COMSTOCK MASTIFFS - 2004/2005
We placed eight of the pups in wonderful homes in California. We kept two males, Lucah and Riles. We have kept in close contact with our pups and their owners as shown on the earlier web pages. We hope to continue following the growth and development of the placed pups from photos and updates supplied by their families as well as periodic "Puppy Reunions". The photo at the top of the page was taken of momma Calli and her two boys, Riles and Lucah, in June 2005.
The Rest of the Comstock Clan
As of this writing (mid-Oct, 2004) the pups are 28 months old. Three of them, Rio, Lily and Lucah are International and American Champions (like their mother Calli). Thumper and Obie need only 2 and 4 minor points, respectively, to finish and earn their AKC Champion title. (Editor's Note: Obie and Thumper both earned their Title points in early November hence the Ch. in their photos above.) Rio, Lily, Lucah and Thumper have earned their Canine Good Citizens (CGC) and Therapy Dog International (TDI) certificates. Maisie also has a CGC and is currently training for Search and Rescue Certification (a rarity for English Mastiffs).
"We had a great time in Pleasanton. Leslie and Debi hosted a great Mexican food evening on Saturday. We only got rained on once and managed to dry off at Applebee's with a round of spicy Bloody Mary's. Oh, we did go to a dog show too. :-) Lily brought home another Best of Opposite on Monday while Obie took Reserve Winners Dog. Rio and Lucah showed well, but no ribbons for them this weekend. Debi tells me Lily has 13 BOS awards this year--a chip off Calli's block as well as a tribute to Debi's handling skills."
Test Results. "This was also a great week for health test results. Drum roll please................ Lily and Rio both received their final OFA results and their hips are GOOD and elbows normal. Both also have OFA certificates for cardiac, patellas and thyroid as well as CERF, vWD and cystinuria. It seems that Mulder and Calli have produced healthy as well as beautiful pups."
Speaking of test results, I just realized that I hadn't put Lucah's results from last July on the web page (a bit belated as I mentioned above). Per Caroline (who is responsible for all aspects of our breeding program-I just do the web page): "Lucah's OFA results show that his elbows are normal and.....hips EXCELLENT. I couldn't be happier with those results. Lucah has passed all the health tests and has received his Health Certificate from AKC as well. As a breeder, I am as happy with the health results as I am with the championship titles. Thank you Valerie( Castle Creek Mastiffs) and Kellye (Mulder) for supplying the foundation for this litter. Since the Comstock pups all have wonderful temperaments, I would say it is possible to have it all--temperament, health and Mastiff type."
Yesterday, Obie took Winners Dog and Best of Winners at the Dixon Dog Show to earn another point towards his AKC Champion Title. He now needs only 3 minor points.
This past Sunday (Nov. 7), at the Mid-State Fairgrounds in Paso Robles, Obie and Thumper took WD and WB respectively and earned the final points needed for their AKC Champion Title. Obie also took BOW while Thumper went BOS. Obie also took WD and BOW the previous day. Congratulations to Marilyn and Ginny.
Hall of Fame. Sunday's wins mean that Calli has produced 5 Champions which qualifies her for the Mastiff Club of America Hall of Fame. Even more remarkable is that all 5 Champions are from the same litter. Way to go Calli!
A Great Weekend! It was a great weekend for eating, drinking and showing. Since the Paso Robles show is only about 20 minutes north of us we acted as base camp and everyone stayed with us. Debi had the grandkids bedroom which she shared with Toby (MGM Mastiffs) while Lily, who was in standing heat, was relegated to our shed/large dog pen at the far end of our yard. Marilyn (of MGM Mastiff fame) had the guest bedroom while Obie slept in the laundry room. Leslie and her young son, Connor, shared our motor home with Rio and Pearl (also an MGM Mastiff). Our boys, Lucah and Riles slept in the garage while House Princess Calli was bummed out in Caroline's music studio. During the day we did a lot of dog shifting around between the house and the various pens we had set up. It was a tad chaotic at times but in an enjoyable way.
