1989 was the year; France was the county. Napoleon was conceived in the back room of a little tavern in a nondescript part of Paris. Roland Veysset, Sec. Of the French Bouvier des Flandres Club introduced Napoleon’s mother, Serasue, to the well known and highly appraised ring sport competitor and French Champion Udi du Bas Berry, who belonged to the tavern owner. Serasue and Udi had their encounter on June 4th and that was it.
The flight from Dulles to Paris had been tedious and uneventful. With
traveling companions, Cathy Wittall of Lasquiti Island, British Columbia,
and her sister, Ginger Martus of Vincentown New Jersey, the owner of Serasue,
Claire McLean of Deewal Kennels arranged to visit the kennel of Du Clos
des Jeunes Plantes owned by Mr. And Mrs. Gelieneau. Mrs. Gelineau commented
on how cute Serasue was. Realizing the possibility of a match with one
of their own studs, Serasue became more than just cute, she became quite
lovely. However, Serasue was promised to Udi du bas berry. Serasue stayed
with Udi for a week while they went gallivanting across the country to
see Bouviers and more Bouviers and to be mesmerized with the tremendous
turnout at the Denmark World Show - not only great crowds, but great dogs
and great Bouviers.
The trip back to the United States was exhausting, but Serasue settled
down to wait out her pregnancy and the birth of her ‘foreign bred’ puppies.
Right on schedule her first litter made their appearance on August 6,1989
and first born, biggest and strongest was a pup we called Napoleon. He
and his sister were right off the creme de la creme of the litter and we
called her Nadia. Later in her life, Sweet Serasue became an A.K.C. Champion
and was winners bitch at the Madison Square Garden show in 1991.
Napoleon was like his dad, big, burly, hardy, strong and resolute with
a fine working attitude. Nadia, took after her mom and was smaller with
lighter bone, with a very up and happy attitude. They were both always
looking for fun, but Napoleon, being the big brother, was more conservative
and calmer, and usually took Nadia by the ear and bade her to behave.
The pair grew as puppies do and shortly were well into their young adulthood
looking for work. Nadia became a mainstay in the kennel and Napoleon was
sent to earn his Companion Dog Degree with a friend named Trish Wentz who
had a name for training dogs and getting obedience titles.
Ms. Wentz gave "Nappy" a crash course in training, and he earned his
American Kennel Club Companion Dog award in three tries. The last turn
was just on the edge as Trish tells us that he was so close to breaking
the long down that a mini second might have lost it for them. But that
was only the beginning of his training career for shortly after his C.D.
award, we had an inquiry from Cindy James of Frank Inn in Hollywood for
a dog that would pull a cart, had some obedience training, and would work.
At that time, around 1991, there was a company working on a movie version
of The Dog of Flandres and this time they wanted a Bouvier. There
had been three versions released over the years, including one in 1924
called The Kid with Jackie Coogan, and a 1959 version staring David
Ladd. All had met with some critical acclaim, but none had the fame and
fortune of the original best seller by Ouida, pen name for Marie-Louise
de la Ramee who wrote the book after her visit to Antwerp in 1871. The
author was shocked to see dogs used to pull heavy milk carts and that visitors
had to pay to see Ruben’s great masterpiece in the cathedral. She wrote
the story about the art-loving orphan, Nello and his faithful dog Patrash,
and their friendship that lasted until death. The book became a best seller,
not only in Britain, but also in Japan. It was for this story, that Cindi
James was looking for the right dog.
After much deliberation and serious thought, we decided Nappy
might be that dog and this might be his ticket to fame and fortune. Little
did any of us guess it would take another eight years before this movie
would see the light of day and little did we realize that Nappy would be
training all his life for this one profound event.
Cindy worked diligently with Nappy and taught him scene after scene;
to pull the cart, to come, to jump, to stay, to go, to play dead, to snarl,
to smile, to bark, to give paw, to roll over, to jump up. Everything you
can train a dog to do, Nappy was trained to do, and year after year, still
no movie... the money just wasn’t there to finish the project. Finally
Kevin Brodie, the director, was able to get it back on the production tract,
and the cameras began to roll.
Cindy was called. She looked down at her now ten year old friend and
had just about given up all hope of making the movie, and said, “Well Nap
are you ready? We are off to Belgium and I hope this time it is a wrap.”
This time it was a wrap. Nappy performed like the trooper he was, making
90 percent of all the shoots, laying his head down, huddling close to the
little boy at the end of the film where, in a frozen embrace, they die
together in the cathedral under the great masterpiece by Rubens.
Nappy’s eyebrows were cut back so the soulful and sweet nature of the
beast could be seen. In the scenes where the great antique cart is unmercifully
heavy, Napoleon threw himself into the harness and pulled and strained
until the wheels rolled on the cobblestone like the ticking of a clock.
The children stars at first were actually afraid of Nappy. As
time went on, they became enamored and delighted with this gentle, furry
beast. Their friendship and loyalty with the dog can easily be seen
on the screen.
This movie, a Christmas Classic as much as any Dickens story might be,
is extremely poignant and inspiring with its message of passion and love.
Nothing could be more fitting for the beloved cart dog, Paltrash, to be
a Bouvier des Flandres - the true dog of Flandres.
Deewal Napoleon C. D. was bred and owned by Claire D. McLean. Trained
for his Companion Dog Degree by Trish Wentz and later sold to Cindy James
of Frank Inn, Hollywood, California
