Mastiff Information

A day in the life of a family Mastiff will evoke every human emotion, from morning kisses, to laughter, and if you read this therapy visit with troubled kids, tears...

Downtown Murphy Brown, A Mastiff

© Mary Watson, Therapy Dog Handler - TheDogPlace.org

A day in the life of Downtown Murphy Brown.

Up at 5:00, she stumbled down the hall for her morning kisses, still toasty warm from sleeping with her sister, Pebbles and her kitty, ShortBus.

Mom calls out, “Dishes!” Four giant heads pop up and one little fluffy orange one. Breakfast comes early on the day of a Gabriel’s Angels visit, but there are always four baby carrots for dessert. Murph’ waits by the door of her room to be served.

Fed, watered and potted, we make it to the groomer for a 7 am appointment, and Tracy, our groomer calls about 2 hours later and tells us that although Murphy put herself in the tub for her bath, sat for her ear cleaning, the trimming of her britches and mani-pedi (or is it pedi-pedi?), she was NOT allowing the dryer anywhere near her behind and was really stressing over it!

I shot down to the salon and as soon as I got there, Murphy settled and let Tracy finish her up. Evidently she even tried tethering Murph’ to the grooming table, but that’s just carting practice for a mastiff. She can drag the huge apparatus all over the room, and did.

Personally, I think it was the snorting, yapping pug stressing her out.

Home again and time to roll, I pulled out her purple “Go Bag”, topped it off with a bag of baby carrots, two sanitized slobber towels, brushes, trading cards, activities and books on dogs, one purple Gabriel’s Angels vest (size XXXL) and her fancy collar. Murphy hopped in the back of the car, ready to rock a few sad kids’ worlds.

We arrived at the protective custody group home and the teens greeted her with squeals and hugs. Forgetting to read the name that is embroidered on her vest, they said, “Micah’s here!” “No, it’s Pebbles!” “Oh, look at how tall she is…and those big sad eyes! It’s Downtown Murphy Brown!”

Jess was laying in a big chair, hiding her head, and Murphy immediately targeted her for therapy, snuffling through her curls and gently kissing her nose. Jess was on the floor giggling within a minute, arms around Murphy.

“Miss Mary, can I please have whisper time with Murphy? I’ve been really stressed all day.” Permission granted, the other teens backed away and Jess stretched out next to Murphy, tears welling in her beautiful brown eyes, lifted Murphy’s soft ear and whispered what was hurting her so badly. Murphy listened quietly and then pulled her head back, looked Jess dead in the eye and licked every tear from her cheeks until she was rolling on the floor laughing SO hard!

You could almost see Murphy dusting off her paws and saying, “Next!”

Kate asked, “Miss Mary, do you have carrots and could I give her one?” Out comes a quart bag of organic baby carrots, and Kate, who was once frightened of my giants, to the point of perching on the back of the sofa, sat in front of Murphy, gave her the “sit” command (and remembered to say please, as I always do) and put her entire hand in Murphy’s mouth with her “treat”. I reminded her that 2 months ago she never would have dared that! “I’m not afraid anymore, Miss Mary! I’m safe with Murphy. She would never hurt me! She LOVES me!” (Inside, I’m beaming. Outside I’m agreeing and complimenting her.). “Can I have a slobber towel, please?” She extended a very slimy hand to me with a giant smile. I suggested she might want to quickly go “wash her paws” instead this time.

A round of treats, carrots, stories, quizzes and questions and after petting and massaging soft striped fur with their loving hands, Ariel stepped up and said, “Miss Mary, this is my last day here because I turned 18. Can I have Murphy for a little while? I’m really gonna miss her…and Micah and Pebbles, too!” Ariel lay next to Murphy, taking multiple selfies of her face next to Murphy’s to keep. With her head in Murphy’s soft fur, she gently scratched my giant’s chest. Murph’ went over on her back, and the next thing I heard was Ariel’s whisper, “Miss Mary, she’s SNORING! I made her go to sleep! I think she feels safe, too.”

Good luck in the world, sweet Ariel. May you always feel as safe as you do next to my loving Mastiffs.

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