It’s Sunday September 6, 2026. The day before the American holiday of Labor Day. For the first time in over a week the temperature and heat index will be below the 90˚ F/32˚ C. I’m sitting on my sofa drinking coffee, listening to music, and enjoying the slumber sounds of two mastiffs in my living room. The mastiffs are named Mack and Bubbles. Bubbles is lying in front of my feet on the floor, while Mack is in an elevated bed.

The elevated bed is a new purchase. It stands about 10 inches/25 cm above the floor on four legs. We have two cushion beds on top of it. Mack sinks into the cushions creating a comfy support around his frame. His head extends off the edge of the bed, slightly elevated by the frame. He just hit 8 years old last week, officially entering senior status for a mastiff. I think the bed helps him stay comfortable as the joints are getting stiff and sore as he ages. I highly recommend the elevated beds for the giant breeds. Their bodies degenerate quickly as they age. Spine and joint issues are common. Mack started receiving supplements after his tendon repair surgery. It is helping him live a quality life full of treats, scratches, and play.

I have nothing pressing to do other than mow the crab grass that has gotten out of control due to the heat. My wife has entered us into a mutt strut in Milan, IL around noon. The mutt strut supports the animal shelter and clinic there. They perform inexpensive spay and neutering at the clinic and we have employed that clinic in spaying our giant girls. There is a $750 difference in price between that clinic and our vets clinic when it comes to the surgery. We appreciate this clinic and the animal shelter services. Why not enter a mutt strut to raise money for it. Yes, owning a mastiff is an expensive sacrifice. Mastiffs are like children, but more stubborn. The dogs also shed a lot and leave slobber on the walls while children color on walls and make a lot of laundry.

The surprise is who we are taking to the mutt strut. Bubbles is staying home. She has a tendency to go after other dogs that threaten her space. Bubbles was not socialized properly with other animals before we got her. We keep her separated from Ziva as she lunges at her. It takes all of me to hold her back. Bubbles is incredibly strong. Another factor is temperature. Even with the high temperature forecast around 82˚ F/27.7˚C that would harm Bubbles. She doesn’t like the heat.

Mack and Ziva (L-R) are also staying home today. Mack gets over excited when he sees new people and dogs. He thinks everyone is there to see and pet him. Ziva is very similar, but her extra weight and height makes her about twice as strong as Mack. Holding onto either of them would be like a CrossFit workout despite the fact they are both leash trained. They just want to play play play. Their giant status makes them a bit scary for other owners and their tiny dogs.

Instead we are taking our foster dog to the mutt strut. We acquired Lady last week. She was being sold by a backyard breeder who came into money troubles. Lady is a Presa Canario. The Presa Canario is a mastiff breed from the Canary Islands. This particular breed evolved distinctly for the herd guardianship within the island environment. Sadly the breed was used for dog fighting as well. During the 1960’s the Presa Canario breed almost went extinct. There were about 300 dogs left, and aficionados of the breed worked out a breeding program to diversify the genetics and save the breed from extinction.

Lady is UKC registered and was used for commodity by this backyard breeder. This breeder said she is pregnant and this is going to be her fifth litter. Her final litter too. We estimate she is 3-4 weeks along with the litter. Lady is decompressing nicely. She is getting along with Mack. Ziva and her seem to be good too, but Ziva is considerably larger than her. 180 lbs to 115 lbs/81.6 kg to 52 kg. Due to the pregnancy we are keeping them separate to avoid an injury through rough play. Bubbles only likes Mack, so we will keep her separated as well. Since our home has many rooms with pocket doors, we play a game of musical mastiffs in our house. Each female dog receives time with us in the living room, while Mack essentially does what he wants as he is the friendly spirit. He was socialized properly, and his gender helps as well.

Since acquiring Lady we took her to the vet. She is incredibly healthy physically. Emotionally there are some fear issues, and resource guarding. We feel she may have been beaten by the breeder. She is incredibly shy around me. I don’t push her, I let her dictate our relationship. We are slowly building trust one step and scratch at a time. Mastiff’s are very tempermental psychologically. The resource guarding may come from competing with other dogs for food at the breeders. She has her own bowl for food and water. No communal eating at our house. We have a puppy box for her that she uses as her den in our library sitting room. I call it the library as it contains all our music and books on hand built shelves. Lady also fears our ceiling fan. We have not determined why, so when it is her turn on the rotation my wife sits with her in the library and we let her wander the first floor while Bubbles is behind closed doors in the kitchen and Ziva is upstairs. I don’t hang with Lady yet, as I can see her nervousness. I sit in another room and let her walk to me. When she does, I praise her and gently scratch and caress her. Her fear is a natural product of an improper environment. It is not her fault.

When my wife took Lady to the vet, she exhibited complete indifference to all the animals in the office. Most people were scared of her due to her size. We laugh as Lady is tiny by Giant Dog standards. The dogs and cats in the office did not even phase Lady. She sat in a chair next to my wife and looked out the window wagging her tail. My wife is completely smitten with her. Lady gets to go to the mutt strut for this very reason. She will respond with complete indifference to the other dogs at this fund raiser. She will probably be the only Presa Canario in attendance, and we will definitely get some odd looks. We get similar looks if we take Bubbles out and about. No one really knows how to react to a Neapolitan Mastiff in our area. Old English Mastiffs are the most common mastiffs in our area as there are a few breeders within 500 miles of Davenport, IA.

The vet said they didn’t see any spines yet on the X-ray, but she is showing signs of a full uterus. The vet office, has never had a Presa Canario visit them before, so that gives you an idea of the rarity of her breed. The breeder had Lady housed with an intact Cane Corso (Italian Mastiff.) The Cane Corso and Neapolitan Mastiff are direct descendants of the Italian Molosser war dogs employed by the Roman Empire. The Cane Corso was bred for livestock guardianship, while the Neapolitan was bred for compound guardianship around the family.

When the pups arrive we will be hanging onto them for eight weeks before placing them up for adoption. We will be charging a fee for the pups to cover our vet expenses, nothing more. We will not be docking tails or ears as we consider that inhumane. Lady has her ears cropped. They were docked badly. We can only imagine the pain she suffered at that result. I would like to hold onto male pup, but if we hang onto Lady that may not be possible. We don’t have room for a fifth mastiff. Three is fine, four is doable, but five is out of the question. If we had a farm with a fence then we could make that work, but I do not see anyone selling one that is affordable nearby.

We love our dogs, and we are happy to give Lady a kind and reliable home full of love for the time being. We spent quite a sum of money to get her out of that situation, but now she is safe. I wish we had more space to save more giant breeds. There are two giant breed rescues near us: XL Canine Rescue in Albany, IL and Just Giants Rescue in Lake of the Hills, IL. If I retire soon, I feel there is the possibility of me developing a non-profit Giant rescue here in Iowa. I have a special affinity with the large breeds, and if we relocate to a rural setting that may just happen. It is all speculation and dreaming at this point.

It has been a wonderful Sunday morning with the mastiff mafia we have. Their love is big, just like their hearts. I have been hooked by them for over a decade at this point, and I can’t imagine having a small or medium dog ever again. They are just built different all of the way around, and I am thankful to share my home and life with them. It has been a perfect Sunday morning… …so it goes…