CALLI'S STORY
Calli was born on October 22, 1998 and we lost her to Cancer in July of 2006. We had no intentions of adding another Mastiff to our group of four that moved with us to the Central Coast about the time Calli was born. Her breeder and I were good friends from working in Rescue together and I’m ashamed to admit that I twice said no to taking Calli. Fortunately, Valerie was persistent and Calli came to live with us in January 1999. Her registered name was Castle Creek’s Comstock Calli. Though I planned on showing her, Rescue dogs took up much of my time and it wasn’t until the weekend she turned one year that she entered her first show at the REMC Regional Specialty. She won her class of 10 and we never looked back.
Calli was always beautiful and so full of life. She finished her American and International championships in 2000 and I decided to see how she would do as a special since she had taken Best of Breed twice, once from the classes with a large entry. So, in 2001 we hit the road showing 2 weekends out of each month. I have no idea how professional handlers are able to show a string of dogs every weekend. I was very tired of dog shows by the end of the year. Calli finished 4th nationwide for Best of Opposite all with Mom on the end of the lead. The bond we had from day one was only strengthened by our Motel 6 weekends together.
While we were out showing in 2001, I was also busy searching for the perfect dog to breed her to. I found that dog in Tennessee, CH Caledonia’s Second Promise, a huge, lovely brindle with an outstanding temperament and all his health tests. By the fall of 2001 arrangements had been made for a breeding in early 2002. I guess I didn’t explain that well enough to Calli since she put off coming in season until April. However, the time finally came, but not the semen from Mulder back in Tennessee. A frantic search both in Tennessee and California finally turned up the sample in the *broke* box at the FedEx shipping station. We were never sure how that happened, but we were determined to get this breeding done. Mulder was collected again and luck was with us the second time. The fertility God must have been watching over us since that breeding produced a litter of 10 beautiful puppies. Five of those puppies finished their championships in 2004, putting Calli into the Mastiff Club of America Hall of Fame and earning her the collar award for top producing Mastiff bitch for that year. Not bad for one litter.
We lost Calli to mammary cancer at age 8 but her memory lives on in Lucah and Riles and now, Sunshine who in so many ways reminds me of her Grand dam Calli. They share the same nick name of Angel Puss.