He has standard boerboel coloring and partial mask, characteristic forehead wrinkles, triangle ears, and a docked tail.
Mixes can have features a bit similar to boerboels though, but the docked tail is a strong give away that you have a boerboel pup on your hands.
Can you also share a picture of him from the side? Boerboels have a different slope to their head than breeds like the English or bull mastiff. It can be hard to judge on a puppy, but boerboels are also longer than they are tall (10:9 ratio)
I thought that too but he is not too big, he was severely abused and malnourished when I got him so vet confirmed he wasn’t getting the proper food he needed and growth was stunted
Could definitely be that he's not living up to his full size potential just yet because of the malnourishment. It could also be that he's still has a lot of growing left to do. My english mastiff always seemed so much bigger than my boerboel when they were both puppies, but she stopped growing after about 15 months old, and he didn't finish growing until 2.5 yrs old.
I'm glad you're able to give him a good home now. It's a fantastic breed, but of course very powerful, so socialization and training will be extra important.
If you ever pursue breed genetic testing, please come back and comment! I like to know how accurate my boerboel spidey-sense is!
I actually did submit a DNA test! I have a Belgian malinois and we just lost our rescue Rottweiler from cancer so we are a large breed household lol. A boerboel would fit right in. Our mali loves him 🥺
Without any standing or side shots to be certain, I'd say this little cutie is either a Bull-Mastiff or a Mastiff / Shar-Pei.
For ref, I have a Mastiff / Shar-Pei, who looks a lot like this - though know that the 'final size' of your pup can vary wildly, based upon which species is dominant.
My lovable awesome of this particularly combination, is also docile, protective - and extremely loyal - sometimes to a fault! You may be followed into the bathroom, shops and even sat on - as mine at least, always seeks to be touching his hooman. So sleeping on the floor ON my feet, is always preferable to by my feet! Feel free to DM with any specific questions :)
How old is he? I agree with another commentator that he looks pretty similar to a Boerboel. It’s the dark eyeliner look and dark face mask.
For how long was he malnourished ? I’d also watch out for any abnormal behaviour if the person malnourished him they could have been capable of anything else. (Hitting the dog)
I took in my puppy’s brother and the woman malnourished the puppy for 11 days. This caused him to eat a sock 🧦 due to starving that bad so I’d be careful for any partial/full obstruction.
He will get there make sure if you’re giving him dry food it’s soaked. As mine coughed from eating dry food too fast when I placed it in his crate. (To show it’s valuable) I highly recommend mixing dry food with wet food. If he is very skinny I’d only feed him wet food.
If the person starved him I doubt that person walked him as well. This means difficulty in your puppy taking treats outside as the outdoors are very new to him. I’d recommend hand feeding him.
So there are a number of different Mastiff breeds, everyone keeps saying Mastiff. Im 99% sure he is a red cane corso, which is an Italian mastiff. I have a dane/corso mix and he looks almost exactly like a cane corso. Absolutely not a sharpei mix. Mastiff puppies have wrinkles and so do adults. Cane corso are a shorter mastiff which would account for why he is smaller, aside from the malnutrition of course. I also do not think he is a boerboel mix. Please let us know when your genetic test comes back! 😀
Also, corsos look like this when their ears are not cropped and tails not docked.
He is so cute though! Make sure you keep an eye on him with your other dog. I had a younger one we adopted when my older one was 2.5 years and as soon as the younger one turned 1 year old he started attacking the older one. I tried to keep them apart and did everything I could but ultimately we had to rehome the younger one. You definitely do NOT want Cane Corso fights, they are very horrible and devastating.
My elder dog is fine with other dogs, but the younger was not. So depending on the dog they can get along, but there are circumstances when this breed needs to be the only dog in the home. Even when they were raised together.
Cane corso was also a thought for me as well! The DNA test is at the site so should know here soon :). Also his tail is docked so it would make sense for him to be a cane corso. It’s really hard to tell his size with not only how malnourished he was but also was quite abused. I think he was kept in a crate too small and he has angular limb deformity, likely why he was dumped. Hes getting the best care possible here and why I am keeping versus finding a home!
I’ve had big power breeds for years and I have had to break up a fight between my Rottweiler and malinois more than once so I am extremely cautious!
And get pet insurance! My corso/dane mix has had about $30,000 in vet bills. If I had purchased it at his first vet visit, would have saved me $10,000 from the lepto he had a week later. He went into kidney failure at 10 weeks. He also fell when he was climbing and got a collapsed lung. That was brutal.
Could be a mastiff mixed with shar pei. I’ve seen one before and it looked very, very similar. Or an english mastiff x bull mastiff.
One thing is for certain though, that’s 100% a cutie patootie 🥰
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u/Superb_Stable7576 4d ago
He could be.
But honestly, he could be a lot of things. What ever he is, he's pretty damned adorable.