[link]http://www.edp24.co.uk/content/news/newsStory.asp?Brand=EDPONLINE&Category=News&ItemId=NOED18+Jan+2005+22%3A32%3A29%3A790[/link]

24 puppies were born to a Neopolitan Mastiff bitch in March in Cambs. .........  20 survived!

going to be on gmtv in 20 mins time.

They said they will cost £1000 each is that right ?  now its been in the papers everyone is going to want one to breed from :(

I don't know much about Mastiffs, but surely 18 months is very young for a first litter?  And she didn't appear to have the best eyes I've ever seen in a Mastiff either :( I also wondered why there were only 5 puppies present at 7 weeks..... At least they were promoting reading up about the breed first.

They had this on our local news last night. Apparently only 20 survived. I hope that they are going to declare this to the Inland Revenue, as Mr/Mrs/Ms Tax Inspector may have been watching :D

Daisy

'I don't know much about Mastiffs',
this was a NEO

I know absolutely nothing about NEOS but was the bitches eyes alright? or is that how they are supposed to look...........my son said they looked spooky!! :-)

Blimey, if you had 24 kids in one go, you'd have bags under your eyes too!

It wasn't bags under the eyes, the actual eyes were bright red, really spooky!

No doubt the red was caused by the flash on the camera. Without seeing the dog in the flesh you really can't say whether there is a problem or no so we really have to assume then ther is no problem.

Regards, John

dogs eyes do not respond to the camera flash by going red like ours do

Yes they do, depending on their pigmentation. My liver dogs' eyes reflect red, and the blacks reflect blue/white.

must be just in the 100s of photos that i dev each day for the past 6 years then.not noticed any red ones EVER!!!!

could you email me an example JG as id be really interested to see!

Pic sent Michelle!

Will do, as soon as I find one that shows both in one photo!

thanks for the pic of the huskys. very interesting indeed!!!! & im now eating my words ...abit!!!!
in people the pupil is the thing that goes red & sometimes effects the rest of the eyes.
in the dog,the pupil seems to be the expected white colour that we usually see & the coloured bit  (blue?) is red.
you certainley do learn something each day!!!!!

JG are the dallys eyes also blue?

Blue! Eek, no! The livers have darkish-amber eyes, and the black's are dark brown. It's the reflection from the retina through the pupil that shines either red or blue/white.

In fact, there was a mother who noticed that one of her daughter's eyes had stopped reflecting red in photos, though the other did, took her to an optician and they found she had a problem which would have lead to blindness if it hadn't been spotted early! So watch out for changes!
:)

No John, this wasn't that sort of red - this was live TV, the dogs eyes were very baggy and the redness was in the  pocket under the eye :(

The neo bitch had cherry eyes!! I have owned neo,s and unfortunately that poor bitch giving birth to so many is not doing the breed any good. Like previously said they will be going for a good £1000 each, which is average for breed at moment. Also this breed matures at a very small pace and should not be bred from until 2-3 years old.  This bitch was 18 months old !!!!!****   ££££££ signs or what!!

The breed is already getting too popular too soon and overbreeding is rife at the moment. They are not an easy breed to rear, train and keep ( i know) so alot are ending up in wrong hands.  So sad.  ! hope all the pups survive and get loving homes though!

Sorry Danny but Cherry Eye does not look like that. Cherry Eye is problem which affects the third eyelid and tear duct. It would not appear red like this unless it had become badly swollen and at that point it would be very obvious. I am not saying that this is good breeding or that the bitch is not too young but the appearance of the eyes to me is as they could appear due to reflected light.

Regards, John

I watched this on the news rather then a photo taken . it seemed to me that her eyes were so droopy and showed unpigmented eyelids that were red .
The breed standard dont say about this breed having to have tight eyelids , its a shame though . Im sure cold air or the eyes being left open for what ever to be blown into the eye , cant be nice .

I really don't know enough about the breed to comment on specifics but to me the eyes looked ectropian. As I said, I don't know the breed well enough to know is the eyes are naturally droopy and that's why I've stayed out of that side of the thread. One thing I will say though, with all the publicity they have received, there will be no shortage of puppy buyers. How many of them will have actually seen the breed, still less actually know anything about the breed is a different matter and I can't help wondering how many will find their way into rescue before the year's out?

Regards, John

I saw two in the summer one being walked by a lady who was being pulled over by it :P and another when it was really hot . the dog dident look too well struggling for breath .
They are huge dogs not just in height but how broad they are , you can see they are well built , but they carry this extra skin which I dident like because the dog  seemed to be weighed down with it .
I dident get to see the first ones eyes but the second ones eyes looked  quite droopy and red

John I have not seen the picture of the bitches face, my friend has had 3 crufts best of breed with her male neapolitan and she told me it was cherry eye that she thought she saw, and a bad case of it.  My neo had cherry eye in both eyes and she had a bad case in her left one which became swollen so she could hardly see. Both were removed successfully so she enjoyed droopy but very healthy eyes after that until she died last April.  anyway, whatever this poor girl may or may not have its the specifics of seeing a vet and her puppies which are a concern. Bless em!!!   regards

Please can I ask one of you who frequent the "other" site to post this link, so that folk can see what the breed should look like and hopefully they can see that the bitch was an appalling specimen of the breed.  There are no eyes like that poor 18 month old immature bitch had!

