Royal Bullmastiffs

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly!!

July 27, 2006 on 3:58 am | In Health Care | No Comments

We have instantaneous access to information in todays Internet society that may not be accurate. We hear about dog bites and maulings prior to correctly identifying the breed involved or the circumstances being tested for validity. It is just as important to view each report with even more scrutiny than we used in the past. This is one story in which the reports differ from the facts.

He was whelped on April 20, 1999. He was the blackest and most muscular Bullmastiff puppy I ever saw at birth. We named him Royal Prince Onyx due to color and his regal stance from the time he could stand. The Prince was the obvious alpha male of the three males from the litter of six. His tail stood straight up and his head tried to match that from the beginning.

The Prince was placed in a family with working dog experience and a contractually agreed upon obedience and conformation training schedule. The family consisted of a brawny six foot husband, a diminutive five foot wife and two young girls ages two and four.

At the age of five months; the husband called to tell me that he had given Royal Prince Onyx the common name of Tyson. He also told me that Tyson was becoming food aggressive as he would growl at the husband if he approached Tyson while he was eating. Although; Tyson showed no signs of aggression when the girls touched his food. I highly recommended feeding Tyson in his crate which the husband said he had not purchased yet. It seems that Tyson had house trained immediately so they were letting him stay in the living room during the day with a child gate across the doorway. I reminded him that we had verbally agreed to crate training. The husband agreed to get a crate, enter Tyson in an obedience class, and ask for help with his food aggression. I asked him to schedule a time to bring Tyson back for my assessment.

Tyson and his family arrived about two weeks later. Tyson looked marvelous! It was obvious that Tyson had become very attached to the wife and children as the girls steered him around the yard with the slightest pull on his leash. The girls spent much of their time hugging Tyson and kissing him on the muzzle while the wife instructed him in behavioral issues. The husband explained that he had started working an additional job since Tyson arrived at their home. I gave them contact information for a handler that we had hired in their area in the past. I asked questions about the spatial aggression but there didn’t seem to be any signs of dominant, territorial or psychotic aggression present.

One night when Tyson was ten months old; the husband called to say that he had reached down to take one of the girl’s toys away from Tyson and had a problem. Tyson had grabbed his wrist and would not let go until his wife ran into the room and yelled at Tyson to stop. The husband and Tyson had been wrestling for about three minutes. I arrived the next morning and took Tyson to my home to evaluate him to decide if he could be managed, rehabilitated or put down. The husband’s wrist was not punctured and looked like he had a bad wrist burn from the assault.

Tyson was placed in Bullmastiff boot camp where he had to pay for everything. I was immediately impressed with how soft Tyson’s mouth was when hand fed. Tyson was exceptionally leash trained and I walked him several times a day for exercise and elimination. I concentrated my retraining on the spatial aggression that he had shown. I was able to leave my hand in his food bowl through an entire feeding by the time Tyson was returned to his family a month later.

At the age of one year; the husband called to tell me that Tyson had growled at him while eating a piece of breakfast food that had fallen onto the floor. The husband said that Tyson seemed to love and obey the wife and children but had challenged him again. I bought Tyson back that afternoon. My son’s name is Ty so we decided to keep the name Tyson in part because he had the name for so long at that time.

Tyson was placed back in Bullmastiff boot camp and intense obedience training continued thereafter. Tyson was crated and eventually allowed outdoor activity but he had to pay for that privilege. Tyson was required to sit, lay or dominance down and stay while I walked outside for several minutes prior to his release through the open door. Tyson loved wrestling with his dam and sister so he would do anything to join them in the yard. Tyson was routinely bicycle trained around the neighborhood.

Tyson and I attended obedience and conformation training at a local kennel club during the following year. Tyson also traveled with me to Canada, Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana and several trips to Wisconsin locations without showing any human or animal aggression during the next eighteen months.

Tyson was thirty months old when I noticed the obvious talent of a local professional handler with working dog and specifically Bullmastiff experience. I watched dog after dog turn into statues under this handlers talented instruction and decided to approach her to handle Tyson in the conformation ring. I spent fifteen minutes introducing the idea to this handler and we set a schedule for her to meet Tyson at the following conformation class.

The handler and I spent forty-five minutes in the puppy pen while she worked and played with Tyson. She asked astute questions regarding his rehabilitation. I told her how I had hand fed Tyson, stood over him while he ate or left my hand in his bowl while he ate an entire raw meat dinner. I also informed her about Tyson’s aggression issues, towards the husband, and the constant obedience training that was still being utilized to that date. Tyson had grown into a twenty-seven inch, one hundred and forty-five pound, chiseled statue from the bicycling and exercise program we had maintained since he returned to my home.

