COMSTOCK MASTIFFS - 2007
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 Riles and Lucah in November 2006.
Here are two photos of the boys down in the pasture taken this past Christmas.
.
.
Below are some pictures of Lucah's son, Bingley, in the snow in Colorado and with his mother, Gia, at the top of the stairs.
The boys, Lucah and Riles, are anxious to meet her and she seems interested in them. We will introduce them gradually, one at a time, so as not to overpower Caitlin.
The other three pups have been in their new homes for several days and are settling in nicely. Their pictures were supplied by their proud and happy owners.
Caitlin is fitting in well with the boys. She likes to play toy tug with Lucah. He doesn't let her win but he doesn't jerk the toy away either. She is also learning her sit command with the boys. She hasn't mastered the stay part of the sit-stay command however. That will come with time. She is a very pretty girl as the right hand photo shows.
Caitlin had her first swim lesson in our lap pool today. The water temperature was about 80+ F. She was a bit hesitant at first on the entrance ramp. Caroline finally enticed her into the water with a toy. Caitlin did almost a full width (10 ft.) with Caroline helping her. Caitlin was actually swimming a bit on the return to the ramp. We think she is going to be a good water dog like Calli.
We took Caitlin and Lucah to a fun Puppy Match in Goleta (about 2 hr. south of us) to socialize her a bit and give her some show ring experience. She was the only Mastiff pup entered. She did a good job of stacking for the Judge but wanted to play when the Judge went to touch her.
It turns out that one of Lucah's pups out of Tangee (Windfall Mastiffs) lives in the area and came to the show grounds to meet Lucah. Her name is Sage and she is a beautiful dark fawn. She went right up to Lucah to make his aquaintance. Lucah was a perfect gentleman and the two got along fine.
Caitlin and Sage also met and did a little harmless wrestling. Sage's mom, Laura, gave Caitlin a nice soft toy (all Mastiffs seem to like soft toys) which Caitlin carried around our backyard most of the day after we got home from the show.
Caitlin is fitting in with the boys quite well. We usually take a walk around our orchard area in the morning finishing in the front yard. At first Caitlin was a little cautious venturing out of the fenced backyard. Eventually she decided to join us and the boys in our morning outing. She can scoot along with the big dogs when she wants as the lefthand pixture shows.
In the front yard the three dogs are put to work practicing obedience commands such as sit-stay and down-stay. Caitlin is getting much better in obedience. I think the boys make good role models.
Caitlin looks up to Riles (so to speak) as the somewhat gross picture on the left shows. After her "slime" appetizer, Caitlin cleanses her palate with one of our gourmet weeds.
A Strange Bird. The other day I looked over the fence and saw a long-necked white bird in our pond. I thought at first it was an Egret which visited our pond a year or so ago. But this bird was much bigger and I think it was a Heron. I tried to sneak closer to get a better picture of it sitting by the pond. It apparently heard me and took flight. Thanks to my new digital camera which has very little delay when pressing the shutter release combined with image stabilization I was able to get a fairly decent picture from about 200 feet away.
The weekend before Easter we took Lucah and Caitlin to an AKC Dog Show in Bakersfield (about 2.5 hours east of us) in our Motorhome. Caroline walked her around the grounds and the various Vendors. Caitlin got to meet and greet people and other dogs. She also enjoyed laying outside the Motorhome with Lucah watching everyone walk by.
Easter weekend our daughter and grandkids visited us. They had been looking forward to meeting Caitlin and renewing acquaintances with Lucah. The grandkids and dogs had a good time together. Caitlin seemed to bond especially well to our granddaughter and vice versa.
It is not all play amongst the Comstock Clan. Almost every morning Caroline is out stacking and moving the dogs as if in a show ring. I often act as Judge checking their teeth and conformation etc. I take pictures so that Caroline can critique her stacking technique. I've included pix of Lucah and Riles in their stacked pose. I also got a nice shot of Caitlin in a beautiful pose looking at the neighbors horse.
After breakfast Lucah and Caitlin usually stay outside in the backyard if the weather is nice. Riles prefers the indoors. Mastiffs usually sleep the day away after eating with each dog having a favorite sleeping spot. Caitlin prefers the pad just outside the Family Room door. Lucah usually stretches out on the grass. This morning as I looked out the Family Room window I saw Lucah and Caitlin snuggled together on Caitlin's pad. I'm not sure if Lucah laid on her pad first and Caitlin squeezed in next to him or if Lucah laid down next to Caitlin. As I said earlier, Caitlin seems to be fitting in nicely with the boys.
