Hello!
I remember I posted a while ago, when I first got my pup, asking you guys what breeds you think he could be made up of!
I've gotten lots of responses, lab, bloodhound, bullmastiff, english mastiff, golden retriever MIXES! Some would say he's just a Heinz 57!
There was one response that I found interesting, and has stuck into my mind and kind of forced me to look into the breed: Tosa Inu.
Chances are... he's not a purebred anything, let alone a purebred Tosa in New Brunswick, Canada! No one around here has ever heard of a Tosa, myself included, not too long ago!
So I thought I would post some pictures as he has matured! He's a little bit of a chub, everyone spoils him with treats so we need to back off of that and get him slim and trim.
And then I thought well maybe if I gave you some ideas of how he acts, that may help determine what kind of dog he is. He's very active, but so laid back! His total high is when he has his tennis ball or a stolen sock from someone's room. He, his name is Tanner, gets along fantastic with other dogs but approached by an unsocialized and somewhat intimidating dog he will feel threatened and put his guards up. He's extremely alert, and always knows when I'm home before anyone else does. Tanner has a couple of bad manners, like he will *sometimes* jump up when he just can't contain his excitment, but I have noticed that has diminished quite a bit.
I work at a veterinary hospital, and that is where I got him! A young woman came in with this pup that she bought off of someone in the downtown area. Like there is everywhere else, there is this "bad" part of town where you have things going on and you kind of want to avoid. Well, this lady heard of this puppy that was being abused... i.e. not being fed, tied up and left, cutting whiskers, going to dock his tail (at 10 weeks!?!) and just overall the start of a neglectful life. You could tell, she said, by the people she got him from that he was going to be put to a bad use... he was going to be a big, tough looking dog. So she hears of this, and she goes down and begs to buy the puppy off of them. Seems like an odd story, but it's what I was told! So she comes into the vet to have him all cleaned up and vaccinated, ready to GIVE away to a good home. The moment I saw him, heart melted, I snatched him up before anyone else could see him!!! She told me he was a mastiff/lab cross, that may very well be what he is.
So, I'll post some pictures in my next post... from the first day I got him up until now!
I always tend to make these longer than probably need, my apologies! I like to share his little story, and I am always wondering what this pup could be made of.
Oh! He was born March 2009, so he's coming up to being a year old soon! My goodness it's impossible to believe he is almost a year. He weighs in at over 110lbs, when I weighed him two weeks ago. Do you think he'll continue to fill out and gain? Hard to tell, eh?