Ben is a gorgeous boy with a real laid back personality. He has matured into a magnificent dog who is built low to the ground, with good width and depth of chest, solid bone, and very good topline. He has a beautiful head with correct closed angles, strength of muzzle, good chin and wrinkle. His rich red colouring is an added bonus. He is structurally very sound and certainly is a very harmonic, balanced package.

Ben is one of the most awarded Dogue de Bordeaux in Australia.

He finished 2006 as the No. 1 DDB in Australia and 2007 as the No. 1 Australian-bred DDB (and No. 2 nationally).

He has achieved 2 Best In Group (Group 1st) and 5 Reserve in Group (Group 2nd) awards at All Breeds Championship Shows and 1 Reserve in Group at an Open Show, in addition to countless Classes in Group.

Ben is the first Australian-bred Grand Champion to hold Best in Group awards and he and Tobias are the only two Austraian Bred multi Best in Group winning Grand Champions.

Ben is only the third DDB in Australia (and only the 2nd Australian-bred DDB) to be placed at Group level by an international judge when he was awarded Reserve in Group from the Junior Class (17 months old) by Mr Stan Zielinksi (USA) from 188 dogs entered.

Ben won Puppy of Breed at Brisbane Royal in August 2004, Res CC Dog at Toowoomba Royal in 2005 and RU BOB at Toowoomba Royal in 2006. He also took Best Intermediate Dog at the 2006 Sydney Royal (from a class of 4) under Mr J. Juslin (Finland) and first in the Australian-Bred class at the 2007 Canberra Royal under Mr R. Scoggins (USA).

Ben is now in semi-retirement from the show ring, although as he has now turned 7 years of age, he may make the occasional appearance in the veteran class.

Well, we showed Ben in the veteran class at the Beaudesert Kennel Club Championship shows in March 2011 and he took Best Veteran in Group at both shows under Mr E Fillipini from Argentina and Mr T Alexander from Canada. He trotted around the ring like he owned it. Norma Zimmerle, who gave Ben his first class in group at a championship show (Minor Puppy in Group), watched him go around and said "he's still got it and he'd put some of the youngsters to shame". We were just so proud of our boy!

We have only bred one litter from Ben and we are absolutely delighted with his children. His daughter, Australian Champion Bordogue Joelle, was the Number 1 DDB Puppy in Australia in 2007 (DOL Pointscore). Another 3 of his children finished in the Top 10 DDB puppies in Australia in 2007.

Joelle has continued her showring success taking Challenge Bitch and Reserve Best of Breed at Toowoomba Royal (2008). She has finished 2008 as the No. 1 Ausralian-Bred DDB and No. 2 Nationally. She also finished as the No. 3 DDB Puppy in Australia in 2008 despite not being eligible to record any points for the last half of the year (DOL Pointscore). Joelle has become the first Australian bred bitch to win Best Exhibit in Group at championship show level. She is actually only the second bitch in Australia to achieve this. Joelle achieved her Grand Champion title on 15 September 2012.

Another daughter, Aust. Champion Bordogue Sian finished 2008 right behind her sister as the No. 2 Australian-Bred DDB and No. 3 Nationally (DOL Pointscore). Sian was also took Reserve Challenge Bitch at Brisbane Royal in 2008 and Challenge Bitch at the Toowoomba Royal in 2009 and 2011. Sian also made breed history by becoming the first Australian bred bitch to be awarded Best Exhibit in Group, at any all breeds level, at the Burnett Kennel Club Open Show. She was also the first, and still the only, black mask DDB to achieve this.

Ben's granddaughter, Safron, was recently awarded her first class in Group, taking Best Baby in Group at the Lockyer Valley Kennel Club Championship Show under Mrs J. Harvey (Vic). This was only Safron's 4th show and she was only 18 weeks old. Safron now has 2 classes in group and another of Ben's granddaughters, Savanah, also has a class in group.

Ben is one of our house dogs and an absolute delight to have around. One of his favorite activities is still sleeping in his chair in the house and if we leave anything laying around that he can get his teeth in to, believe me he will still chew it up. (In his youth mobile phones, TV remote controls and furniture were the tastiest items around!)

In October 2007 Ben also became a "TV star" when we were approached by Brendan Williams Films for a Dogue with the face of an angel and the temperament to match, to appear in the Suncorp Insurance TV Commercial. He was required to sit on the back seat of a Mini Minor with two small children and shake his head so the slobber went everywhere. The commercial was shown across Queensland for 12 months.

Ben is an impressive dog with the success in the show ring to back it up!

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We lost Ben in the early hours of Tuesday morning 19 June 2012. He was 8 1/2 years old. The full body function blood tests from the week before had shown that his liver was not functioning as well as it should. He underwent a specific blood test on the Saturday to assess his liver function and the results came back with little change. The vets believe his liver function suddenly shut down and his whole system suddenly shut down as well. He is burried next to his mother, Samantha. They adored each other, so now they will always be together. It is so strange not to have him around the house. No words can describe how much we miss him.