Dave;

I don't think the reaction to your wanting to be a breeder was inspired by the "second income" portion of the comment. I think the reaction was to your interest in being a breeder when you don't SEEM to be ready (not a criticism; that is what the other posters are getting from your statements). I can only speak for myself, but will weigh in here.
I adopted my first working dog a year ago. She had been environmentally repressed, so evaluating her genetics, drives, aggression, etc etc was impossible AT THAT JUNCTURE. None of the pros, including Ed, Cindy and Michael could say for certain what her capabilities were. Because I wasn't sure she would do the bitework, my first instinct was to breed her in order to have a pup to raise/train. After a year of working with her, I can now make the evaluation myself; although I have proven out her genetics and drives, breeding her would be a HUGE mistake because I'm not experienced enough.
I'm not one to give you advice, but please consider one other thing that I took into account; I wanted one pup for me, and possibly two or three to give to friends/family. Whatever would I have done with the rest? It is not a sin to make a buck if all you need are 2-4 pups from that litter.

breeding really is not a second income for me, I know this decision seems superficial, it has been thought out for many years, when Jenny said backyard breeder in her post, it forced me to really evaluate where I am at with this decision,

I know before I said my business model for breeding only shared the passion of my normal business, we evaluated where we are at we are both confident with this decision,

A good friend of mine who has always been painfully honestly told me after reading my posts on this forum, that doesn't sound like you, but everything you do you think out very well except for one detail, by reading all of that I can tell you which detail and you've already talked to me about it, it's not the way you train it's what you do when you're not training,

I am not an expert in mastiffs, I do however know an awful lot and I keep continuing to learn.

I know mastiffs are dogs first, but they are different, I could get into the explanation, they are just different, their temperament their ability to want to work, all are pulling was done 100% motivational absolutely no compulsion.

I'm not going to continue to debate the factor whether or not I am a backyard breeder, I am confident I am not everybody who knows us knows were not, I could give dozens of examples of what I think a backyard breeder is, not even getting into the fact of puppy mills.

With that said I know many of you could bring up dozens of examples that would support the opinion that I am a backyard breeder.

Duane, you say it is not a sin to make a buck if all I need are 2 to 4 pups from that litter.

I totally agree profit is not a dirty word.
I have had approx 70 puppy applications so far. 5 of them are people I continue to communicate with. Of those five only three are getting back to me with my invasive questions.

The efficiency of the business deal which Pisa was purchased through, is going to ensure I never give a puppy to a home that is not totally ready and prepared.

This thread is really being derailed,

but I'm going to post right away here what I've done with Pisa and in the last couple days since I started this thread what I've been doing and how it's working.

I guess I just want to say getting Pisa was the worst decision I have ever made but the best mistake.

I love her to bits, because I can pick her up she is my go everywhere and do everything dog. My big girls are happiest laying around in the house, Pisa is not.

When I use the term reactivity, I am talking about Pisa's reaction to things,

what was happening to cause a problem was when the big girls walked past her pen when she is in the living room.

I was ignoring Pisa in her pen well engaging with my other girls, or letting them walk past her to go into the kitchen.

This was making Pisa jump up or even lunge and wine at her ex-pen.

I am applying NILIF properly, I wanted for free love and attention to work, now I totally understand she has to work for love and attention.

Sit is the only position I have corrected for, the reason for that is I need one position I know she will obey.

In really assessing our situation and talking with trainers we narrowed the triggers to initially when Pisa sees the big girls walked past her pen into the living room or out to the kitchen.

What I am doing now Pisa goes into a sit, the big girls come out or walk past whatever we're doing with them wherever they're going it doesn't matter, I am focusing on keeping Pisa engaged with me, watching me and keeping her focus off of them. As long as she is not on the X pen they are more than happy to ignore her.

Since we've been doing this just for this very short time she has touched her ex pen once.

I am not correcting her for touching the X-pen, I realize I can totally be in control of the situation and avoid having to correct her for something I have allowed and inadvertently encouraged.

When I talked about desensitizing, I was talking about all the external stimuli away from the home that I have worked on with her, for example, going to a grocery store and parking in the farthest stall from the building, walking her around the perimeter of the lot, and on each visit parking a couple stalls closer to the building, until we got to the point I can walk her in front of the store.

I was very lucky to be able to bring Pisa to work with me every day, we live in the country and we cannot see the gravel roads from our house, so she is always interested in vehicles going by, what have been doing there to desensitize her is to work her in a parking lot adjacent to the main highway in the town I live close to.
We are at the point right now where I can put her in a sit on the sidewalk beside the highway and she will pay attention to me not the vehicles rushing by.

LOL! I'm reading your last post and thinking of Sadie. We got reactivity issues worked out, BUT everything goes out the window when I turn my back! She is perfectly behaved in my presence, even if I don't engage her, but just like a teenager, will misbehave when I'm not watching. She won't even look at the sofa when I'm in the room, but when I take a shower she gets on it, then crawls down when she hears me coming (I had to sneak up on her to confirm). Dave, I hope Pisa doesn't turn out to be that mule-headed!

I don't think it is Pisa I have to worry about being mule headed.

With that said she is definitely the one dog that I need to watch all time I'm with her.

I'm going to do a short video later this afternoon of what I'm doing with Pisa and my two other girls.

I think I'm doing it right and I would really appreciate input so I know I am doing it right.