A Portrait of TRUBLUE CIELO                                    Background by  R. Henderson.

This link leads to R Henderson's own website, her story is a sad one in many respects. www.geocities.com/estherhenderson/

Dear Maria,

I’ve written this as a testimony to your principles and ethics as the breeder of Trublue Australian Bandogs, your forthrightness and ‘after-help’ which you so generously afford to the people who purchase your pups, myself in particular, I could not have reared my unique Bandog without you !

As you know so well, rearing, training and coming to understand my Trublue CIELO hasn’t been easy for me. His name might mean ‘Heaven’, he is most certainly heaven-sent, but heavenly? Weeeell, that depends on what one believes Heaven to be, and I had never thought of it as riotous !

Approaching Senior Citizen status I am neither as steady on my legs, nor always as mobile as I would like to be. I have always been a very independent person and I still live alone and manage my home and yard myself, and that isn’t always easy either, but I wouldn’t swap it. I though perhaps if I had a companion, meaning either a partner or a good big dog I would feel more secure as I get on in years. Since I have never been a very ‘social’ person, preferring to paint and sculpt and read and listen to music and write… all solitary persuits, the choice was obvious so I started my search for the perfect dog for me.*

I had enjoyed the movie "Turner and Hooch" and had decided I wanted a "Hooch", or a very close resemblance to him both in nature and in appearance.

My lady friends were, ( and still are ) horrified, " But he’s so…BIG !… ( meaning ugly, but they wouldn’t dare ). Yup, big, wrinkly, slobbery, devoted…a guardian who, if required, will instinctively protect me with his strength and life, ( but really only needs to rely on his size and appearance), and who will be my gentle friend, good pal, and perhaps my helper.

I contacted so many breeders of all kinds of Mastiffs without finding the one whom I felt was not trying to push their dogs at me with ‘special offers’ and sometimes by speaking ill of other breeders. I postponed my search thinking that ‘my’ dog existed only in the movies, and if I ever found him I would never be able to afford the price.

One morning, sitting in the doctor’s waiting room I came across an advertisement in a very out-of-date Burke’s Backyard Magazine and there was my dream dog, exactly as I had imagined him ! The straightforwardness of the wording and your direct, ( no bullshit) approach, Maria, struck an immediate chord inside of me. I was certain. Was this an answer from Heaven to my disappointed longings? A Trublue Australian Bandog was what I wanted, for all the reasons which make these dogs THE BEST, and I could afford him, I could start paying him off before he was born, and I knew, deep down I could trust you, Maria!

Now sixteen months have passed and I have Trublue CIELO, a most wonderful dog!

I am as devoted to him as he is to me, he is the best friend ever!

CIELO has been the Biggest Surprise Package I think I will ever get, a totally unique bundle of quizzical, stubborn, fearless, riotous, charming, boisterous, miscevous, intelligent and intuitive comfort and frustration !

I have never loved an animal so much…with the exception of my first old Siamese cat who was all of the above but…smaller ! Reincarnation on a large scale? We will never know. Trublue Heaven? If Heaven wears you out then drops in its tracks and snores like you wouldn’t believe then, yes, every bit Heaven !

My otherwise quiet life has been a Monkey Circus for the last fourteen months, all my energy has been directed towards taming the monkeys and teaching them that I need a bit of leeway. It seems, at this point, that some of the monkeys have gone, others still need firm coaching.

CIELO knows now that he must not play rough games with me, so, when the monkeys drive him at full speed he digs holes…all dogs dig holes…but I am convinced CIELO is aiming for China, all of him goes down until you see a rump with a very straight tail and hear rumblings from the deep. Luckily we live in the country and my idea of a yard is not exactly the picket- fenced suburban block.

The long unused gravel driveway is his very own playground. There he belts up several 20 litre plastic drums and a 44 gallon one…he’s "got rhythm" and "I’ve got music"…in my heart and I cheer him on and laugh at my big "drummer boy" until my ribs hurt.

CIELO knows who is Boss…but the monkeys are stubborn. He has this "Make Me" attitude, and I am sure he is just trying me out, ( or the monkeys are ), and I’m almost certain he smirks at me before he yields. Then, when the monkeys are all tired and have gone to bed, CIELO shows his "Little acts of kindness and of love…" (William Wordsworth -Lines). He’ll lay his big wrinkly head in my lap and gently nuzzle or lick my hands and suck my fingers….just like a little calf, or he’ll bring me one of his really clean, bleached bones…"Here, Mum, this’ll help!" Darling Monster !

