Canisolida Mastiffs Foster and Retirement Home, Inc.

BAILEY - ADOPTED! Bailey now is HOME with his family who loves and adores him, and the feeling is mutual. To see a blog about him in his new home, click this link: http://gaaarp.wordpress.com/2009/07/28/not-bread-just-bailey/

CUBBY - ADOPTION PENDING Cubby - female shepherd mix, birth year: 2005, Cubby's Description - Weighing around 85 pounds, Cubby is a fit and active shepherd mix with a red-colored double fluffy coat. Cubby carries herself with confidence around other dogs; some of her fellow dogs here at the group home like to challenge her apha status. Cubby is extremely smart and confident. In the house she has excellent manners. She is housebroken and loves the comforts provided to her in her home. She will bark loudly when she hears someone pull in the drive or for anything else she suspects may mean she needs to alert you about. Cubby can't stand crating or kenneling, or being enclosed. It causes her a great deal of anxiety and induces lots of barking, whining, trying to escape, and lots of salivating. For this condition, we are doing two things: 1) She is being given a medication called Clomicalm under the supervision of her veterinarian and trainer, and 2) her trainer is introducing some behavior modification exercises every week to two weeks. At the group home environment, Cubby thrives on our dogdoor system and the open nature of the huge fenced backyard and free movement afforded to her in and out. I think this has been part of the success to her happiness. She likes getting groomed, but is sensitive to the brush in certain areas of her body. She shys from having her nails clipped, but still will let you do it with no problem. Training: Cubby is eager to please you, especially if you have high quality food rewards, but is definitely a puller on the leash when it is time to "heel" and it is a work in progress getting her to relax on the lead and let YOU be the leader, not her. UPDATE: MUCH progress has been made on leash work and Cubby has excellent leash manners now! Playtime: If you get Cubby riled up she tends to want to get a bit mouthy in a rowdy sort of way - she is just reciprocating your rowdiness with her - so you need to watch how you engage her in play. She adores playing frisbee, but you should not make her do big leaps and jumps because we have done that and have seen the effects of a big dog coming back down to the ground from a high leap and it can injure them - so keep your frisbee tosses sensible for her and not too over the top. Cubby is good with other dogs, but has a leader personality. She is excellent with cats - she ignores them. Cubby is spayed, up to date on her vaccinations, HW negative and on prevent., and with no present health issues. Adoption fee: $200.00 Contact Cindy Wieland for more information: c.wieland@att.net or 330-823-6582, To meet Cubby arrange to come during one of our weekly training sessions - email for more information. ..... .....Cubby's indoor pictures will follow soon.

ELLIANA - ADOPTION PENDING Elliana - female purebred mastiff, birth year: 2006, Elliana's Description; with an apricot colored coat, Elliana is indeed a pretty princess Mastiff. Weighing around 120 pounds, she is full grown and in great shape. Elli is a special needs mastiff because of her lack of confidence and fears about dealing with everyday usual stuff. You see, prior to Elli coming here, her experiences were very hard, so hard that having to meet/deal with/interact with new people is very hard for her and if a new person comes on boldly/loudly/looking her straight in the eye/approaching quickly....Elli can act defensively because she has been made to feel vulnerable to the new person's overt advances. She has been here at the group home for a year now and has come A LONG WAY in becoming triumphant in conquering many fears and breaking out of a shell that prevented her from feeling happiness and joy. We want to stress that our trainer, James Nutter, has been hugely instrumental in helping Elli come around. Elliana continues to need to be guided and so her therapy is a work in progress. Some of our other volunteers have also been able to become trusted individuals for Elli. She is a lovebug to her humans when she knows them well and is very food motivated so the food is a great tool for guiding her into confidence when she is presented with a situation that makes her feel scared. Our trainer has introduced park outings and overnights at his facility for Elli to add to her repertoire of positive things she has been exposed to. Typical of the mastiff (as far as we know them), she likes outdoor walks and returning to the house to lounge around. Elliana is stressed out by kenneling/crating/enclosure and we feel the openness of our facility may help her to ease her fears of being confined. Elliana has a special fondness for a fellow dog named Cubby who she relies on for comfort and guidance - having a guide dog has been very helpful to Elli for attaining a feeling of well being, we have observed. In the house, Elliana is excellent, but may need some time to figure out how a new household works and in that interim may make a few boo boos. She loves a great meaty bone to gnaw on every now and again. Elli fixates on our cat - she has not hurt him, but she will fix a stare on the cat for a long duration and she does not hear you at first when you call her away from it. Our cat usually just waits until she tires and falls asleep to move around, HOWEVER, Elli has made a few pounces toward the cat when her human has not been there to prevent it. Training: an excellent pupil! Especially motivated by food and the higher the treat quality, the greater eagerness and learning it seems with Elli. Elli has no problem letting her owner do her grooming, but she has fear issues at the vet's. That is a work in progress with treats and clinic walk-throughs. Elliana is spayed, up to date on her vaccinations, HW negative and on prevent., and she has no other present issues as far as her health. Adoption fee: $350.00 Contact Cindy Wieland for more information: c.wieland@att.net or 330-823-6582, to see Elliana in person for the first time, you must schedule to come to one of our training sessions where you can see her training with James and you can talk to the trainer about her specific needs in an owner. ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... .....

