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COMSTOCK MASTIFFS - 2002
A SMALL KENNEL OF ENGLISH MASTIFFS
Maintained by Caroline and Ron Tobin
Atascadero, California
Email: RONTOBIN@aol.com
Note: Click on thumbnail pictures for an enlarged version.
June 8, 2002 - CALLI HAD 10 PUPS!
For more photos and info go to our new puppy page Comstock Pups-2002
To view our most current page (#16) please go to COMSTOCK MASTIFFS - 2004/2005.
After months of research reviewing pedigrees, health records, photos, MCOA Journals, consulting with knowledgeable breeders, etc., etc., my wife, Caroline, finally selected a mate for Calli. For all the details please click on Calli Breeding. For info and photos on the pups delivery and subsequent growth please go to Comstock Pups-2002
JUNE 7, 2001 - Our Mastiff Family Photo Album.
This web page is basically a continuation of the "Mastiff Family Photo Album" that we started in early Fall of 1996 and somehow never got around to updating past early June of 1998. For those of you who would like to review the early years, click on Comstock Mastiffs to have a more complete picture of what it is like to live with a group of Mastiffs. I hope that what comes across from reviewing these pages is the joy, love, silliness and unfortunately, the sorrow, of sharing your life with these magnificent animals. I hope to add a picture or two each week or so of our Mastiffs at work and play. The picture on the right is the most recent of the Comstock Clan as of this date. It is very difficult to get them altogether facing the same direction (except, of course, when I don't have my camera).
If, after reviewing our picture album, you think you would like to own an English Mastiff I suggest you seriously consider adopting a Rescue Mastiff. They make great companions. Our two Rescues are very appreciative of their home and are not as spoiled as our three that we raised from puppyhood. For the latest info on adopting, nearest contacts, dogs available, etc. please go to the MCOA National web page Rescue/Placement Service.
Although we are no longer active in MCOA Rescue we still do some local rescue (Caroline volunteers 1 day/week at the local Animal Shelter). We also still maintain a scaled back web page entitled: HELPING ONE DOG AT A TIME which is not limited to Mastiffs.
Summary-June 1998 to June 2001.
The Comstock Webpage has been inactive for 3 years, partly due to moving, our commitments to MCOA Rescue, and our sorrow over losing two more of our beloved companions to osteosarcoma; littermates Sara Bear and Mandy. However, much has happened in those 3 years and I think it is time to continue our album of Mastiffs.
Sara Bear lost her battle with cancer on June 24, 1998. She had eight very good months post diagnosis and we were grateful for every moment. She never had a title on either end of her name, but she showed courage throughout her life with the many medical problems she had starting at birth. Sara had PRA and was blind for the last year or so of her life.
We adopted Thor from MCOA Rescue in June 1998. He was the last dog we fostered before I retired (temporarily) to enjoy being a Grandma and to find another home for us out of Southern California. You can read about Thor by clicking on Tribute to Thor. He is almost 10 years old and Mom's "handsome" boy. He is now totally blind depending on us to guide him, but a wonderful companion nonetheless.
We moved north to Atascadero in October 1998. We had four Mastiffs at that time; Mandy, Tessa, Keeper and Thor. We added a puppy to the group in January 1999. Her name is Calli. We had not intended to get another dog having just lost three Mastiffs in the past year. I'm glad we changed our minds since Calli has been a wonderful addition to the clan and has helped us relive the joy of owning a Mastiff puppy. To see Calli's growth (she is now two years old) click on Calli's Story.
We adopted a second dog from MCOA Rescue named Noah in June 2000. Once again I retired from Rescue and took a dog with me. To find out more about Noah click on The Story of Noah. Noah is another shelter dog, approximately six years of age. He too has PRA though his daylight vision is still good.
Sadly we found out in July 2000 that Mandy had osteosarcoma (bone cancer) just as her dam and sister Sara Bear did. At the time, Mandy was 8-1/2 years old and blind from PRA. Unfortunately, she only had 11 weeks with us before we had to say goodbye. We still miss her greatly, but know it was time to let her go.