Ginny and Thumper live in Atascadero also so that they didn't need to stay with us. Ginny did drop by Friday evening for our big lasagna feed.
Saturday (Nov. 6). On Saturday we had 6 Comstock dogs entered. Three in the classes; Obie, Riles and Thumper and three in Breed; Rio, Lily and Lucah (a move-up). They all looked good in my unbiased judgment but the actual Judge didn't entirely agree. He did pick Obie for WD and BOW which brought Obie to within one minor point of his Champion title. Thumper got a good look but lost out to a nice looking pup that ended up BOS.
With Obie taking WD it meant that Comstock would have 4 dogs in the Breed ring. The lineup was such that I was able to get a picture of all 4 of them at once. Of course it was virtually impossible to time the shot when all 4 dogs and handlers were stacked and ready. A nice looking bunch I must say. Lily was moving well and looked good but may have been a bit too big (she weighs 202 lb.) for the Judge.
Spice. Rob and Constance brought Spice to the fairgrounds so that she could watch her siblings show. She is a very pretty outgoing girl. She is an open brindle just like Rio. Everytime Caroline emailed a brag about Rio winning we would get a reply from Constance saying "GO OPEN BRINDLES".
After the show we all returned to our place for Brunch (we had an early show time). Rob and Constance brought Spice along (whats one more Mastiff) to meet and greet everybody. She had a great time with everyone.
Kitchen Crew. The kitchen seemed to be a favorite place. The left photo was around Brunch time. The right photo was taken in the evening as the various cooks were preparing dinner. This reunion theme dinner was Thanksgiving. Roast turkey breasts with Debi's famous dressing and Marilyn's delicious DumpCake (don't ask). Plus, of course, numerous bottles of wine. It was a fun evening.
Sunday (Nov. 7). Fortunately Sunday's show time was not early. This day only five Comstock dogs were entered. Riles got the day off. It started off with Obie taking Winners Dog and earning the final point needed for his Champion title. Then Thumper took Winners Bitch and the two points needed for her title. We were all clapping and jumping around at ringside like we had just taken BIS.
Then came the Breed Class. This time we had five Comstock dogs in the ring. As I was taking pictures it suddenly dawned on me that we actually had 5 Champions from the same litter in the ring at the same time. I suspect that doesn't happen often. The lineup was such that I couldn't get all five dogs in the same shot but I did Rio/Lucah and Lily/Obie/Thumper photos.
Rio looked good in the ring. Considering that this was the first time for Leslie in an AKC show ring (she had shown Rio to a Championship at a much smaller International Show) she did an excellent job. Lucah was his usual laid-back self. Unfortunately, neither boy won. Debi and Ginny battled it out for BOS. The Judge kept going back and forth between Lily and Thumper and finally selected Thumper as BOS. Obie took BOW over Thumper.
After the show we all headed back to our place and celebrated with a bottle of good champagne and leftover turkey sandwiches. As I said at the start- "A Great Weekend!".
Thanksgiving Weekend. On the Wed. before Thanksgiving, Caroline, Debi and Leslie headed for Yuma, Arizona and a 4 day Dog Show. They spent Wed. night in Banning just a mile or so from a very big, fancy Outlet Mall. Fortunately their vans/SUVs were too full of dogs and dog stuff to allow them to buy much. On Thursday they arrived in Yuma and had Thanksgiving dinner at Leslie's parents home. I remained home to dog-sit and fended for myself on Thanksgiving. Lest you feel too sorry for me let me say that fending for myself meant eating a fine Dinner at the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo. I was so full afterward that I had no room for the large slice of Black Forest cake included in the meal. The waitress was kind enough to pack up the cake for me and I enjoyed it about 11 PM that night.
