They're Here... new English Mastiff puppies

[Gizabelle]

Watching tv

 

[Gizabelle]

House pet squad 2022

Otis and Lily are doing great for the most part... Lily has developed elbow hygromas, so were working through that... but otherwise both are fantastic.
I'll do a photo dump and proper update soon.
Just sharing the latest (treat begging) furry family picture.

 

[Gizabelle]

Adorable!! The raccoon in there with everyone else is so awesome!

Just curious - is the raccoon litter/house trained?

Yes, she uses a litter box. She was surprisingly easy to litter train as a baby.
She enjoys hanging out with the whole family in the evenings, but as she's gotten older, she likes to spend most of the day in her "den" and just be sociable at night.
Otis in particular is fascinated with her and really wants to be her bestie. She will try to play with him on occasion (always supervised) but nothing like when Sunny was a puppy a few years ago. She's now 10 and has slowed way down over the past year. My vet thinks arthritis is a factor and put her on daily galliprant about 6 months ago. It has helped some I think, but the delivery method is somewhat unorthodox... (after much trial and error) the daily routine is now to cut open a jelly bean and hide it inside before squishing it back together and handing it over. She knows its in there, but its too much trouble for her to try to dig it out before eating her prize.

 

[Gizabelle]

Everything is going well. Its so fun watching their personalities come out as they get more comfortable.
I've had big dogs before, but this is my first experience with EMs. So far their personalities remind me so much more of cats than dogs. They are content to laze around and do their own thing generally; and they will listen... but only if what they're doing isn't particularly pressing. They do play pretty rough (only with each other) on occasion, but that's to be expected of littermates.
We have much training to do, lol.
DH has taken Otis with him a few times to check on job sites, and DS and I took Lily out to the park with Sunny yesterday (trying to get them accustomed to being apart for short intervals) and they've done great so far.

The threat of parvo is still in the back of my mind of course, and I'm checking them constantly for any signs. We've taken all possible precautions, and on the whole, I feel good about things, but that doubt will be there until the 3-14 day incubation period has passed without incident.

 

[Gizabelle]

Thanks everyone!

I think you are going to be okay.

But let's just say the worst case scenario is they get parvo. Well, they came from a responsible, knowledgeable breeder that had healthy parents and a safe home. And I'm sure that at any sign of vomiting/diarrhea you're going to get them tested instead of waiting around a few days to see if it passes.

They're going to be fine, you're going to be fine...have fun with those pups!

Thanks for the kind words. They've had the 4 dose series, and we're going back for an additional booster (that usually isn't given to most pups) in 2 weeks.
After a long consultation with my vet months ago, I feel pretty good about things. She assured me that if infection occurs in vaccinated dogs, its usually far milder than dogs with no prior vaccines. And furthermore, the manufacturer actually guarantees efficacy. Meaning they with pay for medical care based on the number of doses administered in the series (1 dose: 25% of costs, 2 doses: 50%, etc)
Still, having seen this nightmare virus firsthand, I won't breath totally easy for another week and a half.

 

[Animal Export]

Cute and gentle, gorgeous dogs!

 

[Buckingham Palace]

Awwwwww. They are all such pretty dogs. I love the story your told.

 

[Folly's place]

Nice puppies! We've had one EM, and loved her! She was a rescue, with issues, but a great dog anyway. All the best with your (HUGE) project raising two puppies at once!
Mary

 

[black_cat]

They're so cute!! Do you mind me asking what breeder they're from? I'm a pedigree nerd and love mastiffs.

 

[Gizabelle]

While we didn't visit them (didn't want to risk contamination) I know they weren't on a farm. They are located in the Atlanta area, but met us halfway for pickup.
They are pretty small scale with only 2 breeding females currently and this was the final litter for our pups' dam.