I don’t usually feed him at the table and he knows not to beg, but the monkeys get him and he employs things I’ve taught him to win a morsel. He sits close to the table edge…and his head reaches a good two inches above the table surface, so it would be very easy for him just to plonk it on my plate and grab the lot…but he wouldn’t dare despite the monkeys’ promptings. I look into his bright gold-green eyes, he drops with his head between his paws and does " The Drill"…which is what I ask of him before he gets his meal. Sometimes I yield, especially when, if "The Drill" doesn’t work he begins bartering with me. * I must have it written across my forehead in dog-speak…"bartering acceptable", because my old Dobermann used to do the very same thing without being taught.

CIELO is an avid collector, he has a treasure box full of found items…(and stolen ones) such as my plastic pot plant watering can…which I think is my fault really since I give him empty milk bottles and such like for toys to incorporate into his drum ensemble. CIELO barters using his collectables with such a quizzical expression I cannot resist this game, which, of course, has a treat at the end for him. "I’ll swap you this for lick of that…" Sometimes I strike a hard bargain, he’ll be in that, and he plys me with what are his favourite things until he wins his treat.

When I say "All gone, no more !" then he knows the game is over…and so do the monkeys.

CIELO weighs 54kg at sixteen months and he is not fat at all, but the monkeys make him push his weight around at times and throwing himself at me broadside hit is not exactly what I can handle, so we’ve had to modify this a bit. He craves bodily contact, loves hugs and cuddles and praise. So he now ‘runs and hugs me’…sitting down and he decides when this is appropriate. He sits in front of me and gazes longingly. I bend and hold his head in my hands. He wraps his paws around my wrists and we have a big hug. He has a big old blanket box where he sleeps. In the morning he sits on this box which makes his head level with mine and he places his head on my shoulder and groans when I wrap my arms around him…but don’t get me wrong, CIELO is no woos, his great affection merely balances his ferocity, and I’ve had occasion to witness this and even got bitten myself trying to separate Cielo from the aggressor ( who was known to CIELO and really meant no malice) but who pushed the relationship a bit too far for Cielo’s liking.

CIELO howled when he realized he’d bitten me. I cried, because he howled, he consoled, it was so heart-wrenching, even onlookers had tears in their eyes.

CIELO, ( when the monkeys are asleep), is a Gentleman. He has learnt not to chase my Siamese cats who live in the house with us, he has learnt not to snatch food from my hand and will take a tiny morsel from my mouth without making contact. When traveling in the car he sucks his water from a sports bottle…and really tries not to dribble without much success. If he could sip a cup of tea with his pinkie raised I do believe he would !

CIELO is a Joker and a Clown even when the monkeys are elsewhere.

He waits for me around corners, pops out and says "BOOF - gotcha!" But I can "think him out"..I sense when he’s around and get in first, I’ve never seen a dog as big as he is jump straight up in the air like a cat. A taste of his own medicine is a valuable lesson. Now he can ‘sus’ me out, neither of us hide around corners to frighten each other any more and the unacceptable is now a gentle nudge..in the bum.

CIELO is a Whirling Dervish ! He has recently discovered his reflection in the big glass verandah door. He has been socialized with other dogs at at early age…until he resented being woken up from his afternoon siesta to go to obedience and refused to behave any longer….so it is not about getting that other dog…just that thing on the back which sticks out, and in trying to do this he makes himself dizzy.

Saturday is his bath day and he lives in anticipation, often bringing me his bath sheet. He hops in after I hop out and luxuriates in the soft sweet-smelling water. When we are done he puts his head under and pulls the plug. I’ve replaced so many plugs, he won’t give it back…another souvenir ! CIELO loves water like a hippopotamus and I call him Water Horse -he swims in the creek through the park just down the hill, quite a lot of the swim is…underwater where he ‘finds’ things to bring home.

CIELO is a thief…( the monkeys make him do it), and we still have a few thieving monkeys to exorcise. He knows he shouldn’t, but opening drawers is fun, who knows what one might find for the collection ! I doubt if I will be able to stop this in any other way than to replace all the handles with hand-holds cut in the drawers. I don’t want to discourage his collecting, he enjoys it so much.