Caroline drove to the shelter and verified that it was an English Mastiff. She was about 8-9 years old and had obviously been bred (probably several times) and had not been spayed. She had several lumps on her body including a very large one above her right shoulder. Her toe nails were so long she had difficulty walking. Also, she was totally blind-probably from PRA.
Caroline brought her home that day (is anyone surprised?). She gave the dog a bath and did some toe nail trimming (the nails were too long to trim completely in one session). The dog was well behaved during the bath and toe trimming. Caroline said she was a real honey and that became her name. Did I mention that Honey is a beautiful Apricot color.
We took her to the Vet for a health check and bloodwork to be sure she could withstand the spay (required for dogs adopted from the shelter) and lump removal. The Vet aspirated the largest lump and believed it was benign because it was fluid filled. He thought she was reasonably healthy. Her heart sounded strong. Her bloodwork came back normal the next day.
Honey is adjusting nicely to her new life. She has large grassy pen outdoors where she stays when the weather is nice. She gets to wander around our orchard area (with us nearby) to stretch her legs. At night she sleeps in a large crate in our bedroom. The boys and Caitlin have met Honey through the pen enclosure. Tails were wagging on both sides of the fence. In the near future we will start working Honey into the Clan by walking her on leash with the boys (individually at first) and Caitlin.
This morning Caroline took Honey to the Vet for her spay and tumor removal. She will return home tomorrow. Please wish her well.
Honey. How about a few pictures of Honey to enjoy while you are waiting for the update. She has recovered nicely from her surgeries and is enjoying life as part of the Comstock Clan.
Caitlin. Also, here are three pictures of Caitlin showing that she has grown just a tad in 6 months.
The Bucks, PA. show was on Saturday, May 5 and the Trenton shows were on Sunday and Monday, May 6 & 7. Bucks and Trenton are about an hour apart.
I've never seen so many Brindles at a Dog Show as I did that weekend. Lucah showed well all three days and got a good look from the Judges but did not win. Actually, at Bucks, not a single brindle was in the final pool of ten for Best of Breed. Brindles did much better at the two Trenton shows. Although we did not win we got to meet some East coast Mastiff people that Caroline had corresponded with via Email. It was an enjoyable and interesting experience.
After we left Ohio we continued westward to Denver, Colorado. Our intent was to meet with Nick & Shannon Van Duren (VanD Mastiffs) and see Bingley, another of Lucah's sons, out of Gia. Unfortunately (for us) that day Nick and Shannon were on the way to the Vet for delivery of a litter of pups. We had a nice lunch in Denver and admired the snow-capped Rockies in the distance. After lunch we drove up through those same snow-capped mountains. We stopped at a rest area at 10,000 feet plus to let Lucah play in the snow. Actually. he didn't play so much but more like sank in the snow up to his elbows. Caroline had a tough time getting him out and back to solid footing. Lucah gave us this funny look like "what are you guys trying to do to me?"
One of the first orders of business after returning home was to get the Clan re-acquainted. We took the boys and Caitlin down into our pasture and Caroline ran them through sit, stay and come commands until they got comfortable with each other. After that exercise they enjoyed romping around the pasture together.
The Watcher. While we were wandering the pasture one day I noticed Caitlin sitting and intently watching something. She sat very still for the longest time but I never did figure out what held her attention so strongly.
Those of you who follow this web page know that we hold a Puppy Reunion every year. Last year we held it in November to coincide with the Paso Robles Dog Show (about 20 minutes north of us). This year we decided to hold it near the pups birthday which is June 8. The weather is warmer in June so that we can swim the dogs plus the days are longer. We actually had the reunion on Saturday June 9 (it carries over to the next day as well since everyone either stays with us or lives in the area). A good portion of the pictures re the Puppy reunion were taken by Constance.
The reunion consisted of eating, drinking, swimming the dogs, and Rally Practice. This years food theme was "Appetizers and Desserts". There was also an adequate supply of wine to get us through the day/evening.