http://www.neapolitanmastiffclubuk.homestead.com/index_1.html

but isnt NEO short for Neopolitan MASTIFF ?

edit to say : that came out in the wrong place, it was meant in response to CABS post :)

Yes Cabs - a Neopolitan MASTIFF (maybe I knew a little more about them than I thought ;))

I do wish they hadn't publicised the fact that the pups were going to be sold for £1000 each, and also that the guy had given up his job to help rear them.  That just reinforced the fact that they could make more from this litter than he could earn.  I know anyone can find out the cost of puppies, but the comments I have heard from non-doggy people who saw article or programme have all been about the amount of money, with comments like "Maybe I should start breeding dogs".  If it hadn't been mentioned, it could have just remained an "ooh how sweet, but what a lot of work" comment.

I suppose the fact that the guy has had to give up work shows how much work goes into rearing a litter, but I agree with what you say that the less well informed could think that its an easy way to make money :rolleyes:

Sugar I just posted in idea.

I have just been informed on one of the Briard boards which I am a member that a Briard has had 24 puppies this week!  The largest litter before that in the UK (for Briards) that I am aware of was 18.  They are currently asking for any prospective surrogate mums.

Fiona

Fiona, I am interested in reading about the Briard litter. Could you let me know the forum you belong to, because I wouldnt mind joining. I always love talking about my fluffy boy!

Julia

Hi Julia I belong to 2 briard forums - www.briards.org.uk and the Yahoo one.  I am sorry to have got your interest going but apparently the email I received about 24 puppies was not briards after all.  Someone has had a very large briard litter this week, someone else asked how many and then I received an email stating '24 puppies' and assumed it was answering the earlier question.  When I posted on here I thought it was rather a coincidence and double checked the email (which I should have done before posting here I suppose).  I hadn't realised it included a link to the litter this post is about.  Sorry about that!

Anyway, both forums are worth joining.  What colour is your boy and where did you get him?

Fiona

The eyes were particulary bad on the bitch, but was was more disturbing was her VERY fearful behaviour.  Backing off, fear barking and shying away.  Yes strangers were in the home, but I didn't think that was a very good example of a dog bred to guard and fight with Gladiators!

Re the spelling, does anyone know why they are called "Neo's" in short, but the correct spelling of the breed is NeApolitan? always bugged me.  Somebody enlighten me. :D
Dawn.

And what a happy coincidence that the bitches owners sister happened to own the 'perfect' stud dog.  He actually looked like a decent dog in my humble opinion - certainly his eyes were a great improvement on the bitches, let's hope the pups take after Dad........

regarding dogs eyes responding to camera flash, I agree with Jeangenie. I have dogs with brown eyes who go pale white, but the dogs with blue eyes all go red. I have one dog with one of each, so one goes white and the other red!

Fagans eyes go red, the pups go blue

Wow what a lot of pups, lucky folks if you ask me!! They seem to have plenty of support and veterinary backup, and they have the best free advertising you could ask for! Clever folks! I would give up my job to look after them too, they are obviously responsible folks, so best of luck to them I say :-)

I'm not in the Neapolitan Mastiff breed but I can't agree that it's very responsible to breed from an 18 month old bitch that seemed to me to have quite severe ectropion. Plus not take the opportunity to educate Joe Public about how the bitch and dog had had all those health tests to make sure they were healthy.

How handy was his sisters male Neo?

There's trouble ahead for the Neo fraternity. Numb Nuts will be after some puppies to start a 'nice little earner'.

Dawn R.

Spot on Nursey.
Dawn.

I don't breed so know very little about the whole process, but I have it stuck in my head ( possibly completely imagined :) ) that you avoid too many ties as this may result in the litter being too large? And wasn't it a health hazard for the bitch to carry such a large litter?

The size of the litter depends on how many eggs the bitch releases. A single mating at the right time could easily have had the same result.

Cheers JG. :)

Most def a health hazard - the poor love had to have an emergenc cesearian as she could hardly walk according to the Mail yesterday :(

But there's nothing they could have done about it - you can't do a selective abortion ...

My brown eyed lot go red/orange! :)

I just saw this on central news . The eyes did look pretty red , im not sure if this is part of the breed though with them being so droopy .
I dident like the way the reporter said at the end , 24 is alot of work but at £1000 a pup :rolleyes: people will be seeing money now , I hope any breeders of this breed noticed this and is extra careful with there pups .
My cockers got dark brown eyes and i have pics of her eyes red with the camara flash . I have ones of them looking grey as well , mabe its got something to do with the light

Just had a look on then kc website see what one should look like . The bitch had patches of white on her back I think  ???  thats mismarked there only allowed on chest and toes , will have a proper look later :P

http://www.the-kennel-club.org.uk/discoverdogs/working/w860.htm
thats the link if anyone else was interested :)

The bitch had cherry eye /eyes
and the owners were total novices Im reliably informed that they had never had a litter
5 were raised by a friend.

My friend has a neo mastiff and has said the bitch is suffering from cherry eye, which is very common fault in this breed. You should not breed a dog with this condition. As for the tax man, well i think he will know now!!! That bitch did not look very good to me, she was very nervous.