Apology to the board from Tessa

[da.bell]

My 16 yr old daughter, absolutely loves him. And I mostly bought the dog for her. She loves walking in the woods. We had a great german shephard, but he was 12, and could barely walk around the house. I thought about putting him down, but couldn't bare to do it, loved her too much. Then my kids were out walking in the woods, and came across a mountain lion protecting a kill. My oldest did exactly what she was trained, and the little ones got behind her, and she made herself look big and backed up slowly, but scared the crap out of her and the rest of the kids.

They came home breathless, and it made me shudder. So I had toyed about a mastiff before, they are great defensive dogs, very protective, extremely loyal. I called the breeder, and got the mastiff, he was 6 mos old, and had to put down mowgli, the GS, she was in so much pain.

I remember calling the local wildlife dude up here, to tell him of the lion incident, neighbors told me I should. He said, take a shot gun. I told him I have my kids taking the dog with them on walks now. He said, "Bad idea, you are taking them lunch, it will attract them." I said, "Its a purebred mastiff, he said "That'll work".

Quincy is about 200 lbs now and actually sleeps in my daughters bed with her. She SHOVELS his crap every morning and takes care of him like a doting mother, and trains him. He is huge, but he loves to come in and watch movies with us. When he sees us hooking up the travel trailer, he gets all excited and starts barking, to make sure we don't leave him behind, he loves camping. When we take him camping, I can leave my whole trailer, and all my stuff, without worry. Just tie quincy and say goodbye. No one comes near it. He is seriously scary. Sometimes when ashley is walking him, cars will drive to the other side of the street. I don't have any concern when he is with the kids, he takes care of em.

Sorry so long, but there is another thread to the story of quincy. We got quincy 1 year after we adopted maddie (6) and thomas (3). Maddie was tough, and had many nightmares and issues, due to extreme neglect. She even had DAYMARES. She couldn't take a shower alone, thinking a mountain lion was going to come in and rip her up in the shower. Many of her nightmares involved mountain lions. The therapist felt it was just representing of her parents/family coming and finding her, and taking her back to her previous state.

When we got Quincy, she came to me and said, "Daddy, will quincy really protect me if a mountain lion comes?" I told her, "Absolutely, that is why I drove so far to get him, he will stay and fight the lion, even die, to protect you". She smiled, and walked away. She had no problem taking a shower anymore, and no more daymares. It was amazing, still some nightmares, but not about lions anymore. I don't think it was just quincy. It was a combination, of her 16 yr old sister putting herself between the lion and maddie, I think maddie thought she would get tossed first while everyone escaped, the fact she had been here a year, and was learning to trust us, and then the huge beast, Quincy, that she loved, loved her, and knew he would protect her.

So anyway, that is why we got the huge mastiff. Previously, I have always adored GS's. Quincy isn't as smart, but fiercely loyal and protective.

My heart goes out to Maddie.

[Matt Garcia]

My 16 yr old daughter, absolutely loves him. And I mostly bought the dog for her. She loves walking in the woods. We had a great german shephard, but he was 12, and could barely walk around the house. I thought about putting him down, but couldn't bare to do it, loved her too much. Then my kids were out walking in the woods, and came across a mountain lion protecting a kill. My oldest did exactly what she was trained, and the little ones got behind her, and she made herself look big and backed up slowly, but scared the crap out of her and the rest of the kids.

They came home breathless, and it made me shudder. So I had toyed about a mastiff before, they are great defensive dogs, very protective, extremely loyal. I called the breeder, and got the mastiff, he was 6 mos old, and had to put down mowgli, the GS, she was in so much pain.

I remember calling the local wildlife dude up here, to tell him of the lion incident, neighbors told me I should. He said, take a shot gun. I told him I have my kids taking the dog with them on walks now. He said, "Bad idea, you are taking them lunch, it will attract them." I said, "Its a purebred mastiff, he said "That'll work".

Quincy is about 200 lbs now and actually sleeps in my daughters bed with her. She SHOVELS his crap every morning and takes care of him like a doting mother, and trains him. He is huge, but he loves to come in and watch movies with us. When he sees us hooking up the travel trailer, he gets all excited and starts barking, to make sure we don't leave him behind, he loves camping. When we take him camping, I can leave my whole trailer, and all my stuff, without worry. Just tie quincy and say goodbye. No one comes near it. He is seriously scary. Sometimes when ashley is walking him, cars will drive to the other side of the street. I don't have any concern when he is with the kids, he takes care of em.

Sorry so long, but there is another thread to the story of quincy. We got quincy 1 year after we adopted maddie (6) and thomas (3). Maddie was tough, and had many nightmares and issues, due to extreme neglect. She even had DAYMARES. She couldn't take a shower alone, thinking a mountain lion was going to come in and rip her up in the shower. Many of her nightmares involved mountain lions. The therapist felt it was just representing of her parents/family coming and finding her, and taking her back to her previous state.

