As far as exercise goes, Mastiffs do not need a lot of exercise, and in fact, should NOT be over exercised as pups growing. I’d restrict exercise to romping around the back yard with the kids, short walks and maybe outings to the beach or park until your pup is 12 months old. I take my pups for a short walk up the road on the lead and basically, only go far enough so that they are not particularly tired at the end of the walk…

DO NOT try and force the pup to keep going when it is tired, you can end up damaging their bones/joints. As he grows, you can obviously start teaching him to walk on the lead, and to go for short walks around the block – so long as you don’t over-do it.

Once the pup reaches about 12 months old, you should be able to start going on longish walks. Just remember to build up to it, don’t start out taking him on 5 km walks before he is fit (a bit like a person, really), and remember that he will quite possibly want to sit down for a rest half way. When he does this, it helps to remember two things – firstly Mastiffs are big dogs, and they are not built for endurance work…secondly, it is pointless to get cranky with a balky Mastiff…he will just go limp and refuse to move. Trust me when I tell you this it complete waste of time! I’m speaking from experience LOL…Instead, take the opportunity to sit down with your pup and have a rest and a cuddle, it will be much more therapeutic for you both, will build up his trust in you, and he will get up and continue the walk when he is ready.

Having said all that, Mastiffs are not invalids and if they are kept fit and lean love to get out and about with you. Before she had the pups, Molly quite enjoyed a good 4 km walk with me of an evening (sometimes even up to about 6km). When she was pregnant, I reduced that down to about 1-2 km, and by the time she was ready to drop the pups, it became a waddle up the street for 15 mins or so, just to get her out of the house! After weaning the pups, we worked up to her longer walks over a couple of months.

Both Molly and Penny are quite fit and like to run and jump and play (as is Teddy), so if you REALLY want to run with your dog  you could probably do so, but I’d take it very easy and wait until he is fully grown before starting. DO NOT, under any circumstances, take your less than 12 month old puppy running (or jogging) with you…You will damage his joints!!

My dogs all absolutely LOVE the local dog beach. They are also very sociable with all the other dogs they meets there, including one cute little white fluffy dog who always makes goo-goo eyes at Molly LOL. Penny, will go in the water and play but won’t swim, although Bear will swim after birds on the water and I have had to call him back a couple of times as he was getting a bit too far out for my liking. Molly, however, she doesn’t like to go in the water particularly much. I suspect that the ones who hate the water are ones who were never properly “socialised” with it as pups…Also, I always have to remember to wait until the salt water has “gone through” them before we get back into the car !!

I hope this info has helped you guys and that everything goes well for you and your puppy. Please keep in touch and send me photos of your pups as they grow. I will also regularly send updates and photos of our gang and I hope that we can all remain in contact, and maybe even become friends over time. If any of you are coming over our way (we live just near Newcastle – 2 hours north of Sydney) please call in and see us – we’d love to meet you all.

Lastly, if you have any questions, or any concerns of any kind, PLEASE CALL OR EMAIL ME…I am very concerned to see that you and your puppies have the best life together possible, and if I can help you in any way, I will….