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UPDATE ON BAILEY POST-ADOPTION

“Bailey is truly a wonderful and special dog. He is so handsome and, without a doubt, has one of the best personalities. I have always believed that the English Mastiff was the ultimate dog ever since I had one in the late 80s. I just had to convince everyone else in my family. Well let me tell you, Bailey has won everyone’s hearts and that’s a tall order. Most people ask why we have such a huge dog. To be honest, he doesn’t look or feel big to us. Maybe that is because we see him everyday.

If you get a chance, go to the library and look up the “Henry and Mudge”
books by Cynthia Rylant. We have a wonderful country vet named Rachael Swann and she told us about these books. Henry is the boy and Mudge is his Mastiff. These books are definitely based on a real Mastiff as they definitely depict a true Mastiff personality.

Our Bailey is such a clown. He likes to sleep late. To be honest, he likes to sleep anytime. But on the days that our son, Trevor, goes to school, he gets up to walk him to the bus. From day one, the other children on the bus just stared, wide-eyed, out the windows of the bus at Bailey.

And if you don’t take him back to meet the bus in the afternoon, he gets his feelings hurt. And, believe me, you can see it all over his face. He really loves his new family, and each one of us has a special, individual place in his heart.

He knows our daily schedule and when Trevor takes his bath at night, Bailey comes into the bathroom a couple of times before he is through. He looks into the tub at Trevor as if to say, “Okay, you are alright and you will be coming to bed soon. I’m going to head into the bedroom and wait for you. Okay?” And he goes into the room and lies down.

He stays there a couple of hours after Trevor goes to sleep, then he comes out to see us. After his last trip outside at night, he knows that “daddy” will give him a couple of treats and then, after going into our son’s room again and checking on him, Bailey will stand by the stairs and wait for us. He always backs up and lets us go first. He is such a gentleman.

If I go anywhere during the day, he wants to ride with me. He loves to go to the bank because they give him dog bones. And when we pull up to the window, he wags his day as if to say, “Thank you.” Unfortunately, the dog bones are very small but it’s the thought that counts. He loves to go with us inside Petsmart, Lowes and Home Depot. He walks through the stores like a King and loves the attention.

We love Bailey so much and have to say that he has no faults. J But he does have selective hearing and can be just a “little” stubborn. An example is when I was in a hurry one day and let him outside to relieve himself. Well, sensing that I was getting ready to leave in his truck (it used to be mine), he decided that he was going to stand on the sidewalk and just look at me. I kept calling him but he would not budge. He was waiting for me to open up the back of the Explorer (his cue to jump in) and let him ride. I eventually did get him back into the house but not without some hurt looks. He just wants to be where-ever we are.

After the New Year, I decided that the both of us were getting a little pudgy, so Bailey and I have been taking daily walks. He really likes them and doesn’t like to miss one. If you don’t take him on his walk, he will take one without you.

We call these his “walk abouts” and it is reminiscent of our previous dog’s daily walks through the woods. My mom sewed him a blaze orange vest and it really comes in handy for spotting him in the woods. He blends right in with the trees this time of year.

He has 10+ wooded acres to roam plus the hayfields. I think he is very happy with his living arrangements and I know we are VERY happy with him. Now I’m working on trying to get my husband interested in adopting another Mastiff.

This is a work in progress and not very practical, but… you know, I’ve never owned two Mastiffs or a Brindle. J
 

First update:

Bailey is doing so good and spoiled rotten. But he is such a great dog. Everyone loves him… even my mother-in-law. It feels like he has always been here. He is close to 140 lbs now.

He seems to love the country and the freedom of walking through the woods. We take him for walks and he can jump to the top of a round bale of hay flat footed. Trevor and Bailey love to take walks, scale hay bales and talk to the cows. Here are some pictures that Curtis took with his camera phone. Enjoy.