The 4 day Dog Show in Yuma resulted in 2 Best of Opposite Sex (BOS) wins for Lily. Lucah and Rio showed well but didn't win anything. When you show in the Best of Breed class there are no ribbons for second place-its all or nothing. Debi and Caroline switched dogs on the last day of the show with Caroline handling Lily and Debi handling Lucah. Caroline said that Lucah gave her an odd look like "Hey! Mom. You got it backward!"
Leslie did a good job of handling Rio. The only picture I have of Leslie and Rio was taken by one of Leslie's relatives at ringside. Leslie also showed Pearl (MGM Mastiffs) a couple of days.
Chaucer. In early December Caroline headed south for a show in Burbank. Lucah didn't win anything but he got to "meet & greet" people and kids which is all he really cares about. Jay brought Chaucer by so that Caroline could see how he was doing. Now that Lucah is finished it is time to get Chaucer back in the show ring. He is looking good as the pictures show.
Jay has a friend who owns a bulldog named Kilo. Chaucer and Kilo are great buddies. Jay sent us this priceless picture of the two dogs sharing a bed.
Riles Makes a Friend. On New Years Day Caroline's sister, Colleen, flew in for a short visit. She is basically a cat person but feels comfortable with our Mastiffs. First we let "Mr. Meet & Greet" (aka Lucah) in the Family room with Colleen. He immediately grabbed a toy and ran over to Colleen and wanted to play.
After the play session with Lucah ended, we brought Riles in to meet Colleen. Now, Riles is just the opposite of Lucah when it comes to meeting new people. He stands back and observes. The more you try to get him to make friends the more he resists. Colleen fed him a few treats which he took guardedly. When she tried to pet him he backed away. The trick with Riles is to sort of ignore him and let him decide when he wants to make friends.
We left Riles in the Family Room while Caroline and Colleen watched TV. Riles kept glancing at Colleen as if to say "is she still here? / is she staying?" After a while Colleen fell asleep on the couch. Riles kept looking at her. Finally he got up and went over and sniffed Colleen which startled her awake (nothing like opening your eyes to a huge Mastiff head just inches away) which, in turn, startled Riles. Much to his credit, Riles decided it was times to make friends with Colleen as the pictures below show. First he offered her his paw (the only trick he knows), then he sniffed her again, and then he gave her a friendly kiss. They were now friends. After Colleen left to return home a day later, Riles came into the Family Room and acted disappointed that his new friend was not there.
Rio & Lily Visit. The first Dog Show of the year in California occurs in early January in Palm Springs (actually in Indio-a few miles east). Caroline thought it would be a good show for Rio so she picked him up from Leslie on Wed. before the show. This would give Caroline a couple of days to work with him on Conformation (with me acting as Judge). Debi also decided to show Lily and arrived at our place late Thursday night. On Friday morning, in spite of predictions of massive storms heading for Southern California, they left on the 330 mile drive to Palm Springs. (I think Dog Show people are like golfers-a little weather isn't going to ruin their day!). I stayed home to dog-sit.
Fortunately very little rain fell in the Palm Springs/Indio area. Unfortunately neither Rio or Lily won anything. The drive home Sunday afternoon in a heavy rain was not pleasant per my wife. (Sometimes it pays to stay home and dog-sit). Fortunately they did manage to stay a step ahead of the accidents and mud-slides.
Caroline said that Rio and Lily got along fine in the Comfort Suite that Caroline and Debi shared. Unfortunately nobody took a camera along to document that fact. I did take some pictures on Monday of the two dogs together in our Family Room. They did get along fine although at times they started to get a little too playful. (Two Mastiffs rough-housing indoors can be a little tough on the furniture as well as the people nearby.) When that happened we sent them out back.
