The following is a brief overview of our philosophy on the proper feeding and exercising of your mastiff puppy:

Feeding:
All Monolthic puppies leave for their new homes on a premium ADULT brand of dog food. Mastiffs grow at a very fast rate in the first year. It's imperative that we slow this growth. At 8 weeks a puppy will get 1 cup of food three times a day. At 4 months of age you may reduce the feedings to 2 times a day increasing the food as the puppy gets older but not to exceed 10 cups a day (this is a general guideline).Common sense and your eyes will tell you if you are feeding the right amounts. You should be able to see the last rib of your puppy and barely make out the next three ribs. Your puppy will reach his full genetic size potential following this guideline he will just get there a bit slower but be much healthier for it. No supplements are given.

Exercise:
The type and amount of exercise is very important as well. Regular exercise of short duration is recommended. Ball playing or a short 15min walk is all that is needed for a puppy under 6months of age. At 6 months you may increase the duration but absolutely no jogging or road work until at least a year of age preferably 18 months. Too much exercise places stress on your mastiff puppies soft joints. Try to avoid your puppy from jumping off tailgates, out of vans, climbing stairs and rough housing with older larger dogs!

It is said that 85 percent of ALL orthopaedic problems occur in the first year. A sombre reminder of why your mastiff puppy is a lot more fragile then what he appears.

Monolithic Mastiffs offers a solid breeding foundation of tested healthy parents, this combined with slowing the growth and monitoring your puppies exercise closely for the first year of life we feel will greatly increase your puppies chances of living a healthy active life.

Monolithic puppies are fully backed by a health guarantee for hips/elbows and life for PRA. All puppies leave here with complete Care and Feeding instructions.

One excellent site on the web that we highly recommend to all giant breed puppy owners is http://www.greatdanelady.com