Yelling at Cielo doesn’t work anymore, and I don’t need to do it often, but if I do - it only excites him, so I’ve taken to "Giving him a dirty look", and it works every time even when he is propelled by hundreds of those monkeys. Then there’s the big bad tail-lowering word SHAME. It took a great deal of effort, and tears of frustration on my part, and perseverance on both our parts to reach this understanding.

CIELO is not a soft dog nor is he a ferocious dog but a wonderfully even balance of both ! When he is asleep he is my sweet snoring Monster who sucks his own toes, but if there is an unusual disturbance…I wouldn’t like to be the person creating it !

I’ve been unfortunate to get new neighbours who are not exactly ‘nice’, and I was contemplating moving before I decided to get a dog. But now that Cielo weighs 54kg and goes for walks down the street and explodes like a million ancient cannons…those neighbours are good.

My beautiful Trublue and I still have much to learn from and teach each other.

They say that a devoted dog reflects his owner’s personality.

I’ve had my doubts about this in Cielo’s regard, but after recalling my younger, stronger days I saw a fighting spirit, a no nonsense approach to most everything, a sense of humour, a practical joker, a terrible tease and a perpetrator of mischief, an enthusiastic adventurer, somebody who would not baulk at justified payback, a clown, a joker and a luxuriant lollabout.

Uncannily, CIELO reflects all of who I am on the inside yet he has experienced very little of it from me. CIELO has never had any intention whatsoever of settling into his quiet older lady’s life. Rather, his older lady was going to find a manageable, rejuvenated version of her former self…so " Everything old is new again" !

Of all the eight puppies you bought 800km accompanied by their father Mozzie for me to choose from, this one who lay under my canvas chair in the garden chewing on a bone, looking at me with his steady baby blue gaze, chose me, and, from that moment, he decided how our life together would be, and so it is, and so it will unfold.

CIELO the Psychic Dog? CIELO Heaven Sent? I like to believe so !

THANKYOU, MARIA, FOR MY BIG, DEVOTED PROTECTOR and for all the comfort, confusion, joy and security he has brought to my life !

Fond Regards,

Esther

A very young and thoughtful Cielo above

 VALE CIELO.

A mature Cielo below with Esther, he used to talk to her, and at his end, when Esther got home from a conference she had to attend just in time to say goodbye to her loved dog he had such a 'conversation' with her before the vet had to do that final kindness that even the staff at the vets cried to see the end of this faithful dog.

                                                             MY  BOY CIELO

Everyone would say that their dog is the best ever, but Trublue Cielo, a beautiful Neo- Australian Bandog bred by Maria Bryan at Charleville in outback Queensland, to me was the best dog in the world. I had the joy and the security that his companionship and protection brought for close on 10 years and he enjoyed robust health all his life. Only yesterday, 16^th November 2010 he had to leave me, struck down swiftly and suddenly by something that could only be said to be a genetic predisposition that is the fault of all the unscrupulous breeders of the past who have in- bred these magnificent dogs just for show and money.

Maria, you know that I searched high and low for “My Dog”, after I'd seen the movie “Turner and Hooch”, I wanted a dog as clever as “Hooch” who would be my best friend, companion and protector...and who wouldn't mind that I also loved my pretty Siamese felines...miniature versions of the intelligence of the most intelligent dogs, and, like these dogs, that also come with an inherent 'bag of monkeys'..the mischief factor that brings the laughter and joy and creates the bond between human and animal companion. Finally I found your advertisement and I was determined to have one of your dogs.

I admired your breeder ethics and that you were dedicating your life as a breeder to bringing this breed back from what I regarded as extinction, from what selfish and cruel humans had done to it. The last ten years have shown the world, through your participation at K9 Pro Sports and through all the awards your dogs have won, and how well many of your pups have done in the show rings all over, that your Neos and your Bandogs are THE BEST.

The best regarded Judges have said so!

A Neo should look and walk and stand and have the body conformation and the temperament that your dogs exhibit!

Anyone buying for 'swank' need not look to you for a dog that will barely stand up on its dwarfish legs holding its incredibly cruel hulk and wrinkles just long enough to make them look good to any other 'swankers'...no regard for the welfare of the dog or for its health.

You have made a difference to the Neapolitan Mastiffs of this world! I've observed you battle nights on end to save whole litters that for no reason were failing having inherited some unknown genetic predisposition that surfaced from the in breeding of way back. I've observed you going through the heartbreak of losing pups notwithstanding every effort and having the final satisfaction of saving the pups with every remedy you knew...and in the process inventing new ones and making further discoveries about how to better the breed.