So the Comstock Clan, aka Mesa Mob or Apple Orchard Gang currently consists of five Mastiffs. From oldest to youngest we have Thor (10 years old), Noah (age 6), Tessa (age 6), our long-haired mastiff Keeper (age 4) and Calli (age 2).
Thank you for visiting our page, and I hope you enjoy meeting the clan and seeing their pictures. We will try to update the page frequently, so please stop back often.
Caroline Tobin
June 13, '01 - Keeper is in the Kitchen.
Keeper's favorite room is the kitchen. He particularly likes to supervise preparation of the Clan's meals. He tends to have a fit (i.e., fusses, whines and paces around the kitchen) if the meal prep. is interrupted with a phone call or something. The picture on the left gives a good view of his fluffy tail.
June 20, '01 - Thor, Noah & Calli.
Thor also likes to be in the kitchen when meals are being prepared. He, however, does not supervise preparation as does Keeper.
We had the grandkids plus nieces visit us last week. Noah remains relaxed through it all. He loves the attention.
Calli loves our seasonal pond. Here she is training to be a retriever. When Calli tires of Caroline continuing to toss the toy in the pond Calli takes it to the small island in the middle of the pond where Caroline can't get it.
June 23, '01 - Tessa: Mellowing in her old age? NOT!
After this morning's conformation training session with Calli, Caroline thought it would be worthwhile to do some refresher training with our 6+ year old girl, Tessa, with an eye towards showing her in the Veteran's Class. This is the girl that we called "Turbo-Tess" in her youth. Well, folks, she hasn't changed (or slowed) a bit. As soon as Caroline slipped the show collar on her Tessa went into her "lets grab the lead in my mouth and play tug" mode as the photo collage shows. (A video is needed to better grasp her energy level.)
After a few hectic minutes Caroline was able to get her favorite show lead away from Tessa. As she walked off I heard her mutter "I'll never show this bitch in Veteran's Class." (The term bitch, of course, refers to a female dog.)
Actually, Caroline was eventually able to calm Tessa down and get her stacked. Tessa is still a beautiful example of a Mastiff. Maybe when she is 10 years old she will mellow a bit.
June 29, '01 - The Watchers and the Ostrich.
While Caroline obedience trains Calli in the morning (Calli is on a down-stay in front of Caroline) the rest of the Clan watches intently hoping to learn. Actually they know Caroline has treats for training and they hope to get a piece of the action. Meanwhile Thor is off in the distance no doubt thinking "I'm too old to learn new tricks."
The photo at the left shows Keeper doing his Ostrich imitation. He heard a gopher and was determined to get it. Never did but he gave it a valiant try.
July 7, '01 - In the House?
A common question we hear when we are out with our dogs is "You don't let them in the house do you?" The answer can be seen in the photo at the left. It was very hot a few days ago and the dogs preferred to be in the air conditioned house laying on the cool tile. Our other two dogs were also inside. Calli in Caroline's music studio and Noah in the Master bedroom. They stir only to eat. (What a life!)
July 19, '01 - Show Time for Calli!
Caroline showed Calli at several AKC Dog Shows this past month or so. Calli managed to take two Best of Opposite Sex (BOS) ribbons. Calli likes to show but what she really likes is her "Motel 6 time" with her lady where she can just lie on the bed, play with her toy and watch TV. She also gets some pretty good leftovers after Caroline eats out.
July 21, '01 - Keeper & Caroline.
Caroline likes to loll about in bed in the morning sipping her coffee while I, of course, am busy doing important stuff. Keeper loves to join her. He is very gentle about climbing on the bed but tends to lay across Caroline's legs causing them to go numb in a rather short time.
Aug. 14, '01 - Calli, Keeper & Tessa.
Calli completed her Novice Obedience Class a week or so ago. She was tops in her class with a score of 193 (out of 200) on the final exam (which is essentially conducted like an actual obedience trial). Caroline was extremely pleased as Calli beat a couple of Golden Retrievers.
