Roxy, our last remaining Bullmastiff, passed away at 13 years old Dec 05

In loving memory of Hooch, one of our male Bullmastiffs

About  Leanne and Shawn…..

Leanne is 38 and Shawn is 36, we don’t have any children, our dogs are our lives.  We show maybe once or twice a month around Sydney, preferring to spend most of our time at home or taking our dogues to the local lakes or parks, and we don’t like to travel all over the country for dog shows, we don’t enjoy it and the dogs don’t enjoy it either.

 

When we returned to New Zealand in 2005 to get married, I knew Shawn was disappointed that we couldn’t have any of our dogues at the wedding.  So as a surprise,  I had an icing sculpture of a dogue, modelled on our own Chewie, made for the wedding cake. 

 

We are not judges, or trainee judges or stewards, we handle our own dogs in the ring and we don’t know influential people in the dog world, so when our dogues win, they win on their own merits, we are proud of this fact.

 

How we and our dogs live…..

We live on a beautiful property in Sydney on the edge of the National Park.  Photos of our house, dog yards and property are at the bottom of this page.

 

We have just under 2000 sq mtrs of grassy land, but every bit is cleared and fenced and purely for the dogues.  We prefer to allow our dogues to be in pairs or groups rather than in solitary runs, plus they are all house dogs, so have access to indoors and sleep inside at night.  In addition to this, we are only minutes away from bush walks, parks and lakes, where we walk and swim our dogs.

 

We provide our dogs with the best care and attention possible, ensuring they are sound, healthy, socialised and happy. Our dogues are hip & elbow scored, and cared for in a family environment to produce dogs for show and as family companions.   For us, there is no difference between family and pets.  Our dogues are our family, often spoilt with more love and affection than the humans in our lives! 

 

Our history with dogs…..

Before Shawn, Leanne previously had Bullmastiffs under her prior partner’s kennel prefix in New Zealand.  Leanne and Shawn moved to Sydney 5 years ago.   Leanne’s Bullmastiffs have retired now and as they sadly pass on, we fill the voids with the love of the Dogue de Bordeaux.  After losing our male Bullmastiff, Hooch, to bone cancer of the shoulder at the age of 7 years, Roxy became very lonely and we would have lost her too for sure if not for Emily, our first Bordeaux.  Roxy passed away in December 2005 at 13 years of age.

 

The present and future…..

We have embarked on a breeding program with some of the best bloodlines in the UK and Europe by way of importing juvenile dogs, adult dogs, and frozen semen, all proven dogs with excellent international show careers and superior structure.  Our first import being the male, International Ch & Dutch Ch GrandRouge Lucciano by Redrhino (Argento), a magnificent dogue.  Roman is our second import, from Int Ch Ndl Ch Dutch Ch Fr Ch Emberez Apollo, and our future program includes the addition of an imported bitch and frozen semen.

 

We hope that more people get the opportunity to enjoy this beautiful breed, who’s ability to love and be loved never ceases to amaze me.

 

Thanks for visiting

 

Leanne and Shawn

Phone 0415 275 279 

Email  info@bellarouge.com