Meet the Fur-Beatles, Three English Mastiffs Weighing in at 700lbs

Joe Thompson is the proud owner of 3 large English Mastiffs.

CLOQUET, Minn.- One Cloquet family is now getting some worldwide attention. It all started after a video telling the story of their 3 giant dogs went viral on Facebook.

The dogs are English Mastiffs, one of them 250lbs and now over 15.5 million people know about these large pets.

Joe Thompson calls his 700lbs of dog the Fur-Beatles.

“My wife has been a huge Beatles fan since we met,” Thompson said.

Ringo is the oldest. Harrison is the biggest and Paul is the angsty teen. They’re waiting on John.

Joe got Ringo around the same time his dad was diagnosed with cancer.

“He loved Ringo, my dad, and I wanted him to have his own,” Thompson said.

With the clock ticking, Joe had to find the perfect mastiff for his dad.

Deb Jones, a mentor to Joe in the mastiff community, helped find a match for Ringo.

“Harrison ended up being the last dog my dad ever touched or saw,” Thompson said.

Harrison was Ringo’s first son.

“They seem to take on your emotions a lot. So if you’re excited, they’re excited. If you’re calm, they’re calm.”

Joe fell in love with the dogs. They remind him of his dad. It’s why he takes so many pictures of them.

“All of my pictures are places me and my dad went all our lives to recreate, whatever we were doing. Fishing, hunting, stuff like that. And I take my dogs, which are all fathers and sons, and I take pictures of them doing things that remind me of that,” Thompson said.

Joe always knew he wanted big dogs who could work with him outside.

“They get hand–cooked meals according to the stress and strenuous of whatever exercise they do that day.”

He tries to feed them whole foods, lots of fruits and veggies and wild game with a dry kibble base.

“They’re known to a lot of people as lazy, funny, cute fat dogs and that’s not what they are. They’re far from that,” Thompson said.

Joe believes mastiffs are the greatest breed of dog out there.

“They’re a dog that can basically protect you against any force of nature. And on the other hand, you trust them with… everything.”

And even though they’re big and sometimes a handful to take care of, he’s grateful to the Fur-Beatles for watching over his family.

And he’s grateful to his family for helping raise the best friends he could ask for.

“To have a wife and family that supports and puts up with 700 or more of dog in the house, can’t really ask for better people, better family than that,” Thompson said.

Joe was honored to film with the TV show that went viral on Facebook because he got to tell now over 15 million people how much he loved his dad, what a good dad he was and how his dogs remind him of the great man he was every single day.