Anybody out there considering getting an Old English Mastiff, like Winston? You might want to read this!

The above picture is what's left of Winston's leash. The leash does not function as a leash any more because he snapped the two metal pieces clean in half. It didn't even seem to take any effort for him to do it....

Even though Winston, like most mastiffs, is a real homebody and almost never goes out of his own yard, I always walk him on a leash or put him on a long "tie out" for him to take a quick trip to do his doggy doody. He has never shown the least inclination to tug at the tie out, which is made of aircraft cable. He knows not to tug on the leash, either, when I'm walking him. "Don't tug!" I say. i know, i ought to be saying "heel" but since it results in the same thing anyway I don't feel too terrible about it. Sometimes I attach the leash to the tie out to give him a greater roaming area in the yard, which he never seems to use, but I like to let him sniff whatever he finds interesting.

Anyway, I took him for a little walk, with no "results". Winston really does have a great deal of dignity. I'm convinced he doesn't like to poop in public, which is really okay. So I hooked him to the tie out so he could use the area of the back yard he favors.

I walked a few steps back into the carport, lost my balance and staggered a little. Now, the last time this happened, I fell, and Winston became very distraught that he couldn't reach me when I'd fallen.

This time, though, as soon as he saw me stagger, he reacted quickly. He took a few steps away from me, then turned around and directed his 175 lbs of mostly muscle into a gallop, lowering his head as he went. That metal snapped clean off. It didn't even hold him back for a second. He skidded to a stop in front of me, turned long-wise the way he did the one time he "caught" me on a fall in the house and looked up at me over his shoulder to see if I was all right.

I don't know what was more astonishing: the dog's extremely "proactive" approach to making sure I didn't hurt myself or the fact that he snapped that leash like it was made of cheap plastic. Once he was satisfied that I was okay, he just sat down and looked at me and wagged his tail. Thump. Thump. Thump.

Anyone who is considering getting a mastiff needs to know two things: your mastiff will LOVE you - possibly as you have never been loved before in your life. He will also be strong enough to snap his leash at will.

He never ceases to amaze me. For all his self trained "therepy dog" stunts like this one, he only knows one "trick".

If you say "Ask not for whom the tail wags..." he'll thump his tail two or three times. And when you say, "It wags for THEE!" he starts wagging like crazy.

What a dog!