Our Start in Mastiffs
Hello, our names are Mary and Chris DeLisa, Chris and I have owned and loved Mastiffs since 2000; we live in a suburb south of Denver, CO. We love and enjoy our mastiffs as companions, show dogs, and guardians. Our dogs are all beloved house pets; more like 4 legged children than dogs. We started with the dreaded backyard breeder and quickly realized that although we loved our first Mastiff Kramer he did not possess many true Mastiff qualities. I became active in Mastiff Club of America (MCOA) Rescue, becoming the State Coordinator for both Colorado and Wyoming for two years. I also joined the local Mastiff club Rocky Mountain Mastiff Fanciers (RMMF) and was able to meet many wonderful mastiffs and people. After a year or so of working with rescue and attending every Mastiff event I could find, I realized that I would like to learn more about showing mastiffs.
What better place to start than the MCOA National Specialty. In 2002, I attended the MCOA National which was held that year in Portland, Oregon. Wow, all the beautiful dogs and nice people blew me away; I went knowing no one and came away with many new friends. Everyone was so helpful explaining the many intricacies of showing and Mastiff conformation. I met one couple that really took me under their wing. Mike Cullen and Kelly Cooper of Ridgerunner Mastiffs out of Valley Center, CA began as my inspiration. They introduced me to many other great people including Joe and Carla Sanchez of Southport Mastiffs. Shortly after returning home I realized I had the dog show bug and wanted to start showing that very day.
As we all know it takes time to get ready to show a dog, first and more importantly, you have to have a Mastiff to show. Having meet many people at specialty with beautiful dogs, I decided to go to California to look at a Ridgerunner litter and their facilities. My trip was wonderful I meet more great Mastiff people as well and spending more time with the Sanchez's. I came home with a beautiful little girl puppy, Chris named her "Kailie". It was a great trip but there was a little boy puppy that I was very much in love with his name was "Gul Lemek". Not only did Chris tell me I could not have two puppies, Mike told me he was their pick that they were keeping. Over the next couple of months we talked often, as a new show Mastiff owner I had many questions. They were always there to help me, even with what I thought were some very dumb questions. They also always updated me on "Gul Lemek's" progress; I still had a little spot in my heart for him. Two months after picking "Kailie" up, Mike and Kelly came to visit and attend a local dog show I asked them to bring "Gul Lemek" aka "Gully" but a 17 hour drive is not a lot of fun, as we all know, with a puppy so they told me they would be leaving him at home. To my surprise they brought him, left him with our family, and the rest as they say is history, he was a part of our family till the day we lost him to Lymphoma in 2009.
In the last ten plus years we have learned a lot from many wonderful people. We are still great friends with Mike and Joe and Carla some of the very first people we met at our first MCOA Nationals in Portland. Since our start in Mastiffs Chris and I have gotten married and had 2 wonderful boys, but our Mastiffs are still just as an important part of our lives as the day we first met. We have had a lot of fun with our dogs, as you will see in our picture gallery!
We believe in complete health testing of our girls prior to breeding and only breed to improve the breed and produce quality Mastiffs that enjoy soundness, health, longevity, good temperaments, and true Mastiff type.
What better place to start than the MCOA National Specialty. In 2002, I attended the MCOA National which was held that year in Portland, Oregon. Wow, all the beautiful dogs and nice people blew me away; I went knowing no one and came away with many new friends. Everyone was so helpful explaining the many intricacies of showing and Mastiff conformation. I met one couple that really took me under their wing. Mike Cullen and Kelly Cooper of Ridgerunner Mastiffs out of Valley Center, CA began as my inspiration. They introduced me to many other great people including Joe and Carla Sanchez of Southport Mastiffs. Shortly after returning home I realized I had the dog show bug and wanted to start showing that very day.
As we all know it takes time to get ready to show a dog, first and more importantly, you have to have a Mastiff to show. Having meet many people at specialty with beautiful dogs, I decided to go to California to look at a Ridgerunner litter and their facilities. My trip was wonderful I meet more great Mastiff people as well and spending more time with the Sanchez's. I came home with a beautiful little girl puppy, Chris named her "Kailie". It was a great trip but there was a little boy puppy that I was very much in love with his name was "Gul Lemek". Not only did Chris tell me I could not have two puppies, Mike told me he was their pick that they were keeping. Over the next couple of months we talked often, as a new show Mastiff owner I had many questions. They were always there to help me, even with what I thought were some very dumb questions. They also always updated me on "Gul Lemek's" progress; I still had a little spot in my heart for him. Two months after picking "Kailie" up, Mike and Kelly came to visit and attend a local dog show I asked them to bring "Gul Lemek" aka "Gully" but a 17 hour drive is not a lot of fun, as we all know, with a puppy so they told me they would be leaving him at home. To my surprise they brought him, left him with our family, and the rest as they say is history, he was a part of our family till the day we lost him to Lymphoma in 2009.
In the last ten plus years we have learned a lot from many wonderful people. We are still great friends with Mike and Joe and Carla some of the very first people we met at our first MCOA Nationals in Portland. Since our start in Mastiffs Chris and I have gotten married and had 2 wonderful boys, but our Mastiffs are still just as an important part of our lives as the day we first met. We have had a lot of fun with our dogs, as you will see in our picture gallery!
We believe in complete health testing of our girls prior to breeding and only breed to improve the breed and produce quality Mastiffs that enjoy soundness, health, longevity, good temperaments, and true Mastiff type.