The handler was immensely impressed with the Tyson and agreed to train and show him in the conformation ring. The handler wanted Tyson to be boarded at her professional facility during the training to allow her complete access and control of him. I spent forty-five minutes with the handler at her facility the day I boarded Tyson with her. She placed a card on his kennel door informing her employees that she would be the only one to handle him. She also told me how she was going to enlist the help of her husband to examine Tyson during conformation training to help decrease any issues he might still have toward human males.

I called to see how they were doing the next day. The handler told me that she was startled when Tyson had loudly growled at her when she tried to dremel his nails. I told her I would come and pick him up immediately. She said that Tyson couldn’t stay there if she couldn’t handle him and that she had the situation under control. She had commanded Tyson with a quick, “Down”, and he dropped to the table as I had trained him. She quickly placed a muzzle on Tyson and continued dremeling his nails. The handler dremeled Tyson’s nails weekly for the seven weeks that he was in her facility without a muzzle from that time on.

Tyson’s chronic ear infection had returned and the hander took him to her veterinarian. The handlers vet did some tolerance testing and prescribed a medication that had to be administered daily. Tyson accepted his treatment as he had in the past without a grumble.

I took the forty-five minute one way drive to visit Tyson weekly and also met the handler at the local kennel club when she felt comfortable taking him to the open conformation class. Tyson looked very nice but I could tell that he was losing some of his muscle mass due to less conditioning in his training schedule. It was obvious that the handler was training Tyson the same way she had trained so many others and he seemed to adore her. Tyson would whine when she went out of her sight and she seemed pleased upon her return.

In late November; the handler called because she wanted to enter Tyson in the Christmas Cluster in Chicago. This show was scheduled a month earlier than we had expected Tyson to start showing. I mentioned that fact and the handler told me that she was going to take an assistant handler that we knew from her role as judge during many of our conformation classes at the local kennel club facility. I agreed to enter Tyson in the December 15 and 16, 2001 shows in Chicago.

On December 8, 2001; I drove to the handlers facility to see how Tyson was looking and use the practice time to exercise one of my bitches that was also entered in the Chicago shows. I told the handler that I would transport Tyson to Chicago on Friday, and to both of the show locations, as we would be staying with a relative in Aurora, Illinois. I offered to house the handler as well but she declined both of my offers stating that she would transport Tyson to the show and get a motel room afterwards near the second show location.

On December 15, 2001; the handler did transport and show Tyson well that morning. The show videotape shows that she dropped her bait at one point. She reached down to retrieve it and Tyson tried to lick her face. Afterwards; the handler, Tyson and her assistant left the show area to go shopping and later to obtain a motel room for the night.

Around seven that night I received a telephone call from home to tell me that the handler had been injured. I called the motel to get directions to their location but I don’t remember the fifteen minutes it took to drive twenty miles through Chicago. I have owned or bred forty-five Bullmastiffs since 1979, performed hundreds if not thousands of hours of socialization and training, and one of my dogs had seriously injured someone. I was in shock!!

The handler was sitting on the bed when I arrived at the motel and she told me the story of how she had been injured. She reported that she had done some shopping and returned to the motel room around 5:00 PM. She said that she and her assistant handler were tired and decided to rest. The handler stated that she had invited Tyson onto the bed prior to falling asleep. She said that she awoke about a half an hour later and heard Tyson growling while laying on his left side to her right on the bed. The handler raised her head and looked in Tyson’s direction as he jumped up pinning her to the bed on her back. The handler gave a quick jerk to try and dislodge Tyson but she was terrified to find that she was securely pinned by his chest and body weight. The assistant handler jump off of the couch where she had been sleeping and swung a pillow in Tyson’s direction missing him by a foot. Tyson jumped off the other side of the bed and looked as if he was greeting them. The handler said that she thought Tyson must have a brain tumor or something because he acted like nothing had happened. She also stated that he had been so sweet during his fifty-four day stay with her.

The handler sustained a five inch laceration up the back of her head that require thirty staples to close. The emergency room physician informed the handler that her injuries resulted from a collision of their heads. There was no evidence that Tyson had bitten her as she reported to the police upon their arrival. The handler’s head had been off of the pillow for a split second during an incident that lasted less than ten seconds.

I asked the handler why Tyson was sleeping with her that afternoon? She stated that she had made a terrible mistake inviting Tyson onto the bed with her. The handler added that she was thinking with her heart instead of her head. Tyson had never slept with anyone before or been allowed on the furniture.

On December 16, 2001; the investigating Dupage county animal control officer returned my call. I asked him about the county laws regarding quarantine and euthanasia. The officer stated that he believed that Tyson had probably been asleep when this incident began and referred to the incident as an accidental injury. He also added that he wouldn’t consider putting the dog down over this kind of incident since it is the most common way that owners are injured by their most loyal of companions. My research for this article indicates that 750,000 children are bitten in this manner each year.

