Hitting the ground running, I went from volunteer to foster in a week and was lucky enough to be graced with the presence of Lucy, one of the sweetest Mastiffs, or dogs for that matter, I have ever met.  There was nothing wrong with Lucy (other than  obesity); it was  a divorce situation which left her homeless.

I will spare you my personal feelings on the matter, but I feel that if you love something/someone so much, you will find a way for them. I brought my own Mastiff overseas to South Korea while in the Army, so I know ANYTHING is possible if you put some effort into it. These individuals just failed to love enough, and Lord knows Lucy has so much love to give.  You can see it in her eyes after just spending a couple moments with her....  Lucy kept up her end of the bargain, and I can tell she does miss her old home, but she is adapting to my foster home quite well.

After some patient coaxing and some "Lord knows what's in em" hot dogs, Lucy did come out, and we were able to walk around together. We spent about 45 minutes getting to know each other, both people and dogs. 

Lucy quickly warmed up to me and allowed me to pet her all over and check out her "portly" body shape.  It appears that Lucy had been the recipient of a combination of too many treats and not enough exercise (I guess that's better than undernourishment).  She was 165 lbs, and probably was about 20 lbs. overweight for her bone structure and body type.  Jewel described her as "a watermelon on sticks!"  And I think that was a perfect description!

She did terrific in the car and rarely moved around at all, except to maybe turn around and face me almost as if to be closer.  She appeared to fare quite well on the car ride, but was timid to get out when we got home.  Some more patient coaxing finally got her out at my house, where Lucy checked out my backyard in depth, and then came inside, all the while being separated from my two male Mastiffs, Sam and Lobo.

She explored the house, going from room to room, but always coming back to me, as if she didn't want to leave my side.  She was obviously scared of her new surroundings, but found some comfort in being near me.  Her tail was tucked between her legs the entire time and stayed like that until almost 5 days later.

Once the indoor exploration was exhausted, Lucy laid down in my den and though still obviously scared, allowed me to sit with her, pet her and talk sweet to her. She was an obviously very loving girl.  I was still dumbfounded how a family could manage to give her up. 

She displayed no aggression, no disobedience whatsoever.  She was housebroken, knew the command "sit," and was comfortable inside my home.  I gave her the big purple stuffed animal Jewel had bought her, but she didn't want it.  It didn't seem like she wanted any hard toys to chew on either.  I guess toys aren't her thing, or she has never been exposed to them and didn't know what to do.  

Being summertime in Florida, Lucy got treated to 65 degree air conditioning in the house, to make her more comfortable and to help her destress. (I froze that night!!!) Eventually I curled up with Lucy on the floor and we slept together on the floor for a while, her allowing me to cuddle with her, which seemed to comfort her.  

Eventually we moved into the bedroom to go to bed for the evening and she laid on the dog bed on the floor alongside my bed and stayed there all night, sleeping well, snoring a little, and not waking up until I got up in the morning. 

It appears that Lucy likes to sleep late (who doesn't?) and will stay in bed until her owner decides to get up.

My boys seem to protect her like she is their girlfriend. They seemed to sense that Lucy is undergoing a tough time, being uprooted from her home and scared of her new surrounding, so somehow they know to give her space and be sweet to her.  Sam tried to bound around her as if to ask her to play, but she just looked at him like he was crazy! 

Either she doesn't "play" or she is still not comfortable with her surroundings, which was understandable.  Lobo walks by and gives kisses and shares his water bowl with her.  They all are not being separated because they get along wonderfully.

In Lucy's first couple of days in her foster home, she started to go for long walks (20 minutes) and she proved to walk beautifully on a leash around the neighborhood.  She pays no attention to passing cars or other dogs and cats sitting in people's yards. 

She just walks along, bee-bopping through the neighborhood, working on her weight-loss regime.  Lucy played dress-up with some fun doggy costumes one day to humor me, and didn't mind being dressed up as a bumble-bee, a reindeer, and some other funny hats that adorned her sweet face. I would imagine that a family with children that adopted Lucy could feel comfortable that she would tolerate playing "dress up". 

Lucy and I walked to a church daycare down the street and all the children came to fence to see the "big dog" and though she was still timid of her new surroundings, she did seems to enjoy being around the children there.  Lucy traveled on a 4 hour car ride to Alabama this weekend with me and my other Mastiffs and she went to the lake where she met several other dogs off leash. 

At first, she ran away from them and sought me out, but then warmed up to them being around her and running past, and she paid them no mind.  She actually sought out the children at the lake and seems to find comfort in them.  Lucy spent the majority of the day sitting and wading in the water at the lake next to my beach chair, never going to swim on her own.  But I did bring her out into the lake with me to help her swim, and she was great!  She can swim (thanks to her layers of blubber she floats like a champ!!!), but seems to prefer just sitting like a happy fat little clam in the shallow water.  She didn't run after the ball that was being thrown around, so I wouldn't tag her a retriever in any way!