CHANCE
When Tina went to a dog show with my brother and sister-in-law lo, these 13 years ago, neither she nor I ever dreamed of the adventures which would take their origin in that event. Tina had no interest in Mastiffs; she didn’t even know what they really looked like. She wanted to watch the Labs. While she was doing so, she began noticing these booming sounds coming from a nearby ring, and naturally she turned to look… What she saw was these HUMONGOUS dogs, gentle giants, doing their thing in and around the ring. The booming sounds came from the owners and handlers thumping on their dogs’ chests – anybody who ever loved a Mastiff knows that sound! Among the many sights which impressed her was that of a huge Mastiff with a little girl draped over him; this huge, fearsome-looking dog was tolerating the insult with that magnanimous grace that Mastiff fans have come to know and love.
That afternoon, when I got back home from work, Tina asked me which I preferred, Mastiff or Great Dane. “MASTIFF!” was my enthusiastic reply… A couple of phone calls to vets’ offices later, we made an appointment to go and meet a local Mastiff breeder. Our visit with that lady and her dogs will remain forever in my memory: Huge, good natured dogs (but watch out for that tail!) met us, and our fate was sealed. Our new friend (who has been a wonderful friend for 13 years now) told us she thought her bitch might be in whelp, so if we wanted to get on the waiting list for a pup, she would make a note of our name and phone number.
A month and a half later, we met our first newborn Mastiff puppies. One in particular attracted my attention; why, I don’t know. After we washed our hands, I picked him up immediately, and he was ours from then on – or, maybe, we were his…? We waited impatiently for the time we could take him home, and his breeder proved her friendship many a time, gladly having us over for visits a couple of times a week.
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BEFORE:
Chance
at about 4 weeks, sniffing noses with his older brother Torack, approximately
1 year old – two Champions in the making (click on thumbnail to see larger
image) |
AFTER:
Chance (R,
with Tina) and Torack about a year later – what a difference a year makes! |
When we brought Chance (Westwind Middangeards Chance) to the house, we were elated. Our own Mastiff, and he was PERFECT! (At least we thought so...) We knew we had something special from the very beginning.
Chance, age approximately 12 weeks, after recovering from his first
disaster. Look at those FEET!
During all this time, Tina and I had gone to several dog shows, learning much more about Mastiffs – their history, qualities, flaws and all. We thought we were ready… Not long after we brought him home, disaster struck. Somehow, he ate something that nearly killed him – we never did find out what it was. The lining was stripped out of his digestive tract from one end to the other – the vet gave him a 50-50 chance (so to speak) of recovering, IF we hospitalized him and allowed him to undergo IV therapy. Well, he made it. He lost a great deal of weight, and we thought he would never catch up to his littermates, who were now 3-month-old engines of destruction. Chance was a little bigger than half their size, but our breeder told us “Don’t worry – he’ll catch up soon enough…” We should have listened; it would have saved us a lot of worry. In the years to come, he caught up with his littermates, and then some.
Chance’s formal education started with Puppy Kindergarten class at a local training and boarding facility when he was about 4 months old. He was far and away the biggest pup in the class, but the others didn’t seem to mind. He showed early on that he had a mischievous streak about a mile wide, which got wider as he got bigger… He did well in class, and moved on up to Ring Manners (Conformation training). His first few shows were not all that spectacular, but he did get noticed. He had a beautiful head already; in fact, he never really did have an “ugly” phase, as most Mastiff pups do.
Chance learned how to show, and Tina learned how to show
him. Every point he won toward his
Championship was with Tina as his owner-handler, and I for
Chance at about 4.5 months, with proud Tina – a hint of what was to
come
Chance finished his Conformation Championship on
First Points: Chance BOW at 11 months,
CH Westwind Middangeards
What a proud moment that was! Chance finished his Championship on a 5-point major, and was competitive in the Special ring after that… We were so proud of him… It was two months later that we found out he had severe hip dysplasia, and he would never be bred. He was beautiful, and his personality was the blend of “grandeur and good nature” the AKC Standard talks about; however, we could not in good conscience breed him to produce more dysplastic pups. What was really strange was that the preceding litter, same parents, was all Good on their OFA reports, except one bitch who had good bone morphology, but was slightly too loose in the hips. Chance’s condition was a real shock to us.
In the meantime, Chance’s Obedience training had begun. I started out working with him, and we did well for a while, until he started yanking my chain in class. He would balk at doing a maneuver he knew perfectly well how to do… Want proof? As soon as I gave the leash to Tina, he started making progress again, just like there had never been a “dry spell” with me. He finished his CD title in 10 shows (it took us a little while to find out about the Obedience judges – some of them stated flat out that they didn’t think that Mastiffs belong in the Obedience ring – I guess we proved *them* wrong…) He finished his CD title on Tina’s father’s birthday (July 28, 1995), not long after he had passed away. It was a special moment for Tina and Ch Chance CD, and for me, too.
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CH Chance CD – He did it!!!
Over time, Chance managed to pass the AKC Canine Good Citizen
(CGC) test, the American Temperament Test Society’s test (TT), and the Therapy
Dogs International (TDI) test, thus becoming CH Westwind Middangeards Chance
CD, CGC, TT, TDI Thus began Chance’s
second life, that of a Pet Therapy dog.
Attached you will find a couple of things Tina and I wrote about those
times. Chance was an ideal therapy dog,
in many ways. His gentle bearing,
easy-to-reach size, and kind-hearted nature made him a wonderful success in our
pet therapy work. Along with Rion and
Aggie, we made many a visit, mostly working with a hospice in
As Chance got older, his hips began bothering him more and more. He was an extremely stoic dog, so when the pain started showing, we knew it was going to be rough. He retired from therapy work shortly before our first human child (Joshua) was born, and then became a yard/house dog. When he got to be older, he just kept getting more and more handsome. Tina took what I consider to be the best single picture of a Mastiff I have ever seen – it’s not too great in technical terms, but it catches something essential in the quality of a Mastiff (see above “grandeur and good nature” quote…)
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Chance says, “I love kids…
They taste GREAT! Yes, Jessica
really is beating on his head – note the look of long-suffering patience
Old & Wise - Chance sits on the stairs outside our house – the lord of all he
surveys…
About a year ago, Chance took a serious turn for the
worse. His weakening hips and legs began
to give out on him, and his 11-year-old body betrayed him more and more
often. He was tired, weak, and in pain,
but he was still Chance… On good days,
we would see him romping with Danny (our Psycho Lab From Hell, who is now 3
years old), and he enjoyed the children, too.
However, we realized that the end would be coming soon. We watched him carefully and did everything
we could to provide comfort and support, but the process continued. Around Thanksgiving 2003, we noticed that
Chance didn’t seem to hear much anymore.
After that time, his hearing slowly left him, too. What finally sealed his fate was a very
fast-growing bone cancer, starting near his right hock joint. We thought it was a sprain, since he had
fallen on the stairs often, but when the vet took the X-rays, there was no
doubt. We kept him as comfortable as we
could, and on
