Just have to brag a little....

[HoustonFarrier]

We have another champion Mastiff in the house!!! Our 1 1/2 year old bitch "Belle" won a 3-point major and a 4-point major this weekend to get her AKC Championship ! She is the 4th puppy from our champion bitch "Deanna" to get a championship !

Steve

[Equine_Woman]

Oh that's FANTASTIC!!!! I think I've asked this before but do you breed tosell your pups? I'm of course not in the market right now for another Mastiff but when Piper is gone. . . in many many years I'm going to be. They are the best dogs!!! Yours are gorgeous!!

And glad to see you here!

[alittleoffkey]

Whoohoo! Congrats to ya'll and Belle! I love Mastiffs. :)

[vicklynn]

How very cool! Wheres the pics???

[WashingtonBay]

Congratulations! ~note... need applause smilie~ Have you got pictures yet? :)

[cloedoll]

Yay, HoustonFarrier is here! :D
Congratulations, that's not bragging, that's awesome!!

[HoustonFarrier]

Yes, we DO sell puppies(they ain't cheap ;)). We will be breeding both Belle and her sister Holly this coming spring. Holly is the next one to start showing. As good as Belle is...Holly is WAAAY better...much more "typey", which is what we like. We have had a shyness problem with her, and have her in training now to help her get over it. She is doing good, and we expect her to start showing next month.

No pictures .... yet :)

Steve

[Equine_Woman]

Yes, we DO sell puppies(they ain't cheap ;)). We will be breeding both Belle and her sister Holly this coming spring. Holly is the next one to start showing. As good as Belle is...Holly is WAAAY better...much more "typey", which is what we like. We have had a shyness problem with her, and have her in training now to help her get over it. She is doing good, and we expect her to start showing next month.

No pictures .... yet :)

Steve

Oh I wouldn't expect them to be!!! I don't think a quality Mastiff is EVER cheap!!

[mtnmollie]

Yeah Steve! I read a thread where people was hoping to get you over here- LOL> :)

I love mastiffs. Pictures?

[HoustonFarrier]

Yeah Steve! I read a thread where people was hoping to get you over here- LOL> :)


yeah...I can feeeel the love :D:D:D (Secretly they're saying....oh damn...he's HERE now!) LMAO !!!!!


Steve

[mtnmollie]

Go to What will you be doing thread- perhaps p 2? :D

[SedonaThunder]

Yay - Steve is here! Congratulations on your latest wins!

[HoustonFarrier]

Yay - Steve is here!
Where??? I don't see him LOL

Congratulations on your latest wins!
Thank you !!! I had nothing to do with it though !!! My wife does all the dog show stuff....I am just "hired help" :p the dumb looking guy, with big arms, carrying stuff :D

Steve

[SedonaThunder]

My wife does all the dog show stuff....I am just "hired help"
Steve
Well then... maybe this question is for the wife - or maybe one of you can point me to some place to read about this. I am curious about the "types" of Mastiffs because my good friends mother shows them as well and when I saw her in August (and got to meet two of her champions - MY OH MY the male is HUGE!) she said that her dogs weren't the "norm" or "what always does well in shows now". Indy (the bitch) was fawn but Jimmy was brindle and I wasn't sure if she meant the color wasn't popular. However, I see on her website that she went to Westminster and said "Jimmy didn't do anything - but I didn't really expect him to as he is sooo different from these East Coast Mastiff's". Since there is a breed standard for them - how much different can East and West coast dogs be and in what way? Just my curious mind wanting to know.:)

[Blue]

Congrats to Belle! :D I want a dog...lol. My mom has a chihuahua...but I want a dog that I can go walk/run with. My mom won't let me walk our chihuahua...he'll get too tired...lol.

[sugarsgirl]

Thats great! Congrats! :)

[carla]

Congratulations, great to see you here, and can't wait to see pics! Did I forget anything? ;)

[HoustonFarrier]

I am curious about the "types" of Mastiffs
Oh...I could ramble on for HOURS about this subject......the same thing is happening in the draft horse world.