Keeper had a bath yesterday. His coat is so thick that he has to be blow-dryed. He seems to enjoy it as long as the dryer does't get too close to his head. When he is clean and dry he looks gorgeous with his flowing tail and pantaloons. Of course once he lays down in the weeds his tail picks up every burr around.
While Keeper was getting dryed Tessa was rolling around on her back on one of her bones (seen sticking out from under her). I believe it is her version of Rolfing. (I believe that is the term for a form of massage using hard rollers on your body but I couldn't find it in my rather cheap antiquated dictionary.)
Sep. 13, '01 - Our Dogs in Various States of Repose.
Calli at rest in our pasture. She took Best of Breed last Saturday at the AKC Dog Show in Petaluma with Caroline handling.
Thor and Tessa asleep in the family room.
Noah and Keeper asleep on the patio.
Caroline and Keeper relaxing during the afternoon wine break.
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Sep. 26, '01 - Gray and Distinguished.
Thor is starting to turn increasingly gray as he ages gracefully. We think it makes him even more handsome. He still moves well and can be surprisingly fast (and forceful) when he is moving towards his food dish at meal time. He is the main forager among the Clan and is down at the plum tree every chance he gets. We put x-pens around the tree but he just pushes them in until he can reach the plums.
Oct. 25, '01 - Calli Turns Three!
Hard to believe but our little pup turned three years old a couple of days ago. Caroline made the traditional Mastiff Birthday Cake-baked hamburger with dog biscuits for candles. The pictures show Calli inspecting the "cake", eating the candles and some of the "cake" and passing judgement on the "cake". She did have to share her cake with the other dogs (a bummer!).
Nov. 10, '01 - Noah is Gone.
Sadly, we had to put Noah to sleep yesterday. The past couple of weeks he had been having increasing difficulty in getting up. We started him back on Prednisone. His front leg(s) seemed to be bothering him. The problem with the front legs combined with his weak rear required that we help him up. We also started him on Rimadyl to ease the pain. He had a couple of episodes of apparent severe pain in his neck or front as we helped him up. We had our vet evaluate him on Wednesday and he did not find anything obvious. He thought it was just a continuous worsening of Noah's spinal condition.
On Thursday, Caroline and I decided that is was time to put Noah down before he started to suffer. He seemed to rest quietly but when he had to get up it was obviously painful. He no longer had an acceptable "Quality of Life". It was a very difficult emotional decision for us. We both cried as we we stood in the kitchen looking out at Noah sleeping peacefully on the patio.
Friday morning, after giving Noah a good breakfast (Noah never lost his appetite-he loved to eat), we took him to our vet. Noah went very quietly with his head in my lap and Caroline petting him and telling him how much we loved him.
Noah was a wonderful companion. Our only regret is that he was with us only two short years. May he rest in peace.
Dec. 31, '01 - Some thoughts & happenings at the end of the year.
Adjusting.
For several days after Noah was put to sleep I noticed that Tessa and, particularly, Keeper seemed to look around to see where Noah might be. Nothing overly obvious mind you but still I think they noticed he was gone. It was actually an incident that occurred about two weeks later that showed how much these dogs bond to each other.We went to a four day Dog Show over the Thanksgiving weekend (referred to as the Turkry Circuit). We took Calli our show girl and our old guy Thor. Thor loves to travel and since he is getting on in years we wanted to take him with us this time instead of boarding him with Tessa and Keeper at our local kennel.
We left for the show on Thursday and returned the following Monday dropping Calli and Thor at the house and then picking up Tessa and Keeper from the kennel. Tess and Keeper were, of course, glad to see us and to be going home. When we got them home they both jumped out of the van and started wandering around the yard. Then Keeper and Tessa saw Thor in the yard. They both ran over to Thor and started kissing and licking him with incredible enthusiasm. It was a tremendous display of affection for Thor like nothing we had seen before.
