IT’S GOOD TO BE A MASTIFF! – WHISKEY RIVER SMITH

Lead singer of Whiskey River and the Jello Shots with the Gentle Giants Band!

Whiskey River Smith wanted to tell his own story (in his own words)!
Portrait painted by Jennifer Geraghty of TriPod Dog Designs; Created by designer Debra Evangelisto

My name is Whiskey River Smith. I was named that because of the great old Willie Nelson song and because I was the color of a fine bourbon when I was a pup—but my color deepened with age! But bourbon does that too, so I guess that was pretty appropriate! I was born on Memorial Day in 2008 and I’m an Olde English Mastiff. We’re the biggest breed of dog, but at 170 pounds, I’m kinda small since I got Mastiff buddies who are over 250 pounds!

I have a canine sister named Brandy Rose, and she’s a 45 pound Husky. My daddy’s name is Steve, and my mama is Tina. I sure do love my family! I have been called a mama’s boy, but that’s okay, because I really love my mama, and she takes real good care of me.

I love the weekends when my mama cooks and I get to help out in the kitchen. I lie on the floor in the walkway and pretend to be asleep so that she has to step over me, and then when she trips and fumbles the food she’s carrying, I clean up the mess for her. It’s a symbiotic relationship. I need her to drop something so I can eat it, and she needs me to clean up the mess that tripping her created.

On some weekends, we go traveling and camping in our RV, and I get to meet other campers and their dogs. People shake their heads when they see a great big dog going in and out of a little camper, but I like the attention! Daddy loves to show me off to people and tell them that I have my own world-famous, all-Mastiff band, and they should look me up on Facebook!

Me and the band (Whiskey River and the Jello Shots with the Gentle Giants Band) got involved in dog rescue, and we raise money and raise awareness for rescuing big dogs!

We give 100% of the profits from our concert t-shirts and sweatshirts to Big Dogs Huge Paws of Denver, and they use the money to rescue gentle giants, get them medical care, and find them fur-ever homes... and we’ve saved a lot of lives, too!

Whiskey River and the Jello Shots with the Gentle Giants Band is the world’s only all-Mastiff band. There’s 14 of us! There’s me (I’m the lead singer), and there’s my hottie backup singers, the Jello Shots: Athena’s from Kansas, Justice lives on a mountain in Montana, and Alannah lives in Ohio. Then there’s the Gentle Giants Band: Axel lives in Melbourne, Australia; Tobit and Chaos are from Ohio; Taz is from Ontario, Canada; Angus is from Indiana; Chione and Beamer are from Mastiffchusetts; Quincy is from Manhattan, New York; Clark’s from Pennsylvania; and Porsche is from Colorado. Porsche is super famous herself. She gained national fame from being rescued after being attacked with a baseball bat and then getting hit by a car when she tried to run for her life. You can see the scars in her picture. She does public appearances for Life is Better Rescue, and she has her own Facebook page called “Justice for Porsche.” You can read her whole story on our band’s Facebook page, along with the bios of all the band members. They’re all great Mastiffs—some are champion show dogs, and some are rescues.

Become a fan at:
www.facebook.com/WhiskeyRiver.Smith