For Rolex the Dogue de Bordeaux, a good meal is more important than a big win
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Spoiler alert: Our colleague T.J. Simers cries foul when his Westminster candidate of choice, a Dogue de Bordeaux named Rolex, is edged out by another dog in his breed competition.
Despite his loss, Rolex must have had a good time at Westminster -- at least, the behemoth French mastiff ate well (if you consider raw meat an enticing meal). Simers has the gory details:
Rolex, a cross between a walrus and lion, is staying in Room 1212 at the Affinia on Seventh Avenue, and as good as anything going on here, it couldn’t possibly be as interesting as the look on the face of the maid the first time she walks in. ‘I was able to wash most of the blood out of the hotel towels in the tub,’ explains [owner Chelsea] Conway. ‘His bowl was too big for the plane, so we put the raw meat on the towel for him to eat. What a mess; I didn’t want the maid to think he’d eaten a little child. ‘He’d never do anything like that. He looks intimidating, and there might be a little drool on the ceiling, and maybe even some bone splinters here and there, but he’s really a big scaredy cat.’
Rolex is soon to be a father, with two puppies due back home in California. Each will be sold for $10,000.
‘That’s what pays for this little hobby,’ Conway tells Simers. But Rolex doesn’t seem too preoccupied with his family life -- he’s a lot more focused on food:
As for Rolex, right now he’s devouring what’s left of a lovely lamb, I’m sure, bones and all. He also gets a salmon and then Conway throws down a glob of tripe -- the ground stomach intestines of a cow, and as disgusting as it sounds. ‘His absolute favorite, but there’s a stench to it like you’ve never smelled,’ Conway says, the window in 1212 open in these subfreezing temperatures 24 hours a day because that’s also the way the dog likes it.
The eventual winner of the Dogue de Bordeaux class, Ch. Gargoyles Brando T Beefcake, will go up against the other members of the Working group tonight. Among the competition: L.A.’s own Ch. Nighthawks Born For Highwood, a Rottweiler, and Ch. Galilee’s Pure Of Spirit, a giant Schnauzer who’s ranked the number-one show dog in the country.
--Lindsay Barnett
Video: Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times