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Blog posts



breed preservation



Protecting their future by preserving their past





Our objective is to protect the future of our Mastiffs by expanding genetic diversity through integration of purebred Mastiffs with coats of non-standard color, imported bloodlines and other rare traits of historic reference in our standard breeding program preserving their past with the restoration of our founding Mastiff traits.


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pied mastiff



17th Century Heritage White Spotting in the Mastiff Breed





We embrace and nurture the diversity of cosmetic traits such as color and focus on sound structure fit to carry a giant breed dog.


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black and tan Mastiff



15th Century Black & Tan Saddle Marking in the Mastiff





Karis Defrange, pictured to the left, carries one black and tan allele (at) on the A locus. She also carries one copy of the saddle pattern allele. Karis' pedigree can be traced back to the Lyme Hall Mastiffs. Karis is also the 41st Great GrandDaughter of Speeler, mastiff registered with the AKC in the late 19th century as a black and tan.


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AKC Registration of pied mastiffs



Pied Mastiffs are fully eligible for AKC Registration





Pied Mastiffs whelped from AKC registered Mastiffs are registerable with the American Kennel Club (AKC) on the full or the limited register at the discretion of the breeder just as any other Mastiff whelped from AKC registered Mastiffs. The parent breed club is the governing body that determines what colors options are available on AKC registration documents for the Mastiff.


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fluffy Mastiffs



Historic Long Coated Mastiffs Mid-19th Century





Mastiff's with long coats (also known as fluffy) have been present in the breed even before it was established by clubs and fanciers, long before 'post war' restoration and late 20th century alleged crosses. Though the fluffy coat is not standard and considered a fault in the breed standard, we believe that eliminating this historic trait may be detrimental to the breed. We plan to continue to breed long coat carriers and maybe even a long coat 'fluffy' if the right pup comes along in effort to preserve this heritage mastiff trait along with the diversity this haplotype can bring to the gene pool.


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Hind dew claws



Early 20th Century Mastiff Trait






We find pockets of diversity to strengthen the Mastiff gene pool in rare haplotypes that have an historic reference in literature and art for the breed. We were surprised by 3 pups presenting rear dew claws in our April 2015 Diversity litter: JOSEPH'S BEST KEPT SECRET X WOLFE CREEKS BOSS HOSS. In the early years 1820's till the turn of the century the rear dewclaw or fifth toe was considered to be a sign of purity in the Mastiff, indicative of great size. In the 1930's we find writings that indicate about half of all mastiffs whelped during that time had the rear dews. It seems that the fifth toe/rear dew declined after the second World War, we found little documentation about this trait in the post war period.


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bob tail



Early 19th Century Bob tail Countess






coming soon



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Our Guardians Put To Task



Jabberwocky, Malachai, Bander & Bettis





A fugitive running from local Law Enforcement Officials in a high speed chase took a turn up our old dirt road past our neighbors yard where their toddler and pre-schooler play then abandoned his vehicle at the edge of our property. The empty vehicle continued to roll through our yard and up to our porch as the intruder set out on foot in attempt to escape the officers early Sunday afternoon.

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mastiff color expression



We are very interested in how color is expressed, or not expressed in the coats of our dogs.





This post features several Mastiff puppies, each with different color coat and this is what we have learned about why they look so different even though they are all pedigreed Mastiffs. Our perspective as hobbyists is that coat color inheritance is not necessarily limited to breed or even to the canine species.

We have read about blue brindle Mastiffs, black Mastiffs, Mastiffs with white blaze, blue masks along with other color variations in historical publications. Between 1883 and 1916 there were Mastiffs registered with the AKC as Blue Brindle, Black and Tan, Cream, Chocolate and White spotted. When Kennel Club Registries were organized and standards were imposed many of these color variations were not selected for breeding and were not permitted to be accurately registered- so we believe that any color variation seen in founding Mastiffs may still be expressed in a modern mastiff. We welcome the photos and pedigrees of Mastiff's with other non-standard color variations and would be happy to include them here in our Mastiff Color Expressions post.


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color & the mastiff standard



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fluffy Mastiffs



Historic Long Coated Mastiffs Mid-19th Century





Mastiff's with long coats (also known as fluffy) have been present in the breed even before it was established by clubs and fanciers, long before 'post war' restoration and late 20th century alleged crosses. Though the fluffy coat is not standard and considered a fault in the breed standard, we believe that eliminating this historic trait may be detrimental to the breed. We plan to continue to breed long coat carriers and maybe even a long coat 'fluffy' if the right pup comes along in effort to preserve this heritage mastiff trait along with the diversity this haplotype can bring to the gene pool.


read more

Hind dew claws



Early 20th Century Mastiff Trait






We find pockets of diversity to strengthen the Mastiff gene pool in rare haplotypes that have an historic reference in literature and art for the breed. We were surprised by 3 pups presenting rear dew claws in our April 2015 Diversity litter: JOSEPH'S BEST KEPT SECRET X WOLFE CREEKS BOSS HOSS. In the early years 1820's till the turn of the century the rear dewclaw or fifth toe was considered to be a sign of purity in the Mastiff, indicative of great size. In the 1930's we find writings that indicate about half of all mastiffs whelped during that time had the rear dews. It seems that the fifth toe/rear dew declined after the second World War, we found little documentation about this trait in the post war period.


read more

bob tail



Early 19th Century Bob tail Countess






coming soon



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