I've followed you sleep deprived and determined to overcome all the bad breeding from the past and I've seen you win and do the impossible and resurrect and improve the breed time and time again!

I've not seen this but I know that no dog that is not up to the standards you set goes out your gate to a new home.

You are probably the only breeder of the Neo in existence who will guarantee a pup for health.

I've heard of you having to deal with those out to exploit this guarantee that you offer...there will always be the exploiters, the jealous, the unscrupulous but you continue to succeed despite them and you have made a difference!

My Boy, My Trublue Cielo now lies in his final resting place under roses, but he will have a plaque in a new garden pathway that will bear testimony to you for his robust health all though his life, to his intelligence that delighted me with his every whimsical and comical prank, that defended me and that guarded me and warned me as a single older woman against those who meant no good. I could safely say that I am alive today because of My Boy, Cielo, The Bandog/Neo bred by you, Maria.

You have achieved the international recognition that you so richly deserve. You have put your life and any earnings and your passion and intelligence back into your dogs and asked only for food and shelter and the necessary for yourself...and it shows! 

Whilst I mourn the best friend I ever had and because of all of the above, I can say that your dogs are the best dogs.

I can shout from the rooftops - MY DOG was THE BEST DOG in the world...and it is fact, not just the sadness at the loss of him that makes me mourn and cry these words out loud.

I was privileged to have as my faithful friend, protector and guardian..The Best Dog in The World!

The story is not finished here with the mortal life of Trublue Cielo, there will be another “best dog in the world” for me, from your kennel. I would never consider buying a dog like this from anyone else.

Thank you Maria for the last ten years of my life in the company of Trublue Cielo!

Whilst I feel a terrible emptiness and a loss beyond expression, I know that there is, out there at ABC Alert and Trublue Bandogs kennels at Charleville a beautiful mother dog who will, at some stage, give me another Best Dog in the World for the years that remain to me.

I mourn your loss Cielo! I am thankful for your life and for the life I had with you. I miss your snoring when I wake at night. I miss the big joyful greeting in the morning. I will miss you sneaking up on me and butting me in the behind and then grinning in your doggy way. I will miss watching you sleep on your bunk with your favourite cat curled up under your jowls. I will miss you leaning on me and nudging me when you did not approve of the person at my gate. I will miss you telling me its 3p.m and time for your dinner. I will miss watching people give us a wide berth when out for a walk and seeing you do belly flops in the creek and diving for something to bring home for your souvenir basket. I will miss watching you trying to open the kitchen drawers that I Cielo-proofed so I wouldn't have to keep buying tea towels and I will miss listening to your doggy swearing when you failed.

I will miss our long conversations – You could Talk! Yes, you could talk! My only regret is that I am such a dumb human as to have never been able to decipher your language when you were intelligent enough to learn mine and even intuit my thoughts and needs before I spoke.

I will miss getting pulled up to be breathalysed and you not letting the boys in blue put their arm in our truck window! I will miss you glaring at anyone wearing a baseball cap or swinging a plastic shopping bag and hearing you begin to rumble.

I will always love you Cielo.

I think of you now romping in the green meadows of the Elysian Fields with your littermate Wilson who went to live in the USA and who brought together his  humans and me. Through you, Cielo and your beautiful brother Wilson I've made some wonderful, faithful friends and gained a family of five adopted grandchildren that I never would have had...had you not come into my life!

                                   VALE CIELO,  My Boy, The Best Dog in the World.

Esther R.R. Henderson – Stanthorpe,Queensland. Australia

Footnote by me, Maria Bryan.

At almost ten years of age he has been cut down by an auto-immune condition the second of our dogs to die from this sooner than he should otherwise have died.

His owner who has come to be a very dear friend in the ten years of Cielo's all too brief stay on Earth, would like the end of his story to be on-site along with her original testimonial, in her own words here it is, if it seems a bit hard on breeders, it is the because of the grief and frustration one feels ( and this feeling I know only too well) when long lines of breeders stretching back for many generations, often with the blessing of the registering bodies of their country, have contributed to the downfall in general health and vigour of a breed because the breeding goals and practises followed  lead to conditions which may not have arisen had more prudent breeding practices been followed over many generations.

When such conditions arise and cause an early death of a loved companion although it is no one breeders fault, one just wants to lash out and kick someone's backside.

Jemima Harrison is doing just that, click on the link to leave my site and do read her blog.