hey guys and girlz

im a the proud owner of a bull mastiff x bull arab x pointer x pitbull

i had him at a of lead park on the weekend and every older dog kept having a go at him barking grouling and snarling. i must say at 5mnths old he is 35kgs and quite a bit larger then most of the dogs in question and he is also a bit egar.
my real question is that when they have a go at him he backs down will he grow out of it or will he always be a sook

also is this a american forum or australian

We like to think we're international but will talk to you anyway <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> Ed, the owner of Leerburg and this forum is in Wisconsin

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my real question is that when they have a go at him he backs down will he grow out of it or will he always be a sook

Well yes, hopefully. He backs down because he can sense that the dogs are older and she be treated likewise. You should help him by playing rough games with him like scrapping around or tug of war. When scrapping, keep it limited because biting can be rough.

Here's a link for you:

http://www.leerburg.com/dogparks.htm

Daniel, this guy's pup is a mix of Bullmastiff, Pitbull, some other bully cross & Pointer, so I assume it's a family pet -- Playing ROUGH wrestling games & tug-o-war with a powerful dog of this breeding is a recipe for disaster <:-(

Why? Because the animal will be stronger than the owner & will learn to WIN at rough-housing -- Then when stupid dogs at the park try to dominate him in future, he may very well retaliate by killing them before anyone will be able to stop it (!)

Raising a working pup that will be professionally trained as a personal protection dog, or a police service dog is one thing -- But raising a family pet is another thing & pets should NOT be conditioned to fight with people or other dogs (wrestling, tug-o-war & rough-housing is not just play, but is a workout for fighting to win).

I strongly agree with Candi <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> We had a couple of Chow's that were rough-housed and such. Even though they are a hard breed to figure out, I know that our behavior(tug-of-war, rough play)made them more agressive and ultimately led to them being the killers they turned out to be. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

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I strongly agree with Candi <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> We had a couple of Chow's that were rough-housed and such. Even though they are a hard breed to figure out, I know that our behavior(tug-of-war, rough play)made them more agressive and ultimately led to them being the killers they turned out to be. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

I agree too. And *definitely* about off-lead dog parks. I don't have protection training experience, but I do have long dog experience. I believe these are two bad ideas.

Guess I have to chime in with my own opinion(s). I have always played rough with my dogs, including my Ridgebacks currently. We do wrestlemania and vigorous tug games and I always let them win, and praise 'em for doing so. I frequently use this as a method to get 'em into 'drive' and do some obedience work. Sometimes we just play. I've never seen this as causing aggressive behavior; in fact, I see the opposite. It's as if this kind of play releases their energy and gives them an appropriate 'forum' for exercising their drive. They are so much better behaved and attentive to me with play like this.

But, back to the original question. I'm not a big fan of taking a young dog (5 months old was it?) to dog parks - if all the dogs are properly social, healthy and so forth, then fine. But what if they are not? I've never owned a mastiff, and correct me if I'm wrong, but they are quite slow to mature. I would think a 5 month old is in a very formative state and would much prefer controlled play sessions with dogs you know to be well socialized and behaved.

Hey, just my opinions, and 'your mileage might vary'.