Hello from Bur Oaks Mastiffs and the Ryan’s! We want to start by thanking you for taking the time to view our site and hopefully consider us if you are thinking of adding a Mastiff to your family.

    My name is Mike Ryan and I along with my wife Kristin and children; Alex, Rachel and Sarah are currently “owned” by two wonderful Mastiffs Sam and Luma. We have been devoted to and have admired this breed for many years and have been proud to say that we have had at least one for the past four years.  Once we made the determination to breed we thought it would be wise to create this site and an official name, Bur Oaks Mastiffs. We chose Bur Oak Mastiffs as a way to honor our son Benjamin Henry Ryan, whom we lost not too long ago. After his passing we planted five Bur Oaks in our yard as a form of memorial to him and we also thought linking Ben and his trees to our efforts to produce Mastiffs of correct type, soundness, and temperament would make him proud, thus the name Bur Oak Mastiffs.

   We live in Roseville, Minnesota, which is a suburb of Minneapolis and St. Paul. We feel blessed to have our home and a fenced acre here in the midst of the Twin Cities. Having this much space allows ample room to stretch our legs and feel like we are up in the north woods. We are not a large kennel and do not aspire to become one. We are a family that values the traits this breed offers each one of us and feel strongly that we can contribute to the betterment of the breed. We will never have more Mastiffs than we can comfortably live with in our home. Our dogs live with us in our home and are a part of pretty much everything we do as a family.

    So who are the Ryan’s you might wonder? We are your typical American family in many ways, but also a quite unique bunch too. I work as a Special Education Teacher in Minneapolis and also as a freelance Sign Language Interpreter throughout the Twin Cities area. I enjoy showing our dogs when time allows, going to training classes, socializing at local dog parks and overall having these wonderful companions as part of our lives. I also savor my summers off so that I can spend time gardening and just having the time to read a good book.

    My wife Kristin works out of the house making quilts for our home-based business, Moose Country Quilting and also devotes countless hours to assuring our daughter Sarah has all of her medical needs met. Kristin attends most of the dog shows I participate in and is always ready with words of encouragement.

    Our children all play different roles in terms of the dogs. Alex, who is 13, is the one to assure that they always have clean water and food. Rachel, who is 12, helps with grooming and their overall care. Both Alex and Rachel have come with me at different times to training classes to work with the dogs for upcoming shows as well as trips to the dog park. Sarah, who is 3, was born with numerous medical complications and is not able to directly help with the dogs, but she makes her presence known and makes sure she gets time to snuggle with them both. In fact, Sam is sometimes used to assist Sarah come out of her seizures.

    I mentioned that we are a unique family too. As I noted, our daughter Sarah has severe medical conditions and that has resulted in the need for extensive in-home nursing care. By having many different nurses, medical professionals, and others individuals coming into our home to help assure that Sarah’s needs are being addressed has allowed Sam and Luma to become probably some of the most well socialized dogs in the country. The whole process of having so many different people involved in our family’s life has been an incredible learning experience.