I called the handler later that day to see how she was doing. I offered to treat any neck or spinal injuries. I became emotional when the handler told me that her head was a little sore but she felt fine otherwise and that she would return to work the next day. I was so relieved that she had not sustained any additional injuries . I made arrangements to meet her at her business facility to collect another Bullmastiff male I had placed there for training and pay all of the known expenses at that time.

On December 17, 2001; I had Tyson examined by our veterinarian Dr. Link. I wrapped Tyson’s leash over his nose like I always do when a vet examines my dogs. Dr. Link kneeled down, grabbed Tyson by both sides of his muzzle, looked him in the eyes and shouted, “Hey, how you doing?”. Tyson’s tongue slithered out as he tried to lick one of Dr. Link’s wrists. Dr. Link looked a bit surprised and asked, “This dog bit somebody?”. I explained the circumstances and we discussed options. Dr. Link told me that if Tyson had a brain tumor I should see signs of it within a month or so. I discussed the situation with my partner and we decided to wait sixty days to make a final decision.

On December 18, 2001 I went to the handler’s business to settle the bill. The handler was talking to a friend on the phone when I entered her feed store. She hung up the phone and told me that she had informed the other telephone conversation participant that she had broken her own first cardinal rule. The handler reported that she always tells people to keep their pets off of the furniture if they are having any kind of behavioral issue with their dog. I again asked her why Tyson was sleeping with her at the time of the incident. She shrugged her shoulders and said that, “She wanted to show Tyson the fun part of dog shows”. She also repeated her previous statement that she was, “thinking with her heart instead of her head”.

I paid all of the handlers expenses from the past weekend, both dogs boarding, and training bills. I informed the handler of the animal control officers findings and she was not pleased. I asked her to contact the officer directly and supplied the number for her to do so. I don’t know if she ever called the officer but she definitely called several Bullmastiff owners that she knew.

The response from the local Bullmastiff community was swift and severe resulting in a promised stud being pulled from a breeding with one of Tyson’s sisters the following month. The rumors were exponentially increased by the fact that the handler had been the president of the local kennel club and had helped with the Midwest Bullmastiff Specialty for several years.

By the time Tyson was allowed out of quarantine; I was almost convinced that he had a brain tumor since he had become deeply depressed during the ten day incarceration. Tyson’s whole body seemed to droop and he constantly carried a small fleece doll around that the handler had given him. Tyson would take his doll to the van, sit, and whine at the door. I eventually realized that Tyson missed his beloved handler and decided to take the doll away from him. Tyson’s depression lifted about a week after disposing of the doll.

On February 16, 2002; at the urging of our attorney and considering the amount of damage inflicted during the incident; my sweet Tyson was euthanized by lethal injection. I had consulted with an animal behaviorist, a different animal control officer and another veterinarian. My attorney had successfully argued that Tyson had been branded by this incident. I hugged his neck and kissed his muzzle as he passed away.

On March 5, 2002; I was not surprised when I received a letter from the handler’s health insurance company asking for expense reimbursement. I was shocked when I received a March 12, 2002 letter from the handler’s attorney demanding fifteen thousand dollars for pain and suffering. I have the ultimate respect for this handler as she is a talented, experienced professional with over thirty years of experience. The handler had admitted her mistake and I believed her so I was at a loss for an explanaition for her demands.

On April 22, 2002; I had a very informative telephone conversation with the Chief Veterinarian for the Illinois Department of Animal Welfare and the Head of the Illinois Bureau of Animal Welfare. Dr. David Bromwell explained that Illinois statute 5/2.16 does hold the owner of a dog liable for the full amount of the injury sustained but that the law also defines the owner as to include the handler at the time of the accident. Dr. Bromwell stated that the handler was one hundred percent liable for the damages since she was harboring the dog at the time, had the dog in her care, was acting as his custodian and allowed him to roam freely about the motel room. I informed the handlers attorney of the reality of Illinois law and the case will not be filed.

It is important to note that each case must be investigated to find out what happened prior to making any decisions. There are no cookie cutter solutions. My first reaction was to have Tyson euthanized immediately. My final conclusion was that Tyson had probably acted out of instinct as he pinned the handler without mauling her.

Bullmastiff breeders must strive to maintain a sound, stable, predictable and controllable temperament but not necessarily softer. To ignore the function of the Bullmastiff would reduce them to a caricature that would only remind us of the work they were originally bred to perform.

Royal Prince Onyx was never bred because I didn’t want to enter another variable until I was certain that he was rehabilitated. It was an honor to have bred and owned him none the less. I may never find another like him in my lifetime.

Dr. Michael T. Wayda mtwaydadc@royalbullmastiffs.net
Royal Bullmastiffs http://www.royalbullmastiffs.net