Any owners of dogue de Bordeaux or rottweilers or bull mastiffs about?

[GingerCatBigBalls]

If so, could you please tell me about yours?

We are at the (very very) early stages of considering adopting a cross of above three breeds (0.5 rottweiler, 0.25 of the others, apparently). She's 6 months old and from a known background (busy household, another dog, children about but not living in the house, now being given up due to relationship breakdown). Dp has met her and says she is very calm for a puppy (doesn't jump up, doesn't pull much, greets people politely and loves hugs) but presumably we would be just getting into the teenage stage where they go mental?? And after the teenage stage do they tend to go back to their previous personality or change completely?

NB. she'd be adopted from a actual resuce, not gum tree, and we do have dog experience but mostly of adult rescue dogs.

Thanks!

I don't own one but my aunt did own and breed all of those breeds. A few thugs to answer/ consider
How big is the puppy already? They will normally at least double in size and weight. My rule for my family is if we can't lift or control it as both breeds get heavy up to 15 stone then we won't own it.
So you have time to devote to training and puppy school? It may have not had any training and with such a large breed it can easily get into bad habits that are dangerous.
I love both the breeds. They are fantastic pets. Good luck!

Thanks Ipchill

How big is the puppy already? Freakin massive!

Yes, we'd definitely need to do lots of training. Apparently right now she won't sit on command but if she thinks you have treats she'll do a perfect sit unasked
How trainable are the breeds in your experience? I've had a little bit of experience with a rottie who was incredibly clever but are mastiffs stubborn like staffies?

Rottis are really clever so shouldn't be an issue training.
Douge and Mastiffs I find stay puppies the longest haha.
Douges i find personally can be very stubborn (might just be the ones I've seen)

Might be worth spending more time with the puppy. Has he been off the lead yet? (Another thing to train ASAP if not)

I'm not sure if she's been off the lead yet - will check.

Definitely need to spend more time with her.

I guess my main question/worry is whether a nice calm puppy will (if we keep up with her training and socialisation etc) turn into a nice calm dog?

I've read a few articles on "my purebred puppy" etc which imply that ddbs especially are lovely as puppies but can develop aggressive or overly protective tendencies as adults.. it wasn't clear if that was something that would happen due to lack of socialisation or just nature.. is that something you have seen?

Thanks again for your replies!

Rotties here.

Intelligent. Loving. Protective.

Ours are chewers, which is a pita.

They're good with other people and dogs.

Need consistent and fair handling. Also love cuddles and general attention.

One is like a battering ram, and one thinks he's a gazelle. We've had to heighten and reinforce garden fences as they're blinking nosey.

Thanks MrsMozart! Your rotties sound amazing. I hadn't even thought about the height of our fences tbh..

You're welcome!

We hadn't planned on getting them (long story), but we're used to big dogs and now they're here we can't imagine life without them.

They are incredibly affectionate. Would much rather be with their people 24/7, though are left for periods. They're incredibly powerful. I can walk both together but usually walk separately as we're still fine tuning recall and I want to concentrate on one at a time.

The chewing is the major pain as they will nosh down on just about anything