THE WEIGH-IN! This past Monday (1/10), since we had Rio and Lily here, we decided to do a weigh-in at our vet's office. Caroline has been keeping our boys on the slim side and she was guessing their weight at about 220 lb. She was a bit off as you can see below. If she hadn't weighed Lucah herself she wouldn't have believed it. He is one solid Mastiff. Sweet Lily is right in there with the boys. She is a big-boned girl and carries her weight very well but Debi is going to trim her down about 5 lb or so.
Pup Weights - January 10, 2005 (31 months) Lucah = 236 lb. Riles = 226 lb. Lily = 216 lb. Rio = 211 lb.
More Weights. Inspired by the above weigh-in, Princess and Obie were weighed by Martha and Marilyn respectively. Princess weighed 150.2 lb. and Obie weighed 226.5 lb. (I suspect that Marilyn had her thumb on the scale to beat out Riles.)
The TV Watchers. Glancing through the picture files I came across a couple of nice photos of Lucah and Caroline laying in front of the TV. Lucah is usually more interested in nibbling on Caroline's ears than watching TV. (General Warning: Remove all earrings before settling within ear reach of a Mastiff.)
Calli.While at the Dog Show on Sunday, Caroline picked up the latest issue of "Dog News". In the magazine, Pedigree listed the Top Producers of 2004 for each breed. The Top Producers are those sires and dams that had the most new Champions finished in 2004. Under Mastiffs our Calli was listed as the Top Producing Mastiff Dam of 2004 with five (5) Champions finished during the year. This is how she was listed:
TOP PRODUCERS OF 2004.
MASTIFFS
Dam CH Castle Creek's Comstock Calli CH Comstock's Listen to Your Heart CH Comstock Calli's Tiger Lily CH Comstock's MGM Oberon CH Comstock's Rio Grande CH Comstock's Surprise Prospect
Congratulations Calli! Also Congratulations and Thanks to Leslie, Debi, Marilyn and Ginny for making Calli's Honor possible.
We are even prouder of the fact that the Garden State Mastiff Fanciers requested permission to use the boys photo on all sorts of things for sale to the public. We gave them permission to use our copyrighted photo for raising funds to benefit the Mastiff breed. (It was pointed out by the club rep. that they refrained from using the photo on boxer shorts and thongs.) By now you are no doubt waiting with baited (bated?) breathe to see this wonderous photo. If you would like to see the boys photo on various items please visit Garden State Mastiffs Fancier store on CafePress. Feel free to buy something-it is for a good cause. By the way, we do not receive anything from the sale of these goods. In fact it is probably going to end up costing me a fortune as Caroline buys all sorts of items.
Rio and Lily. On May 14 and 15, Rio and Lily were shown by Leslie and Debi respectively in Woodland, CA. (Caroline wasn't there-she had to work.) Lily took BOS both days under Debi's skillful handling. On Sunday Leslie showed Rio to a BOB. There are no pictures of those showings as both Debi and Leslie were in the ring. Leslie and Debi decided that Debi should take Rio into the Group Ring as she had more experience showing. (The Group Ring can be quite competitive with all of the Professional Handlers jockying for a Group placement, i.e., more money.) Rio did not get a Group placement but he showed quite well with Debi as the pictures taken by Leslie show. Good job, Ladies.
Calli's Collar Award. As noted earlier, Calli was recognized as the Top Producing Mastiff of 2004 in Dog News Magazine. The Mastiff Club of America (MCOA) awarded her their Collar Award for Top Producing Brood Bitch in 2004. She also received the MCOA Hall of Fame Award for producing 5 Champions. I haven't shown that Award here yet as there were some errors that need correcting.
Lily Ranked. The latest issue of the MCOA Journal showed that Lily was ranked number 8 nationally in 2004 in terms of Mastiff BOS points. When you consider that she was only specialed a little over half a year that is quite an achievement for the Lily/Debi team. Again, good job, Ladies.
Birthday Party? Alas, we did not have a birthday cake for the boys this year. They did get a slab of ribs to munch on, however, so don't feel too sorry for them. I did get a nice picture of Lucah curled up with his rabbit a few days ago.
