Dogue Stories: Origins Of The Dog De Bordeux
Rick London
Since everyone fell in love with the large slobbering dog (Dogue de Bordeaux) in "Starsky And Hutch" America has finally fallen for this huge territorial four-legged beauty, but nobod is quite sure from where it derived. Some historians are certain it derived from the Bulldog and several other breeds somewhere in France, others are certain it was ancient Tibet, and still others ancient Rome during Julius Caesar's rule. There is archeological evidence that a dog of nearly identical looks resided there at the time. The most popular theory is that the Dogue originated in ancient France and lived mostly in the city of Aqitine. Only one thing Dogue experts agree upon is that all these similar breeds share the same gene-link as all 21st century Molossers.
In its early days, the Dogue was placed into three varieties, the Parisian, the Tolouse and the Bordeaux. The breed labels were placed due to geographic location and job description (yes Dogues are working dogs). The Dogue had various coat hues at the time such as brindle and a majority of white markings that ran completely up the legs from the feet.
The Dogue placed first at a French show at the Jardin d'Acclimattation. It did not have a name then so was named after the region that hosted the facility, Bordeaux, France, hence we have the Dogue de Bordeaux.
So I'm often asked questions like , why would I, a cartoonist and e-tailer of my licensed merchandise, write articles about pedigree dogs and/or cats? When I launched Londons Times Cartoons in 1997, I had a plan, a method behind my madness, if you will. I planned for the bulk of my cartoons to be animal-related, and, if for some reason it caught on and we became syndicated and/or licensed, I would donate a percentage of all animal-related merchandise sales to various animal causes. Time went by and in 2005, I realized we were most likely on the map as licensees and publishers were calling and emailing. My name started appearing on "Celebrity Autgraph Sites" and requests came in nearly daily for signed cartoons to be sold at celebrity auctions. I always did and do comply. Now I have thousands of gifts and collectibles for sale at my various stores. The Dogue is up, for instance at my RickLondonCollection.com store in the "dogs" section. They appear on aprons, t-shirts, mousepads, beer steins, magnets, casual wear, hoodies, ornaments...you name it, they appear there. And for some reason, even though we showcase more mainstream traditional dogs such as pooldes and German Shepherds, more requests percentage-wise come in for the Dogue.. Many are not Dogue onwners, tehy telll us, but simply love their look. They simply click and buy what they want and keep it as a collectible (they are rising in value rather rapidly) or give them as gifts or both.
When I launched Londons Times Cartoons that was all I had, that and a computer. Late that year, almost 1998, we had 87 cartoons up and on a good day, 50 visitors. Today, just at our main cartoon site Londons Times we boast 8500+ original images and thousands of licensed items in our various stores ricklondoncollection.com, LTSuperstore.com, and ricklondonwear.com; all of them have a dog and cat topic with all sorts of merchandise from clothing to gifts to collectibles. Suddenly calls ane emails were coming in to donate signed cartoons to various celebrity auctions and items were selling, particularly cat and dog merchandise. My dream was coming true but I was so beat up and too exhausted to even notice it, must less even enjoy it. I took a long sabbatical in 1999 and came back strong. A very vague dream I had stuffed away as a child was coming into being. I was getting paid for doing something I loved to do, not what someone else dictated. And yes, I was writing checks to animal causes as many of my animal-related t-shirts, beer steins, mousepads, day planners, coasters, caps, hoodies, and the many other gift items and collectibles I showcase, were now selling. I felt like Nathan Johnson (Steve Martin) in "The Jerk" upon finding himself in the phone book yelling "I've made it, I'm famous!", and sometimes still do. I just lost my dog, "Thor" a stray I found in S. Ms. The vet thinks he was arout 21 when he finally died. I fed him a strictly raw diet of meats, bones and vegetables and fed him herbal tinctures in spring water daily. He wa an amazing creature. And he was a stray I found in the woods back home in Ms.
I mention this because I encourage others to find their passion, whether it be animals or sewingt and take it to the Internet. Find others with similar interests. Different people have different experiences with this. For me, it was no neon light but a very gradual thing. I know it sounds like a cliche' but If I can do it, but ifI can do it, anyone can. When I hear of animals that got help, due to our work, I get chills every time. When I hear of a classroom learning about spaying and neutering, I get goosebumpts. I believe that our pets are true gifts from God, and he shows us through them how to "love thy neighobor. I never understood that before, with my other dogs, nd cats, before "Thor". Though I had always owned pets, I always was away at work or school. When I got home at the end of the day, if I had enough energy to pet them on the head and remember their names, they were lucky. Thor was the first dog I owned while working at home, He became my shadow. Though admittedly a cared for him for a very long time, he, no doubt, saved my life many times (but that is a whole other story whihc I do plan to write). He only died less than a week ago and am still in mourning. But he was my inspiration when I had writer's block, and he taught me to love myself and others, unconditionally. He was "only a dog" and I'm "only human" and he was the mentor, I but a nubile student.
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