GYPSY Gypsy - female Setter/Retriever mix, birth year: 2006, Gypsy's Description: Gypsy is a female, spayed, 75 pound irish setter/retreiver mix. Her coat is red with white markings and her hair texture is extremely fine. She's a bit of a wild girl :) She loves to run in the meadow - run, run, run! She loves to bark at geese/buzzards/low-flying planes overhead and if she sees a bird in a tree she wants to chase it off. Gypsy has a very high pitched barking voice and you would expect to hear that bark coming from a little dog, but it is loud nonetheless. Gypsy is hot blooded! Her metabolism is extermely high and she makes ALOT of body heat. If it hits 60 degrees, this energetic girl is panting away when all the other dogs are sitting there calm. So she needs you to take that into consideration - she needs a cool retreat in the house during warm weather. Gypsy is excellent in the house. She enjoys a couch or bed but if she gets too hot will just plop on the cool floor. She needs a greater food ration than a normal 75 pound dog to keep up with her metabolism, or you can feed her a high energy mix. She is slightly picky with eating. Gypsy is extremely confident with fellow dogs here at the group home and interacts well with the other dogs (sometimes being a bit sassy). She loves all people and greets with a wagging tail. Gypsy does fine with the cat, but if the cat comes up to rub up aginst her sometimes she will give him a little sass that makes him go away. She is a bit nervous with car rides, and once you take her into the vets office or the pet store, she gets EXTREMELY nervous and shakes all over and puts on her brakes and wants to turn around and leave. And food motivated she is not in public, so loving assurance is what you must provide her, but it is hard to relax her. UPDATE: We are working with Gypsy's nervousness in the car and at the pet store/vet clinic. It is a work in progress. She is trying to deal with the low-friction flooring at these facilities and it is hard for her to walk on them, slipping a lot - and this has made her very nervous! If she has an owner who is strong enough to carry her from aisle to aisle - putting her down and praising her when she can accomplish some walking through the aisle - this will help her out. Grooming: Gypsy has no problem letting you do nail trims and ear cleanings, but the electric shaver to trim her long fur makes her nervous. Update: we are incorporating the shaver into her training, making passes with it when it is off and then when it is on to get her more used to it - accompanied with positive praise AND under the supervision of her veterinarian and trainer, we are trying a sedative to help conquer some of the nervousness during grooming with the electric trimmers. Training: Gypsy used to be a wild jumper on everyone when they came over, but with lots of positive work, she will just paw you on the leg at this point - she will prance around you too. She will do sits and downs for high quality treats. She walks well on the lead. She sortof does a goofy greeting dance that involves lots of tailwagging and pawing when greeting new people. She likes to use her long nose to bump your hand when she gets to know you well and if you lean down, she will poke her nose in to your face and sneak in a few rapid kisses and nibble your nose (much to her delight). Sometimes she does an adorable talk at you too. Being a wild one, she sure has her adorable moments too and everybody loves Gypsy for her unique personality. Gypsy is spayed, up to date on her vaccinations, HW negative and on prevent., and with no present health issues. Adoption fee: $250.00 Contact Cindy Wieland for more information: c.wieland@att.net or 330-823-6582, to meet Gypsy you can contact us to come when we are having a training session! ..........

PILOT Pilot - female large mixed breed, Birth Year: 2003, Weight: 90 pounds. Pilot's Description: Pilot is a very friendly large mixed breed dog that has a sweet demeanor and is eager to please. She is pretty calm and likes to hang with you. She has a short soft brindle coat that has a chocolate color as the base. We think she might be a chocolate lab/mastiff mix. Pilot has a unique way of striding that is rare in dogs where the right two feet are planted at exactly the same time, then the left two feet land at the same time. This makes her move in a teeter-back-and-forth-motion that sometimes makes people think she is chubby and her fat is swaying side to side - but not true, it is just her built-in way of jogging. Pilot is excellent in the house and will bark at the arrival of a guest but immediately accepting and friendly to your visitors. She does well on her sits and okay on her downs. UPDATE: Getting better as our training sessions continue! She has some mild anxiety about the lead but with good positive motivation and great food rewards, she can attain a fun level with the lead. UPDATE: MUCH improvement now on this! She loves to meet new people, having come a long way from some shyness when she was younger. Pilot LOVES to snuggle with you and will torque her body rubbing up against you until she flops and reveals her tummy for a belly rub. She is just a very wonderful dog with a great personality - just a real easy dog to love. Pilot is great with other dogs and is okay with cats. With cats, she will want to chase, but not harm them. Pilot is spayed, up to date on her vaccinations, HW negative and on prevent., and recently underwent a TTA (tibial Tuberosity Advancement) surgery to repair a ruptured cruciate and torn meniscus in her right rear leg. (Injury occurred 6/4/09, Surgery to repair it occurred 6/10/09.) She will require a lengthy recovery period that is 8 weeks long before she resumes full activity. (Date of surgery: June 10th, 2009) This means that on/around August 9th, she should be in the clear and back to 100% normal activity. Adoption fee: $200.00 Contact Cindy Wieland for more information: c.wieland@att.net or 330-823-6582, You can meet Pilot at a training session, held weekly at the group home - contact Cindy to schedule. .......... ..... .....

Contact Cindy Wieland at c.wieland@att.net or 330-823-6582 for any other information you would like to know about our group home.