Unfortunately you cannot predict everything a dog will do in every situation so i never wanted to put my dogs in a bad situation and therefore separating when left alone worked out fine. I find that in most multidog households the dogs develop a chain of command and it usually works but there have been some cases where the dogs were fine for a while and then the shit hit the fan...usually there are signs before this happens that the owners did not pick up on. My advice: it can be done and in many cases the little guys are best friends with the bigger ones and it works out fine you just need to be safe about it.

 

[Tink33]

We actually have an English mastiff and a Shih-tzu. They get along great...she (the Shih-tzu) thinks she rules the roost. He is very gentle with her when they play. He lays down on her level to play. He does get excited and forgets that he is 250 lbs and not 10 and attempts to do the "need for speed" run through the house. They play tug of war which is hilarious. I've got a video if I can figure out if it will load on here.

 

[Caleb]

I'd echo what others are saying here: socialization is key. Ebony is extremely touchy around other dogs. There are a lot of times we're out walking and someone's got tiny dogs out without leashes, either in a yard or on the road, and they go on the attack. If your wife is concerned about the little dog, make sure not only that your pup gets familiar with it but that the little dog is minding its manners as well. There's the usual pack-hierarchy business and then there's straight-out aggression. I'm not sure what the Shih-tzu is like behavior-wise, but it'll definitely be unfair to bring a mastiff puppy into a home that's got an ankle-biter with a complex and expect them to be friends.

~Marrow

True Dat!

 

[moose]

I just moved in with a roommate that has a shih-tzu, never thought that moose would get along with him since he isnt found of other dogs usually ......its been two weeks and were all a big happy family, who knew, lol

 

[Cbrown4390]

I have an English mastiff and a Shitzu/Maltese and they get along just fine. They have little disagreements every now and then but that's just because one gets on the others nerves, and vice versa. As long as they are together from the time the mastiff is a pup they will be fine. Here is a video of them playing together.[video=youtube;PASPxJ7sDuo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PASPxJ7sDuo[/video]

 

[VegasGirl]

You should be fine. I would just make sure the dogs are monitored when they play together so the little one doesn't get smushed and the Mastiff doesn't get too frisky. I have a seven month old EM puppy that is over 100lbs but adores little dogs and isn't overly rough with them.

 

[Brad]

I have two bullmastiffs. Use to have cats, got rid of them, but the dogs and them got along. My buddy has a 10 1/2" toy poodle cross that plays and dry humps my dogs all the time. The bullmastiff do mouth the little dog and cats but never bite. Be more worried about drowning in drool then biting. keep a towel handy to dry the little dog off.

 

[Fixer]

my TM puppy Reilly's best friend is a 14 pound "giant" chihuahua named Jack. They play rough, but Reilly is always just gentle enough with his play, mouthing not really biting, as said above. Jack was the second dog that Reilly met when he came to live with me at 4 months old, so start your mastiff off right away. http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150403194029988

I was also careful to introduce Reilly to other small dogs and was glad that he doesn't think they all like to play rough!

 

[STEVSH]

This is something I have to worry about soon. My sister has a 5 lb teacup chihuahua and I have a 75 lb mastiff VERY PLAYFUL pup. We are meeting at my parent's cabin for Labor Day weekend. Yikes!

 

[Caleb]

It has seemed to me that mastiff type dogs can be very indifferent and unthreatened by smaller dogs, and usually do pretty good....better than other breeds. Its usually the little yappy ones that you have to get on to.