Linda Monroe's Home Page

Hi, I'm Linda Monroe, welcome to my home page! I am a Mastiff fancier and have owned Mastiffs for ten years. Monarch Mastiffs is the kennel name that I use, and I created this home page to tell you about myself and my Mastiffs.

The owners of Monarch Mastiffs are myself - Linda Monroe, and my husband - Chuck Monroe. Chuck is a High School Teacher and part time Professor at a local College. I majored in Biology and minored in genetics and nutrition, but did not finish my degree.

I own a plant nursery, Annie's Magic Garden, with my partner Diane Geren. To the left, my favorite rose, Just Joey. I have over 100 varieties of roses and my partner has almost 150 varieties. Prior to being independent, I worked as an Accountant for 15 years. Chuck and I have been married for 32 years and have two children, ages 28 and 31, and three grandchildren, ages 11, 3 and 2. We live on a 17 acre farm near Leming, south of San Antonio, Texas.

We do not breed anymore and are heavily involved in Mastiff Rescue - I help with MCOA Rescue in Texas - http://www.conceptsdesign.com/mastiff. I have created mailing lists for all the Districts of Rescue as well as the Regional Coordinators so that we can have faster communication, share ideas, and disseminate information to a larger number of people who are in positions to help a dog in need. For more information about adopting a rescued Mastiff or to volunteer to help, please go to MCOA Rescue.

I believe that everyone should help in some way with Mastiffs in need, that are abused, homeless, displaced or otherwise need assistance. Mastiffs are becoming more popular and with popularity comes over breeding, puppy mills, those out to make a quick buck, and unscrupulous breeders who sell pups to the first person who comes along with money in hand. Many of these dogs end up in shelters, abandoned, and abused, and with luck, will be rescued by the MCOA Rescue Service, rehabilitated and placed in a loving home. It is my philosophy that if you don’t help rescue, don’t breed.

I was a member of the Mastiff Club of America (MCOA) PRA committee, dedicated to researching and disseminating information about Progressive Retinal Atrophy (PRA) in Mastiffs. The committee undertook a Breeding Study to try to determine the mode of inheritance of this blindness causing problem. The research team at the Baker Institute has found the dominant PRA gene in Mastiffs and a test for it is now available for it thru OptiGen.

I was also the Chairperson for the MCOA Health Awards Committee. This committee developed criteria and guidelines for issuing Awards to those Mastiff owners who test and certify their dogs free of certain inherited defects such as hip and elbow dysplasia, and some eye problems. The goals of the Health Awards are to further publicize the importance of testing, and to recognize the efforts of owners who successfully use these important tools. It is a graduated system with different criteria for each level achieved - Bronze, Silver, and Gold, with Gold being the highest award.

MCOA Health Awards I am very excited to see the MCOA take such a positive step toward eliminating health problems in Mastiffs, and am sure there will be more good things to come in the near future. For more information on obtaining a Health Award for your Mastiff and a list of Mastiffs who have qualified for an award, go to: http://mastiff.org/exhibit-hall/health/health-awards/awards.mv.

I am a staff writer for the Mastiff Reporter and have been published in other Mastiff newsletters in Australia and Norway, the Mastiff Stud Dog Register, and I helped to write numerous sections of the Mastiff FAQ. You can find the Mastiff Reporter on line at: http://devinefarm.net/reporter/.

I started two mailing lists on the Internet for educational purposes, the MastiffHealth list and the Natural-Giant diet list. The MastiffHealth list is devoted to discussions of health problems that plague Mastiffs and other giant breeds, and occasionally has guest speakers from various Universities and research facilities, as well as holistic practitioners. The MastiffHealth list is now open to the public, is moderated, and kept on topic. To join go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MastiffHealth.

The Natural-Giant mailing list is for those who feed a natural diet, generally raw, and wish to correspond with others who feed natural, discussing diets, nutrition, sources, etc. Natural-Giant is an open list and you may join us by subscribing at: http://www.egroups.com/group/Natural-Giant.

Below are some photo's of my mastiffs and links to their pages.

Here are other web pages about Mastiffs:

The web sites listed below are very informative and should answer most any question you might have about owning a Mastiff as well as information about Monarch Mastiffs in particular.

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This BARF - Bones and Raw Food - for Dogs & Cats site owned by Linda Monroe.