As Caroline and I watched this going on we realized that Tessa and Keeper had probably thought that their old buddy Thor had gone away just like Noah. We think that the unusual display of affection was just their sheer joy at not having lost another friend. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me while this was going on.
Three on a blanket.
Tessa and Thor like to lay on the quilt in front of the Family Room Couch where I usually sit to watch TV. Occasionally Keeper likes to join them. He just sort of squeezes in between the two of them and they look at me as if they expect me to do something about it (left photo). They soon all settle down into their sleep mode. It is somewhat amazing how three rather large dogs (~600 pounds total weight) can manage to fit themselves onto half a blanket.
Sometimes it is a different threesome in front of the Family Room couch. In the photo at the left Caroline has settled in between Thor and Tessa. In the right photo Caroline provides the lap for Thor and Keeper (they really are lap dogs you know).
Christmas.
Thor was feeling frisky a few days before Christmas and was playing "tug" with Caroline. He looked handsome in his Christmas collar. He refused to wear his Christmas hat.
Christmas day the Comstock Clan got a special treat. We divided up two big slabs of spare ribs between them. They all settled down quietly (in separate pens) for about an hour of gnawing. Thor likes to eat on his blanket in the garage. A bit messy but that is why we have a separate washer and dryer just for the dogs bedding. When Caroline feels that they are done she does "the exchange". The "exchange" consists of exchanging the remaining bone pieces for a shiny new dog biscuit (large variety). It makes it much easier to retrieve the bone scraps.
Birthdays.
December 30th was Keeper and Thors birthday. We don't actually know Thor's birth date but decided to lump it with Keeper's. Keeper was 5 yesterday and we estimate Thor's age at 11. As is Caroline's custom she made a meatloaf birthday cake with dog biscuits as candles. Sixteen candles in this case representing their combined ages. The "Birthday Boys" inspected the cake carefully before it was divided up amongst the Clan.
Feb. 4, '02 - At Rest and at Play.
In the mornings Caroline sometimes has her morning coffee in the Family Room using Tessa and Thor to keep her warm. Thor loves to have his ears rubbed and makes a sound that can only be described as a purr. A little later in the morning Thor and Keeper do some playing with a tug toy. The cold weather we have been having seems to invigorate every one-even Thor.
Feb. 24, '02 - Tessa turns 7.
Last Wednesday our Senior House Princess (aka Tessa) turned seven years old. Caroline baked the usual Birthday cake which gets divided up among the Clan (plus we saved a small portion for our current Rescue-a Bloodhound mix). The BD honoree does, however, get to eat the candles off the cake as can be seen in the photo.
May 23, '02 - Calli and Tessa.
Calli is starting to look pregnant. Here she is excitedly awaiting the birth of her puppies. Actually the excited one is Caroline who took this picture.
This morning Caroline decided to give Tessa some refresher obedience training. Tessa loves it as she knows she gets some treats at the end. Here are a couple of pictures of Tessa practicing her recall.
June 4, '02 - Calli in her Whelping Box.
We brought in Calli's custom built (by me) whelping box last Sunday evening. We placed it in Calli's favorite location in the family room where she always sleeps when she is in the house. Of course, she wouldn't have anything to do with it at first. Caroline even laid down in the box to try and coax Calli in. (Sorry I didn't have my camera handy for that one but Caroline wouldn't have let me use that picture anyway.) Apparently after I went to bed Caroline was able to get Calli in the box and took the picture on the left.
June 6, '02 - Calli getting used to her whelping box.
Calli is starting to get into her whelping box more and more as the delivery date approaches. Here she is with her practice baby. The whelping box now has its side and back walls in place. All thats left is for Caroline to select the wall paper (I selected the vinyl flooring).
June 8, '02 - Calli had 10 Pups!
Calli delivered a couple of days early. Ten healthy pups. I've started a new page devoted to Calli's pups. For all the info about delivery day and subsequent puppy growth and development please go to Comstock Pups-2002June 21, '02 - Keeper is Gone.
