Just as with puppies, making the interactions of adult Mastiffs positive by showering them with praises, being generous with belly rubs, and giving them treats is the key to their socialization. This will encourage association between positive feelings and various objects, pets, and people. Just as with puppies, this trick will work with adult Mastiffs who may have behavioral issues. Mastiffs that were not socialized properly as puppies or were acquired later in life can still be aided in associating unfamiliar situations with positive experiences. Even though we’ve missed the aforementioned fear periods, slowly reintroducing our protective dogs to new sights, smells, sounds, and experiences with diligent supervision and utmost gentleness and positivity by praising and giving them treats can help overcome their fear and aggression. Even though gentleness is must, firmness in asserting our dominance and taking care and control over our Mastiffs are just as necessary.
We should involve the entire household by letting them know that the Mastiff in training is going to undergo a socialization process. They can all play roles in the socialization process to slowly but surely extend our dogs’ comfort zones. The process of allowing them to make positive associations with various things should happen gradually and consistently. It will be counter-effective to rush the process. For example, if we want our Mastiffs to get accustomed to being handled by multiple people they don’t know, we can start by letting them see meet relatives who will live with the family for weeks. Days after, the protective nature of our dogs against the relatives will decrease. When our dogs are no longer growling, our relatives can collectively start feeding the Mastiff while staying gentle and a couple of arms length away. When the protective Mastiff begins showing enthusiasm by wagging its tail at the sight, sound, and smell of our relatives, we can opt to hold the harness and leash close to our bodies as we give our dogs belly rubs; while doing this, our relatives can gently stroke the coat of our dogs as we carefully guide their head towards the food bowls placed near our relatives. It is important to firmly hold our dogs’ harness and to remind our relatives to stay calm and soothing to make the socialization process effective.