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One morning, sitting in the doctor’s waiting room I came across an advertisement in a very out-of-date Burke’s Backyard Magazine and there was my dream dog, exactly as I had imagined him !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 thoughtfull Cielo