English Mastiff nipping

We aquired a 15mo old male non-neutered English Mastiff from a woman who had three children. He was too large for her to handle and didn’t have the extra time to spend with him.  The woman assured me he was never agressive toward visitors in her home. Two weeks after taking him in we had a cookout with family. He jumped and tried to nip at 3-4 people. This aggressive behavior has increased with each day toward strangers who come to the house as well as people who approach our vehicle. It has now been 2 months and this past week he tried to nip at my sons 6 yr old friend only when the boy went to run several times throughout the day. I hate to have to muzzle him every time we have company and need help to resolve this issue if it can be resolved…..This is the funny thing, we can go to Petco and wonder the store and EVERYONE can pet him!!???  He is never aggressive with our children.  He allows them near his food dish and they/we can take his bones right out of his mouth without any problems.  In every other respect he is the best loving loyal dog any family could ask for!

Thanks!  Patty

Hi Mugzies Mom, Thanks for posting your story with us, and you are not alone. First, it’s a really good sign that he’s not aggressive towards members of his own family, so to me anyway, that means that he can be helped.

I have a small dog that does the same thing (she nips people’s heels if they get too close). She also hates having people in her home and “talks”, barks and yelps at them :-)

What we tried with her is we make the folks that come over hold a bone or something and then give it to her so that she can tell that they are friendly, but to be honest, it only works about have of the time (sometimes, she runs and “steals” it and then runs away and yelps :-) But you could try something like that.

You said that he wasn’t neutered, right? I’ve heard that that can contribute to aggressiveness. Have you thought about getting him neutered? There are a lot of other folks on this forum that are much more knowledgeable that me, so I’m sure that they’ll have some suggestions that don’t involve neutering (if you don’t want to do that).

I would absolutely get him neutered. He may still be adjusting to the new home and learning his role in the home. I think you should work on some basic obedience with him so he learns that you are the boss so you decide who can come in—not him. To me, it sounds like he is trying to be the alpha and he wants to control whoever comes in. This isn’t his job. If you say someone can come in, he has to accept that.

So that would be my advice: Get him neutered and start basic obedience training. That alone should help considerably. Also, when he behaves inappropriately, he should be removed from the area and isolated. Put him in another room, his crate or whatever. But it has to be done immediately, as soon as he does something inappropriate so he makes the connection.

I hope you’ll keep us posted on his progress. It will take a bit of work, but we will be here to support you.

Hi Mugzie’s Mom, and welcome to our forum. 

I think Kathleen hit the nail on the head. This dog needs obedience training. Mastiffs are so large that it’s essential to begin socializing and training them as soon as possible because they grow so quickly. I can only speculate, but I’m guessing the previous owner didn’t follow through with training and that’s why Mugzie doesn’t have good manners with your guests. His behavior indicates he feels dominant over the people he goes after, and this can become a dangerous situation if left unchecked. At 15-months-old, it’s not too late to begin a basic obedience course that will help correct Mugzie’s unacceptible behaviors and help you gain more control over him. I think you’ll really love the results, and the classes are actually fun.

Thank you to everyone for your replies.  We have been contemplating neutering him but were on the fence with it.  I think this has made up our minds.  The reason we put it off is he is so, so playful, like pup, and loves to mess with the kids and us.  He is just so much fun and I just don’t want this playfulness to go away upon neutering.  I guess this is the chance we will have to take in order to possibly correct our behavioral problem.  We will also look into local obedience classes.  Again, thanks to all who replied!!

Mugzies Mom

Mugzie’s Mom, I’m happy that you made a decision, though I’m sure it wasn’t easy. He sounds like a fun, amazing dog (mastiffs are beautiful creatures), but this may be for the best. I think those classes will help a lot too. Please keep us posted and let us know how he’s doing! I think it’ll work out great!

I also think the neutering is vital. It shouldn’t change his personality too much, although he will likely calm down a bit. However, when you have young children around and a dog as massive as an English Mastiff, you just can’t take chances with the aggression. Hopefully, between neutering and obedience classes, he will shape into a wonderful companion for your family.