Swim Session. The weather was beautiful and the pool temperature was 80F+ so the dogs got to swim. Most of them love it. Caitlin has learned to swim without the FloatCoat just like Calli. The boys, Lucah & Riles, seem to be bottom-heavy and do much better with the FloatCoat. The FloatCoat is a great way to introduce dogs to swimming in a pool or anywhere else for that matter.
After the swim session a few of us had some appetizers while others watched.
Rally Practice! A few Rally Practice photos below. A Rally Course consists of a series of signs along the way telling the handler what to do with the dog. This may be a "sit" or a "down" or "right turn" or "traverse the cones in a zig-zag manner" and so on. How well a dog/handler combination does in our fun Rally is somewhat dependent on how much wine the handler has had. For that reason we don't use a Judge.
Riles. After Debi finished running Riles through the Rally Course she decided to stack him in a show pose. Debi has this dream of finishing Riles in the Show Ring. Riles has great conformation and would certainly be a Champion if he would let a Judge check him over. He has let a Judge touch his head but no way is Riles going to let a stranger come up from behind and touch his rear. He just keeps turning to face the Judge.
After Debi finished show stacking Riles, she took him over to Rob and Constance who were sitting nearby. As mentioned previously, Riles is stand-offish with people until he gets to know them well. It is never easy to tell when he is going to decide that a person is truly a friend. He has seen Rob & Constance at all the Puppy Reunions and has taken treats from them but never really let them pet him. This time he went over to Rob and Gave him a kiss!. It caught me entirely off-guard, I didn't have my camera ready. He then did the same to Constance which I caught with my camera.
After that, Rob took Riles through the Rally Course without a problem and then they sat together for awhile. Rob was really enjoying finally having Riles as a friend. Constance took a very nice head shot of Riles while he was with Rob.
Group Photo. Of course, no Puppy Reunion would be complete without the Group Photo. Things go a little smoother and quicker now that the "pups" have mellowed a bit. Some of the dogs are starting to get a bit gray (as opposed to their owners who haven't aged a bit in the last five years).
After the photo shoot we spent the rest of the day/evening at the wine/munchie/dessert bars talking about dogs (what else?). The dogs all got to eat as well in case you are wondering. It was a very enjoyable day and, once again, Caroline & I remarked to each other about the wonderful friendships that have developed as a result of Calli's litter of 10 pups five years ago.
Pawtograph Signing. The next morning after a delicious breakfast, Martha held a Pawtograph signing for Princess. As mentioned earlier on this page, Princess had her picture in the March issue of DOGFANCY magazine. Martha brought a bunch of copies of the magazine and a large ink pad and had Princess put her paw print on the magazine article. Each comstock pup owner got their own pawtographed copy.
Lily was a good patient. We were able to confine her to a small area and potty her on-lead. Gradually, as her knee healed, Caroline was able to take her for short walks around the yard. Eventually Lily was able to walk normally and Caroline would take her to the local park for exercise. Lily loved those walks. She is a gorgeous example of the Mastiff breed as the pictures show.
Aslan and Sage.Two of Lucah's pups out of Tangee (Windfall Mastiffs) Were placed in Southern California. Aslan, a good-looking brindle male just like his dad lives in Redlands and Sage, a beautiful fawn girl lives in Goleta (recently relocated to Colorado). Both dogs came to Camp Comstock for about a week (at different times) for show training by Caroline. They both have very nice temperments and excellent show potential.
Rio. Rio visited over Christmas so that his family could visit their family. Leslie is coming tomorrow to pick him up. He has been a good boy but you can tell he misses his people and their routine. He is a very striking Mastiff with that open brindle coat and good size. He slept in the grandkids' room and had the side yard during the day (when it wasn't too cold). The left photo shows Rio getting his Christmas toy. He also got some time in the Family Room with Caroline (right photo).
Caroline drove up to see the litter at about two weeks. When she returned home and started to refer to the brindle pup as "Lucah Jr." I began to suspect that she was thinking of taking a pup in lieu of the stud fee.
Ladies and Gentlemen, let me introduce the newest members of the Comstock Clan - Mulder and Molly.
Continue on to Comstock Mastiffs 2008.
Return to previous page Comstock Mastiffs 2005/2006.
Number of visitors since 1/01/07 =