Author Topic: Aggressive Neapolitan Mastiff, advice needed!!  (Read 1742 times)

Offline be.happy

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Aggressive Neapolitan Mastiff, advice needed!!
« on: October 26, 2007, 06:15:05 pm »
Hi everyone

A member of my family owns a 9.5 month old Neo puppy.
Normally he is a very goofy fun loving dog. I have never seen him attempt to bite a person in his entire life.

He is very friendly.

He has a bad barking habit, if he hears a noise he will bark his face off. This is not really a problem, after he sees its a person he is barking at he normally stops and gets very excited and happy.

Last night a had 2 friends over, they are fairly dog savvy and they were petting "Sam". He was being his normal lovable self, trying to kiss them and being a goof. Out of  NOWHERE he tried to attack my friend. He leaped for his face snapping and barley missing. He was bark biting at him!!

I ran over immediately and grabbed him. He immediately submissed and started peeing everywhere when I grabbed him, he tried to laydown and roll on his back into a submissive postition. At this point his owner came out and told him "no and to smarten up" She was very upbeat and did not correct him at all! She said he must of been scared and made my friend give him a treat!!!

He was not scared!!! The only time that dog showed fear was when I went up to him and grabbed him!!!

I am not a novice with dogs, or aggressive dogs for that matter.(I am pursuing ScH with my working GSD) But she didnt even give him a correction!

She said its part of the breed and when they get scared they attack. Problem is, he showed NO signs of fear. His body language was completely normal and he was acting very happy. He did not shy away or make direct eye contact with my friend. The attack was unprovoked. If I would have seen any warnings signs I would have stopped the situation immediately.

Because she was not there, I think she is taking the situation VERY lightly. She is being very naive about the situation.


IMO I dont think this dog respects her. He is not very well trained and has no manners whatsoever. She does not dedicate every much time with training for him. I am worried that he will seriously injure someone one day. She loves him very much and it would devastate her to put him down.

Can someone please give me some advice.

Is this normal for a Neo?


Offline mynameislola

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Re: Aggressive Neapolitan Mastiff, advice needed!!
« Reply #1 on: October 27, 2007, 05:42:53 am »
Good thing you were there.

Before we got our Cane Corso pups, I was considering getting Neos.  They were my first choice.  One of the things I looked into with all the breeds we considered is what the dogs had been bred to do--Neos have been bred for a thousand years to guard homes. 

In Italy, historically, the Neo was tied at the gate to keep strangers out.  We have friends and family with children over frequently enough that we felt that a Neo could pose more of a risk than we were willing to take even though training dogs is what I have been doing for the past 25 years.  I also do risk assessment and management, so I consider dogs in the same category as a weapon.  Cute, fuzzy, kissable weapons.

It appears from your description of the event that the owner is not training the dog in a manner that will allow anyone in the home, including her and her family, to be safe.  She needs a wake-up call, fast. 

I am guessing that along with not jumping on people, she also hasn't trained the dog for bite inhibition.  Sometimes dogs nip at the face in play, but that behavior should have been trained away months ago.  Zita, at eight weeks of age,tried it the second day we had her.  I did the same thing you did and it never happened again.

The good news is that the dog is young enough to be rehabilitated if you get the owner's head on straight and find a good trainer.  The immediate submission from the pup when you jumped in is an excellent sign.  This is not an easy breed to raise successfully.

Do you suppose it would help to give your friend some sense of how her training is going compared to other dogs of the same age?  People with breeds considered dominant could post lists of what commands their pups could do at that age.  I'd go first, but since training is what I do, my results aren't typical.  Zita, where's the remote?  Fetch!
The canine kids:
     Cody Newfoundland
     Wally Italian Mastiff
     Zita Italian Mastiff
     Sparky Chihuahua