Mountaineer Mastiffs

Bonnie

Bonnie's mother is a beagle and her daddy..... we know he had some australian cattle dog in him. She is the vocal one of the family. If she hears anything out of the ordinary, you can bet she is going to let out that beagle howl and start barking her head off.

Bonnie was part of a accidental litter. Her mother's owner found homes for half of the 8 pups, and was going to take the remaining four (Bonnie included) to the shelter. The owner was heart broken but didn't really know what else to do with the pups. We took them in and found them all homes. I got attached to Bonnie and kept her for myself. Bonnie is currently 9 years old.

Bonnie is one of the many pups that was foster "mothered" by Baby. I got sick for several months after we got Bonnie, with a condition that affected my throat and left me unable to talk very much. This meant Bonnie didn't get much verbal training until she was older. So when she was a pup I let her spend the majority of her time with Baby, who is very well trained, hoping Baby would "rub off on her". It worked pretty well and Baby loved having a puppy to raise all to herself. I joked with the veterinarian that did her vaccinations, that we had so many dogs, our dogs had their own dogs. Her training came along very well, she does the standard sit, fetch, comes when she is called, that type of thing, and she likes to catch tennis balls in the air if you throw them to her.

Bonnie is a funny dog. Her build is rather interesting. She has a body like a barrel and short little stick legs. If you didn't know better you would think she was fat, but her rib cage is actually that big. She is a lot different from the other dogs around here. She gets along great with the dogs that were here before her, but she doesn't accept anything that came after her! She tolerates them, which is a whole different thing.

If a mastiff that is younger than her gets near her, she just hunkers down and looks at them sideways and lets out a little growl. And the mastiffs always respect her personal space. They just walk off with this look on their face like, "oh well." And then they return before too much longer to try again. Because mastiffs truly have no concept that something might not like them. They expect everything in the world to be their best friend. So they keep trying with Bonnie, even though it will never get them anywhere.

Bonnie can act like quite a loner at times but that really isn't her personality. She just doesn't push for attention, but she LOVES to get it and will go bananas and play like a pup with just a little encouragement.

She is quite a welcome addition to our family. She adds an interesting dynamic to the pack and we are very glad to have her here.

Bonnie at 7 weeks old & 5 lbs.

Bonnie at 5 years old.