John,
We believe that Beauty is a cross between a Neapolitan Mastiff and an American Bulldog, apparently quite a popular cross although I have never heard of one before. If you don’t know what a Neapolitan Mastiff looks like, do a search for the World’s Ugliest Dog 2017 which was won by a Neo called Martha. (Very unfair in my (not unbiased) opinion; but I guess they could not have a Chinese Crested win yet again). She looks rather like a big Staffie, about the size of a large Labrador and has the solid muscular build that you’d expect from those parent breeds. I really must make the effort to take some decent pictures of her.
According to the Rescue Centre (and their story changed a bit depending on who we spoke to, so I cannot say this is correct with any degree of confidence) Beauty had been used as a breeding dog and has had 7 litters of pups. Certainly, when they took her in she was expecting although she was so thin that they did not realise that until she gave birth to 14 pups three days later. Two were stillborn and a further eight did not thrive and had to be put down. After giving birth, Beauty weighed 20Kg compared to her current healthy weight of 42Kg. She also developed mastitis and could not rear her pups, so they were passed on to another dog to nurse.
By the time we took her on, several months later, her weight was up to 36Kg and she looked reasonably healthy. However, she was still pretty protective of her food around other dogs and flinched if anyone raised a hand sharply. She has evidence of a broken rib and we suspect she has had a beating or two.
The first time I saw her she was miserable, no enthusiasm for anything, no interest in what was going on and little interest even in treats. We spent about five weeks visiting her at the rescue centre just getting to know her and introducing Hazel in the hopes that Beauty would not eat her. By the time we brought her home, she had got to the point of greeting us with a wagging tail and asking for treats. She also had a very strong fear of traffic, so that we could not walk her along main roads or even to the car from the rescue centre.
The first afternoon we had her, I was stood at the sink washing a few dishes when I heard an unfamiliar growl behind me. “Not good” I thought, but when I turned she was stood behind me wagging her tail. We have now found that she is very vocal with lots of different growls that mean different things and other noises that also have meaning. She and I often stand and growl, or howl at one another (Yeah OK, I’m mad) and Carole and I can now tell what she wants most of the time just from the noises she makes. There are distinct sounds for “please open the door”, “I’m hungry”, “why are you not rubbing my ears?” and so on. We’ve never had such a talkative dog.
The food protection habit has gone and she will happily share with Hazel once she has had what she wants (she also waits for Hazel to finish before diving into Hazel's bowl). The only issue we really have with her now is that she is rather boisterous when she plays. Dogs generally don’t mind although some small dogs clearly find her rather intimidating. Sadly, many owners are incapable of reading the body language and seeing that it is play and they get upset and aggressive. (One idiot once told me she was a vicious animal and if I let her near him again he would kick her. His face went a funny colour when I asked him what he thought would happen if he kicked a vicious dog that was nearly as heavy as he was and far fitter and stronger. If seems he had not considered the possible consequences of his proposed course of action.*) Unfortunately, this sort of silly reaction has lead to us usually keeping her on a lead when we walk her. Not that Beauty seems to mind.
She is still a little cautious around strangers but, since Carole has customers coming to the house regularly (she is a hairdresser, working from home) Beauty has become far more comfortable with people in general than she was. She also seems to have an exceptional memory for faces / smells. Once she has been introduced to a customer she does not bark at them again.
All in all, I reckon we have been very lucky with her. She has been pretty easy, has adopted Hazel well (they play fight for an hour or so every day, lots of noise and torn up lawn but no injuries to either of them) and has fitted in well with our life. We really could not have asked for more.
Have fun,
Ian.
* In fact, he would not have had an issue with Beauty, but there was a fair chance that he would soon have been wondering how to deal with a very p155ed off owner, particularly as it was his little dog (off the lead and uncontrolled) that was causing any trouble. Beauty was on a short leash and showed no aggression at all until the other dog ran up to her snarling and barking.