Yesterday we had our annual Comstock Pups Reunion. Seven of the 10 pups were present. Doug and Ann (Maisie) now live in South Carolina which is a bit far to travel for the reunion but they sent pictures of Maisie which I've included here. Jay (Chaucer) and Marilyn (Obie) had other committments and were unable to attend.
Debi arrived late Friday evening with Lily and Toby. She did an excellent job Saturday morning of setting up the patio for our party as can be seen in the left photo. Rather colorful wouldn't you say?
Most everyone arrived about noon and after a reasonable period of snacking (and drinking) we decided it was time for the annual pup swim. Thumper went first and swam like a champ. Spice was next and, just like last year, showed how she could walk on water. Rio swam well once he was "helped" into the pool. Lily swam after Rio. She is a very powerful swimmer like her mother, Calli, and Thumper. We used our K9 Float Coat on all of the dogs although Thumper has gone swimming in our pool without it.
Princess Arrives. This year was the first year that Martha and Princess were able to make it to the Pup Reunion. They arrived fashionably late (traffic?) and Princess made a grand entrance as seen in the left photo. After removing her Tiara and gown she turned out to be a good swimmer and seemed to enjoy the water. While waiting for her swim turn, I got a nice photo of Princess in the backyard where she was intent on something.
We didn't swim Lucah, Riles or Calli as they get to swim almost every day and it was getting late and we still had the group photo to take before the sun got too low.
The Group Photo.We got everyone on the front lawn in front of the birch trees. Caroline had figured out a lineup that she believed would cause the least commotion. The dogs all behaved quite well. After a few shots of all the pups, Caroline went and got momma Calli and put her on a down stay in front of the pup lineup. Nobody bolted! The best of the group shots is shown below. Martha is on the far left with Princess, then Leslie with Rio, Ginny with Thumper, Caroline with Riles, Debi with Lily, Rob (Spice's owner) with Lucah and Constance with Spice. I was behind the camera with the squeaker to get the dogs to look toward me for the photo.
After the group shot we put the dogs in the various pens we had set up and adjourned to the patio and/or house for wine, margaritas, beer or warm milk depending on preference. (Not much interest in warm milk actually.) The photos below show everyone relaxing after the strenuous group photo. I've also included two nice shots of Spice-one of her moving nicely on the back lawn and one of her also relaxing in the Family Room.
After the dogs were all fed we started on our dinner. Leslie prepared blackened halibut on the barbecue in her special 14" skillet. It was delicious. I prepared my usual London Broil Rare (I have a limited repertoire when it comes to cooking). There were various salads, salsas, wedding rice, garlic bread, etc. supplied by Ginny, Constance, Debi and Martha. It was all excellent and we all stuffed ourselves-especially me. (An observant person might notice that there are no pictures past the time dinner started.) For dessert we had the cake shown on the right (I took that picture earlier in the day). The picture on the cake is of the pups at 4 weeks of age. Everyone had fun trying to guess which pup was which.
I forgot to mention that all of the pups got a stuffed animal as a birthday gift before they left. Calli and our boys enjoy carrying and curling up with their "animals". Some Mastiffs (like our old Rescue, Thor) won't rest until they rip the squeaker out. I'm afraid that Princess and Lily are of the "rip-apart" sort. As Martha said in her email to us "The bunny died on Sunday" (right photo). According to Debi, Lily not only destroyed her toy but Toby's toy as well.
Then there is the other extreme per Constance's email "okay, guess Spice can win something of a prize....the birthday hippo is still very much in one piece and sitting beside her bed in our room. Never miind the fact that she's not a toy-type dog and gives it a wary eye every night as she trundles by it on her way to her other bed across the room! ;-) "
Next Page. This page is full so to continue following the Adventures of the Comstock Clan please go to COMSTOCK Mastiffs 2005.
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