When you love something/ someone, it’s fairly intuitive what you do- you cherish it, are grateful for it, spend as much time as you can with it, and appreciate it. And we loved Boudreaux the bullmastiff so much, that we did those things, for sure. And we let that love convince us we needed another bullmastiff… in early March 2020, while I was 8.5 months pregnant. This is the story of Amos Moses, the one-eyed Cajun tiger bullmastiff.
Much like Boudreaux, our search started online after having a casual conversation about how much we love Boudreaux and wondering what having a second bullmastiff would be like. This was not our first pregnancy hormone fueled puppy acquisition- the story of Pecos is a story for another day. I located a litter in Duncanville, a suburb of Dallas, with one male brindle puppy left, and as you can see from the above pictures, he was absolutely adorable. Steven agreed we could find out if he was still available, so I called the breeder and she confirmed that he could be ours, but there was one little thing… his mom licked his left eye when he was a few hours old and caused an infection, which resulted in a small bubble on his left eye. Their vet told them it was improving/ shrinking and wouldn’t cause blindness, but she wanted to warn us that it was still currently there (and he was being sold at a discount due to this). Steven’s response was “well, my Granny is blind in one eye and we still love her, so let’s go for it”. For his name, we knew we wanted to keep our “cajun” bullmastiff theme going that we started with Boudreaux, so we chose Amos after the Jerry Reed song “Amos Moses”.
One weeknight after work in early March 2020, we set off on an adventure through a very interesting neighborhood to pick up Amos. This family also bred French bulldogs, and honest to goodness, there is a decent part of us now that will always wonder if he isn’t part French bulldog because of his squatty size and more hyper temperament than any other bullmastiff we’ve ever known. And spoiler alert, the bubble on his eye, in fact, did not improve and did not shrink. It got bigger, and made it look like he had a fish eye. And he was, in fact, blind in that eye.
Steven started performing vision tests on him at an early age and concluded early on that he had no peripheral vision in that eye, and it didn’t dilate with light. We let it go for about 18 months, but our vet advised that leaving long term it could leave him susceptible to growing ocular tumors, so when he went in to get neutered, we had them remove his eye as well.
He’s a very happy dog, and doesn’t let this hold him back in any way. He startles a little easier on his left side (rightfully so), but he is as busy as any of the other dogs when it comes to playing and running around. We decided this is a disqualifying disability in moving up to head of ranch security when Boudreaux passed away. His judgment just isn’t quite as good with limited vision, and he does get lost sometimes at night in the dark, but he’s still as sweet as can be and a really good dog. We say his one-eyed-ness makes him more “ranchy”.
And speaking of the ranch, this kid loves it there. You can hear him wheezing from a half mile away as he runs around the trails after the Gator with a giant grin on his face. Just expect to find him taking a nap somewhere not long later 😉
Liv had just turned two when we picked him out (Henry was born about a month later), so he was the first dog she got to meet and play with as a puppy. He got to ride along in the stroller while we walked the neighborhood trying to jumpstart labor with Henry- like literally ride along because he refused to walk so he had to ride on the handlebars and in the storage basket to make it back to our house. Those walks didn’t start labor and he didn’t get to go again until he was big enough to walk the park 😉
Life is never dull with Amos around. Where Boudreaux was calm and dignified, Amos is a little chaotic and free spirited. He can’t be trusted to stay around the house like Boudreaux; he’s a wanderer and not the kind that can easily find his way home. He can be a little stubborn at times, and will often pull juke moves when you get close to attempt to shepherd him home. I’m convinced he’s the reason we will need knee replacements when we are older because he will run at you from a distance and come in hot at an angle (due to his lopsided vision) and almost always take you out at the knee. But despite all the crazy, he’s always smiling, and always gets along with others. He’s been a wild addition, but we wouldn’t know what to do without Amos Moses, the Cajun Bullmastiff!
