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December 2003
It has been a little over five years since we
lost Junior. He may be gone, but he will never be
forgotten. Anyone who has loved and lost knows the pain that
we went through. We had recently sent our 12 year old
Husky, Kasper over the bridge. Our Labrador, Jazz a Bug,
was lonely. We did research the breed, as well as the English
Mastiff. We did not research the breeder. Ignorance is
bliss, we thought surely no breeder would have survived for so many
years if they had not bred with integrity.. Junior came into
our home and hearts on November 3rd., 1996. His life
here, in pictures. He was a joy. We bonded so
completely, it was as if we had been together forever. Jazz
too bonded to Junior, they were inseparable. Jazz who
had stood steadfast on the cellar stairs holding Kasper, who was
blind, from falling. Who grieved with us when Kasper was
gone, now had a "brother" to raise as if he were her own. They
played for hours on end. She taught him everything, he brought
her contentment and companionship, life was grand. Then in
June of 1998 at the age of 18 months Junior had a seizure. The
first of many to come over the next two months. Hospitalized
on several occasions. Valium drips to stop the seizures.
Madeline Ark, the breeder, said, no they had never seen epilepsy in
their lines. We tried to gain control over the seizures.
It is the most hideous disease. It is heart wrenching to see
your beloved dogue thrashing on the floor with clenched muscles and
clenched jaws. I can still hear the sound today. That
horrible thrashing and clawing. In two months he was
gone. He died August 26, 1998. He went into seizure
after I left for work, and died before we could get to
him. His tongue was impaled between his teeth and his body was
still contorted from seizure. I can't begin to describe how
devastated we were. We had both lost dogs from old age.. but
had no experience with such unexpected loss. Poor Jazz, she
was sitting in the hall a couple days later, I sat down beside
her and when she looked at me I could see her face was wet with
tears. She has never been the same. It knocked the wind
out of her sails and changed her forever. When the new puppy
came, she was indifferent towards him and never played much.
She had no enthusiasm for the new puppy. She wasn't going to
have her heart broken again.
We had only just gotten a computer, I
got on in desperation to learn about epilepsy. We wanted to
know what we had done wrong. What had I cleaned the house
with, bathed the dogs in, or fed them that could have caused
it......so many questions. The breeder had assured us it was
not in the bloodlines, she had never heard anything about it in all
the years she had been breeding the Bordeaux, not in her
dogues! I somehow, within just a few minutes found a chat
board for the Dogue De Bordeaux. I posted about Junior
and asked if anyone knew anything about
epilepsy. Within 15 minutes I had my answer.
Junior had relatives out there. Many relatives..... they were
all dead. All epileptic.
Apparently Madeline Ark assumed we would never find
out.
Junior had a sister and a brother whose
owner just happened to be on that chat board at that moment ( help
from above?) It seemed Junior’s sister Moet, had died due to epilepsy at
the age of 10 months!.
Moet’s owner said to me.. “We put her down on August 15.
1997, that day she was just curled up in a ball on the floor and
would not move or respond to me or anyone in my family. We did what
we had to do for her, we sent her to a place where she would be that
happy puppy she once was, we sent her to God’s loving arms....”
I then learned of more
dogues related to Junior from Arks kennel that had died due to
epilepsy, and those owners had also informed Ark Kennels. I started to write to and
telephone more people. I learned of “Scout” who died due to epilepsy
and hip dysplasia. Her owner said to me, “Scout consumed much of my
time.. she was part of me. She needed medication three times a day..
I had to carry her wherever she wanted to go. She needed me but I
think I needed her more. I still ache for the pain she went
through.. and I still feel guilty that I had to put her down... she
used to look up to me for help when she would fall... She did that one last time
before her eyes closed.
I am having a hard time getting over that because I couldn’t
help her anymore.”
Scout was only two years old.
A couple days later someone wrote to me and
said “go to such and such board and read”. There was a post there
from a girl who had lost her
Ark dogue from epilepsy. She had lost “Brutus” in 1996. It
was now two years later and
she had had a premonition of sorts. She just suddenly went on
line and told her story!
She doesn’t know why, she just felt to. She had not seen my
post! (more help from above?). I was able to contact her through
email and then by phone. We put our heads and hearts together and
decided something had to be done. It was just about that time that
we received a call from our vet. He wanted to know if it was ok to
give our name and number to a couple who owned two Bordeaux. They
were patients of his and one of them had epilepsy. Within a matter of hours we
were talking to the owners of yet another epileptic Ark dogue! This dogue, “Toots”, like
Junior, Moet and Scout, was also under two years old. According to
her papers she had been born a month after Junior. Toots had her
first seizure at the age of 14 months and experienced more than 60
full grand mal seizures. In the end she was in the hospital
seizureing for three days. At the end of the third day on October
9th, 1998 they had her put to sleep and ended her
suffering.
The papers were a mess. Some people were never
given promised papers and the ones we did have were incorrect. I sent Junior’s papers to
George Brown who is compiling the studbook for the DDBS.
He told me he couldn’t use them because they were so
incorrect.
We decided to take the breeder to court. She had been selling puppies
left and right knowing full well that epilepsy was in the line,
Playing Russian Roulette with people’s lives. She lied to us that
she wasn’t aware of it.
She had been informed on several occasions previous to
Junior.
We went to court on November 30th
1998. It was tough.
Along with us, the owners of Brutus and Toots were there, as well as
signed statements from three others who had owned and lost their Ark
dogue due to epilepsy. We presented our case to the best of our
ability with legal assistance and support from my dear friend,
Michael Rogers. The
Judge ruled in our favor. It was only the beginning. The breeder
appealed. We went to court two more times. I stood in County Supreme
Court across from the
attorney hired by the breeder and argued the case. Finally the appeal was
dismissed. It is over. We needed this for Junior and all the
others. We all felt we
had to do our best to try and stop the breeding of epileptic dogues.
It hasn't been as successful as we would have
liked. We have continued to become acquainted with
people every year that have lost an Ark dogue to epilepsy.
In Memory of
Ark’s Son Seigneur Junior
Brutus
Toots
Scout
Moet
Quiote
Pandora and Conan (not
epileptic)
We know there are others, we would
gladly add your loved one to the list. We hope to
include pictures with the names in the future.
Please contact us
at doguewwood@netsync.net
See links or write for more
information on the Dogue De Bordeaux
 
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