When we got Quincy, she came to me and said, "Daddy, will quincy really protect me if a mountain lion comes?" I told her, "Absolutely, that is why I drove so far to get him, he will stay and fight the lion, even die, to protect you". She smiled, and walked away. She had no problem taking a shower anymore, and no more daymares. It was amazing, still some nightmares, but not about lions anymore. I don't think it was just quincy. It was a combination, of her 16 yr old sister putting herself between the lion and maddie, I think maddie thought she would get tossed first while everyone escaped, the fact she had been here a year, and was learning to trust us, and then the huge beast, Quincy, that she loved, loved her, and knew he would protect her.

So anyway, that is why we got the huge mastiff. Previously, I have always adored GS's. Quincy isn't as smart, but fiercely loyal and protective.

Great story Robert.

[ragboy]

That yorkie looks pissed. While I'm not a big fan of yorkies (had a bad experience with one pissing all over my apartment), I would have to think that as far as yorkies go, 10 pounds is pretty good sized. Just curious, assuming that you don't let it feed itself on neighborhood dogs and children, what does it cost to feed something like Quincy?

About $40/mo. The breeder actually started him on costco brand dog food, and recommended. He goes through a large bag of $20 every 2 weeks.

[dogbert]

Charlie! This dog doesn't hunt. (He doesn't swim or retrieve either...and he's afraid of the dark).

We got Charlie from Gold Ribbon Rescue.

[CP3]

I have always loved goldens. I had one growing up as a Kid and loved him

[Guest]

My heart goes out to Maddie.

Great story about Quincy.

[CP3]

Charlie! This dog doesn't hunt. (He doesn't swim or retrieve either...and he's afraid of the dark).

We got Charlie from Gold Ribbon Rescue.

is that a trolling motor on your tige

[dogbert]

It is a trolling motor, but it's on my fishing boat (that I had to get when my wife nixed the idea of fishing from the Tige...I hate when that happens)

[G-MONEY]

darn........

[ragboy]

My heart goes out to Maddie.

She still gets in a lot of trouble, but every month that passes by, she does better and better. Its amazing to adopt a kid, and go through the transition, and get to the point, where you don't see them any different than your biological kids. And then to see the rest of the family make that transition. And then last, to see Maddie realize we only think of her as our daughter/sister.

[Jason B]

Has she started asking about her birth parents yet? My son will be 6 real quick and he is just now starting to ask why his Mom didn't keep him. When he gets older we'll show him pictures of his "village" (Gypsies in Ukraine still have a King if you can believe that) and he'll understand completely. It was leave him at the hospital or let him starve to death. Sad. You're so right on the money about not seeing them any differently than biological children. I can go months without a single thought about him being adopted.

[ragboy]

Well, its a bit tougher with her. She is not from another country or anything. There is a huge problem here, and many other places with meth, and kids being neglected. They (M&T) were pulled from their mom in oroville, which is only about 20 miles from us. (the same oroville, as in Lake Oroville, which is our home lake). M&T were actually found roaming around a motel in oroville, which we pass by on occasion, without any adults. The management called the police, and they took custody of them, and the mother was no where to be found, there were just men in the room. She would regularly echange services for money or drugs. T has no memory, thank god, but M remembers. It took her a long time to just be a little girl, but she is getting there. When we decided to do this, we just went to the local county agency, and we said we would take a sibling group, up to 3, and ages up to 6. We didn't make other stipulations. The whole idea was to help kids, that would otherwise never get adopted. And that is what we got. We have a file on the kids, that was given to us, that we may share with at least M when she is 18 or so. Its horrific when you look at the case history, and all they went through.

A few months ago, we were watching a movie or something, and they showed some things that I could tell were making her feel uneasy, reminded her of stuff that happened. It killed me, I took her aside, and I just held her, and told her that I loved her, and was so sorry I wasn't able to protect her then. She knows I would've if I could. I truly feel she is my daughter, and she was always meant to be my daughter, and she knows I feel that way. It is extremely difficult, feeling that way, and thinking I wasn't there for her then.

I tell her her birth mom is sick, and not healthy, and I leave it at that. But when she gets older, like 18, I will help her look her up, and see if she is healthy. How does that saying go? God is mother in the eyes of a child? You can't compete with a birth parent, so I don't try. I know she loves me, and her mother (my wife), but she has a connection to her birth mother that will never go away. Sometimes, when she really thinks about it, like during holidays, I tell her to write a letter, and we will give it to her mom together, when she gets older. That helps too. Don't ever demean/put down the birth parents, it will only cause the child to resent you, and don't be threatened by it either.

All that to say, its never far from Ms mind.

[Guest]

Well said and am I glad that there are people like youand your wife to step forward and help the chldren.

Thank you.