Unfortunatly we lost Levon this past Winter (2007) to GDV, a serious and sometimes deadly torsion of the stomach brought on by bloat. We have always been diligent on our care of all our dogs concerning Bloat, and the only explaination we can conclude is due to his age, he spontaneously bloated overnite. In the morning Tom let all the dogs out for a quick potty, let them back in and we were out the door for some early morning activities. Just before leaving I heard him wretching, it did not sound right. I knew as soon as I saw him he was bloated. I tried all the typical "tricks" - burping, moving around, but it just got worse. By the time we arrived at the hospital, he was three times as large, he was able to walk into the hospital. There is something about a Dogue de Bordeaux, they are so strong, and then they know when it is time to be weak. As soon as I got him in the back treatment area, he could no longer walk. We had to gurney him to radiology. We saw it right away, he was twisted over. To this day I can sit and look at those radiographs and swear it was twisted 1 1/2 times or even twice. Due to his age, knowing how poorly older dogs do with GDV surgery, and just the look in his eyes, we decided to let him go. With Tom and I by his side, and my friends from work, he left us. He was a great boy and is greatly missed.Levon was the product of our second breeding - Noodles x Brown's Tonka de Titan (Amra x Arial). Levon was his mom and dad in a complete package. He was a beautiful black mask with his fathers head size and coloring, and his mothers width of body.
He had been competiting since he was a pup and we were very fortunate to have him back in our home. He returned to us in October of 1999 when his owner could no longer keep him. We have been showed him actively in the US and Canada until he retired.
He had been critiqued by judges such as Rafael Mallo Alcrudo, Peter van Montfort, Andre Leblond and Annick Keller. He was temprament tested in the fall of 99 by ERBDC and received an excellent rating of 17/18 - one point away from his father's score of 18/18. His TT was been approved by the DDBS. He had great dogue de bordeaux temprament and he is a big baby in a big dog body. He was extremly affectionate with friends and visitors, and often forgets that is is a big guy.
Levon was been bred four times, twice to MyVeryOwn Tinkerbelle, producing Multi Ch. and #1 Dogue de Bordeaux in Canada 2002, MyVeryOwn Monkey and Multi Ch. MyVeryOwn Moonlight Diva, once to Anna vom Meiendorfer Wald, producing our own special girl, Punkin's Azailia the Outlaw, and to our girl Charles River Lucielle, producing seven beautiful babies.
Levon proved to produce beautiful pups that are complete and improvments of his type. He carried sought after blood lines that we are slowly loosing in the USA.
Although his career started slow, being a black mask, Levon excellend as he matured and had a great summer in 2000. He took multiple best of breeds and a group 4 at the Rarities shows in NJ. He placed third open dog of an entry of 10+ dogues in the 2000 DDBS National Specialty under Mr Andre LeBlond of France, as well as taking Best Male and Best of Opposite at the USBC regional show in NJ under Annick Keeler, and Best of Opposite at the Rarities Canadian Dogue de Bordeaux National in Toronto. He completed his DDBS, Rarities, American and Canadian Championships in 2000.
Levon was been Penn Hip'd and fell within the top 25% of the breed with a .62. He was also the first dogue de bordeaux of Penn Hip'd parents in the top 25% that has also fell into that percentage. Levon passed his OFA Cardiac exam and received his DDBS Healthy Star for Cardiac. Levon was also thyroid normal.
LEVON'S CRITIQUES ~
1999 DDBS North East Regional Specialty, Jamesburg, NJ - Judge Rafael Mallo Alcrudo, Spain
Bred by Exhibitor, First place, Rating: Excellent
Very nice head, typey young male, good head and expression, still a little tall, good topline, croup slightly falling down, moving free, but limping at the left leg. I would like a more deep red color.
2000 DDBS Supported Entry, Jamesburg, NJ - Judge Annick Keller, Canada/France
For Exhibition Only, Rating: Excellent
Nice male, beautiful front, can add 15 lbs, nice gate, nice rear.
2000 DDBS National Specialty -
Judge - Mr. Andre Leblond, France
Open Dog, 3rd place, Rating: Excellent
Excellent front end profile, large dog, excellent teeth, could be little stronger in body due to size (weight), excellent movement, excellent front legs and feet, excellent rear legs
2000 DDBS North East Regional -
Judge - Mr. Peter van Montfort, Netherlands
Open Dog, 2nd place, Reserve Male, Rating: Excellent
2.5 years, big size, well proportioned male. Black Mask. Powerful, masculine head and nice ear set. Good skull, excellent stop, well developed eyebrows, well shaped eyes. Cheekbones can be more developed. Powerful foreface, nice wrinkle expression, wide underjaw and good teeth. Powerful neck and body and bone. Set on shoulder not yet ready. Well angulated, moves well.
