I waited my whole life for this dog.  Ever since I saw one at a dog show as a child, I have wanted a English Mastiff. Well 35 years later, I got one.  Meet my AKC registered Olde English Mastiff. Gryphon The Gentle Giant. 

Gryphon while he was still at the breeders. Here is is about 8 weeks old. Some of you might remember me from my older posts. I ran an animal rescue in Alaska, mainly rescuing parrots but we took in all animals as needed. We moved to Hawaii 5 months ago.

With his litter mate. They were Born Aug 26, 2016. He always has that tongue hanging out!

The first night of crate training. He was scared. But his big brother showed him how its done. 12 weeks.

He stayed with Gryphon for for over an hour. Reassuring him that it was OK.

Meeting our rescue dog, Dixie. She is a Catahoula Hound and German Shepard Mix.

He LOVES her. She is not so sure yet.

So handsome.

Going for a ride.

Look at that face! 4 Months old.

Waiting for his meal. He always waits very patiently, right outside the kitchen for his food. I make it fresh twice a day. 6 Months old.

Stretch!

This is my log. There are other logs like it. But this is my log.

That tongue again! Peanut butter chews are his absolute favorite.

He loves bath time. 7 Months old.

There's that tongue again!

He loves his sister.

This is the front part of our yard. He loves to sleep under that tree and chew on the froms. We pick it up every other day. If you look to the right in the middle, there's an orange Lamb. That his favorite toy and he never chews it up and destroys it. He sleeps with it, and carries it around in the yard with him. If you pick it up, he will trot over to you sit in front of you with a very confused look, and wait for you to give it back to him.

So happy. Don't mind my messy house. i live in Hawaii. House cleaning is NOT a priority for me these days.

"Really? Don't you have enough pictures of me Mom?"

This WAS a dog bed.

He found one little weakness in the linoleum.

These dogs are not for everyone. If they get bored they can and WILL eat your house. We try to take him with us, every time we leave the house. But this being Hawaii, that isn't always the safe thing to do. I can not leave him in the car. The heat will kill him. He is now too big for the biggest dog crate. I was leaving him in an extra room that we have. I came home to this after a particularly long day. I had to drive to Kona and back for an airport and Costco run and could not take him with me. He seems to now be past this phase and we leave him free in the house when we are gone. I cant leave him outside for fear of him being stolen.

He is incredibly gentle, patient and sweet. He loves to cuddle with us. He will climb into our lap, leaving his back legs on the floor and snuggle up into our neck and sigh with love. This is the best dog that I have ever had.

Every Morning we patrol the property together. its a routine that he started on his own. Dixie grunting hello to him.

Our property is over an acre, so he has plenty of room to roam. These dogs were bred to be "free thinkers". Its a different intelligence than some of the other breeds that I have raised. I have bred, raised and shown dogs my entire life. An example of free thinking: I can tell him: "Gryphon! Get up and go outside and find Molli." He will look at me, like he is thinking it over. Then he will get up and go find her and lay with her. He understands.

He is fed a wide variety of healthy foods. It can be, but not limited to, these items: 2 Cans of Organix wet food(duck and wild rice), broccoli, carrots, papaya, green beans, turmeric, eggs, quinoa, sweet potatoes, coaches oatmeal, apple, potatoes, beef heart, fish, local meats, cod liver oil, coconut oil and eggs. His favorite snacks are peanut butter muffins/cookies/dog biscuits, that I make for him. But he goes nuts for carrots and papaya. He eats about 6 cups of this a day(3 cups twice a day) plus he has free access to his dry food. I feed him Castor and Pollux Organix dry and wet foods.

This is today. He is 8 months old and weighs in around 140. He will probably end up weighing around 225-240. His Dad is 260. But I dont want him to get that big. Trying to avoid future hip and joint problems. Lots of turmeric in his foods to help with that. I am very careful on what we feed him. He doesn't need calcium or an over abundance of protein at this age. We do not over feed and we do not make him wait so that he is super hungry he gobbles his food. Stomach Torsion is something we wish to avoid. it is more common in big breeds than any other type. It can kill him.

I brush him out every 2-3 days with coconut oil. I also brush his teeth and clean his ears then too. When we first got him, his coat was dry and powdery(dusty). His fur was like needles. Now its as soft as velvet. Again, there's that tongue. He is AKC registered with a pedigree that goes back to the late 1800's. We wish to get a female this summer.

Cat tax. This is Khan, in a tree in Alaska. He is literally on his way here at this moment to Hawaii, with my daughter. She flew back for her senior prom and to get her cat. We had to wait 5 months because of the ridiculous regulations in place to bring an animal. I will share another post later about moving our cat and our bird here. What a nightmare. Aloha