A "typey" mastiff is one that has a VERY LARGE head, thick body, shorter (than the non-typey ones). It's a large, massive dog. We are seeing a shift in the mastiff to a taller, leaner, more "athletic" dog....which most of us die-hard "old style" mastiff breeders don't want to see. The same thing is happening in the draft horse world. If you look at pictures, show bills from the 1930's-1950's...you would be hard pressed to see a draft horse taller than 17hh.......they were MASSIVE (2200-2600 lbs) horses, thick bones, massive hair (Clydesdales). Now, 19hh horses are the norm in hitches, but they might weigh 2200 lbs at the most. They are becoming "tall" warmbloods....rather than the "plow horses" they used to be. See, I think some draft folks didn't like the term "plow horse"...they take it as a negative.

I'll try and rustle up some pics to show what I mean.

FYI - Brindles mastiff don't "generally" show as well as fawns......

Steve

[cheval]

I LOVE Mastiffs.

What kind is the one from Harry Potter? Big old dark one with flabby cheeks and drools a lot. I've always wanted one.

You have a house/barn full of Champions - no surprise there!!

But, where are the pictures?????

[Equine_Woman]

Fang was a Neopolitan Mastiff

[Gypsy Rose]

Congrats to Belle! That's awesome!

Glad to se you here, Houston Farrier!

[SedonaThunder]

A "typey" mastiff is one that has a VERY LARGE head, thick
body, shorter (than the non-typey ones). It's a large, massive dog. We are seeing a shift in the mastiff to a taller, leaner, more "athletic" dog....which most of us die-hard "old style" mastiff breeders don't want to see.

Interesting! (I had heard this about Drafts and I guess it makes sense it couldn't happen in dogs too.) Now I'm curious if the dogs I met are the old or the new... I remember her telling me that Indy weighed 180 and Jimmy was 220... but I don't know how tall they were. (Here's Jimmy's webpage - http://www.lamarsmastiffs.com/jimmyspage.cfm in some pics he looks much thinner than your dogs and in a couple he looks big - he always looks tall to me because I've never been around that big of a dog! ) I have to admit, even though I have NEVER been afraid of a dog and love them all - standing with them made me feel really uneasy. To know a dog outweighs you by that much (especially when one loved to jump up and put her paws on your shoulders!) makes you really think about how well trained they are - it's a little disconcerting knowing it could tear you apart and you'd be helpless.

Here's the only pic I got on our camptrip.
http://inlinethumb55.webshots.com/44406/2951665850057455579S425x425Q85.jpg

[42many]

Congrats to Belle! What impressive dogs those Mastiffs are. What is their temperament like?

[shynbvs]

wooohooo! pictures?

[Equine_Woman]

Congrats to Belle! What impressive dogs those Mastiffs are. What is their temperament like?
I can't speak for every mastiff but my girl is loyal, devoted, relaxed, but interested in what is going on. She's also protective but sensible about it. She isn't outwardly protective but she watches newcomers until I acknowlege them then she relaxes. . She's very stoic as well. And sleeps VERY soundly.

[AppyLady]

Congratulations! I was noticing the Mastiffs at the last dog show I attended. They seemed to spend most of their time laying down and sleeping. Now that's my kind of dog!

[Tatesgram]

Congrates! My boss has a Mastiff. Wonderful dog. I had never been around one before, his gentleness surprised me.

[HoustonFarrier]

Mastiffs are generally pretty laid back. However, there are exceptions. We had one bitch from our first litter who was put down,because she just up and bit a girl one day. No reason, she knew the girl a long time...just up and bit her. The owners who had her called us asking what to do, we said put her down. Once they take human blood, they HAVE to go, they are just too big. Even the best breeding and testing can still produce a dog that is just......off. We don't know why she did it, but she did. There is another male from that same litter who is aggressive(and should be put down as well, but the owner won't do it) We did not like the breeding, and we never went back to the stud...who, as it turns out, came off the show schedule because HE got aggressive. But, the pick boy from that litter is a Champion stud dog in Dennmark, and just as nice as can be.

This second breeding gave us a much nicer litter, more typey...no aggressivness at all, but one REAL shy (aloof) bitch, who is doing very well with a professional handler/trainer.

As for proctectivness...they are sometimes real subtle about it. Our bitch Deanna, mother of the two litters we have had, was at a show with my wife...and an "incident" between two male Mastiffs at ringside started.....Deanna got up, and put herself between my wife and the dogs......she never growled, never acted differently....just put herself in the way....that's usually the way they do things.

Steve

[luv2show]

Woohoo! That's awesome - great job! :)