During the past two months Keeper has been battling something that affected his hind legs similar to Noah's affliction. Numerous vet specialists were visited and tests conducted. He kept getting worse. The last few days he was unable to get up or walk without our assistance. He did not seem to be in pain but simply had little strength or control of his rear legs. This evening about 7 PM I took him to our vet and had him euthanized in our van with his head in my lap. Keeper was a wonderful companion and Caroline and I will miss him dearly.
July 4, '02 - Thor
Taking care of the pups and keeping the puppy page updated have not allowed time to update the home page about our adult dogs. Here are some recent pictures of Thor. With Keeper gone he is our only adult male Mastiff. He still keeps putt'in along even though totally blind and somewhere around 11 or 12 years old. He really comes alive at mealtime with his nose pressed against the door waiting for someone to come out with his dish. He is a little bent out of shape as he no longer gets to lie in the Family room by the couch and "watch" TV with me. Calli and the pups have taken over the front of the house. He and Tessa do get the Master Bedroom, however, so its not like they are being totally deprived.
Oct. 9, '02 - Thor, Tessa and Calli.
It has been over three months since the last update of this page. All our time and effort has been taken up by our pups who were 4 months old yesterday. Our adult dogs are doing fine. Mostly just laying around as the pictures show. Calli has been doing some swimming in our new lap pool and I will try and locate her swimming pix (which are buried among the 2500 or so puppy pictures I have taken) and post on this page.
November 29, 2002 - Tessa is Gone.
Today, November 29, 2002, we had our beloved Mastiff, Tessa, put to sleep. She was nearly 8 years old. Tessa was a singleton pup bred out of our Velvet. Tessa had been favoring her left leg so on Monday Nov. 18 we took her into the vet for an X-Ray. The X-Ray showed that Tessa had Osteosarcoma (bone cancer)-the same disease that took her mother Velvet and her two half-sisters, Sara Bear and Mandy. The disease appeared to be in the early stage and we anticipated we would have another 2-3 months before having to put Tessa down. (The disease is incurable.) Unfortunately, in Tessa's case, the disease progressed extremely rapidly. Her leg became very swollen and she was in obvious pain in spite of the pain killers being used. About noon today we decided it was time to end her suffering. Anyone who owns and loves a Mastiff like we do, knows what a difficult and heart-wrenching decision that is. About 6 pm this evening our Vet ended her suffering while we petted and talked to her. Tomorrow morning she will be buried in the pasture that she loved so much.Comstock's The Enchantress (Tessa) was both an American and International Champion. For those of you who would like to review Tessa's early years, click on Comstock Mastiffs.
Tessa had more energy than any Mastiff we have known. Her various nicknames were "Turbo-Tess, "Tess the Tornado" and "Wild Child". Her other endearing name was "Miss Ornery" because she could be very stubborn at times. Actually she was a very lovable companion and both Caroline and I miss her greatly.
June 3, '04 - Good-Bye Old Friend!
This afternoon we had to say good-by to our beloved Thor. He was no longer able to get up on his own and we sadly decided it was time to let him go. It was 6 years ago this month that we adopted him, one of 4 dogs that came into MCOA Rescue on the same day in Southern California. He was already a senior citizen when he came to us. The veterinary ophthalmologist put his age between 7 and 8 years. He also had advanced PRA and bilateral equatorial cataracts and would soon be blind. We anticipated having him with us only a few short years. He fooled us by living another 6 glorious years. We could not have asked for a better companion. He never missed a meal or acted aggressive with any of our other Mastiffs, including all the Rescues that passed through our house. Maybe he knew just how special he was that he could stay. Though we never knew his lineage, he was a Mastiff through and through We will miss him forever.
For those of you who don't know how he came to be a wonderful part of the Comstock Clan please read a Tribute to Thor written by my wife about 4 years ago.
OCTOBER - 2004
To review the details of the past 2 years please go to Comstock Pups-2002. To view our most current page (#16) please go to COMSTOCK MASTIFFS - 2004.
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