Tuesday, January 12, 2016

What We’ve Been Up To, A Griffin Family Update

Well, as you can see I haven’t updated the site in around a year. I have a ton of info posted and the site get hits on it and comments weekly, so I feel it’s still a great resource to have for people, so I thought I’d give a quick update.

Family: We purchased a 150 acre farm in Randolph County, MO in August and moved in.  We love it! It's like a hiking trip for the dogs every day, they get to help me take care of all the barn critters, there are several ponds to play in and open fields and woods to explore.

Dogs: Boone and Brinkley still rule the roost so to speak, they are spoiled rotten and love the new farm and the adventures they have there. Boone will be 6 next month, I just can't believe this adventure started that long ago. Brinkley also just turned 5 in October. They spend just as much time sleeping and eating and playing as when they were puppies though.

Other Critters: Molly the evil cat is still evil and likes to attack us, but she’s 10 years old now and fat, so it’s harder for her to get to us before we notice her coming and we can flee.  The newest farm additions are quail, chickens and rabbits. The quail we are raising for eggs and meat, the chickens for eggs and the rabbits for meat as well, but I do love playing with their fuzzy little butts.

Breeding and Puppies: Other than a rescue puppy I took in and fostered a few months ago, we haven’t had puppies in 2 years. I was going to breed Miss Brinkley again since we only got 4 puppies from the first litter and they were all so nice, but it turns out she had some ovarian cysts and it was in her best interest to spay her. She has no regrets about the decision. We are planning on getting our next puppy, still undecided who from, in the next year or two. 

Our Co-Owned Dogs: Patsy and Clover have both accomplished a lot in their not even 2 short years on this planet! 

Patsy is an American Champion, and a Canadian Champion. At the Mastiff Club of America National Specialty she took 3rd in her class in Futurity, 2nd in her class in Sweepstakes, and 3rd in her class in the Regular classes. At the Mastiff Club of Northern Ohio Independent Specialty she took 4th in her class in the Regular classes (12-15 Month Bitches). She also did stellar at the Bucks and Trenton Shows in May, winning 1st in her class, and BOS in the Sweepstakes show and 1st in her class and Reserve winners bitch at Bucks on Saturday. She was 4th in her class on Sunday at the Trenton show and 1st in her class at Monday’s show. Finally, at the Canadian National Specialty in October of 2015 she took Reserve Winners Bitch.

Clover has also earned her American Championship.  At the Mastiff Club of Northern Ohio Independent Specialty she took 3rd in her class in Sweepstakes (12-18 Month bitches) and took 3rd in her class in the Regular classes (12-15 Month Bitches). At the Trenton show in May she was She was 3rd in her class on Sunday at the Trenton show and 2nd in her class on Monday. Then in October of 2015 Clover took Best Bred by Exhibitor at the Canadian National Specialty.

I can’t tell you how excited I am the Brinkley and Wally made such nice kids.  Roman and Jasmine are both doing very well also, Jasmine spends her time playing with the grand kids and visiting grandma in the nursing home and Roman spends his time getting whatever he wants from his mom who spoils him rotten.  He was a recent poster boy for Banfield Vet Clinic and has done various photo shoots and videos for several ad agencies.