Eldorado Past

I have to distinguish my “Eldorado” story by PAST, PRESENT and FUTURE.

The “past” was abruptly ended by the deaths of all of my Mastiffs in a tragic event.

On September 5, 1998, I returned home to find that the air conditioning had failed in my kennel. All the dogs had perished in the heat. My only surviving dog was Darbee, my Border Terrier. She was in the house at the time.

I was living with an older woman that raised racing greyhounds. She took me in when I had nowhere to go. In 1994, my marriage of 23 years was over. My ex-husband decided that he didn’t have to live with my MS, so he deserted me. I was left with a house that we had built, three horses, three goats, two pigs, 8 Mastiffs, a Bullmastiff, a lab, and Darbee. In a very few short years, I had lost my job because of a diagnosis of MS. That also goes to say, my health was not great either. I sold my house and horse and after a very nasty divorce and attorney fees, I was left with the dogs, my van and very little dignity.

Living at the greyhound farm was not a good place for me or for my dogs, but at the time I had no choice. My dogs were used to being in the house with me, not in a kennel. I was feeling horribly guilty that I wanted to keep all of them, they were all I had. I did my best by building a kennel and having it professionally air-conditioned, insulated and heated. The kennel was actually better living conditions that the house where I slept. Many, many nights I slept out with the dogs. They did, however, have plenty of room to run.

Barkley, my Bullmastiff, I gave to some friends. Both my pet pigs were killed by the Dobermans on the farm. I was badly bitten by one of my dogs during a fight. They had never had a fight before. I think all the stress going on was felt by them as well.

I did lose all my dogs that night, but not my sanity. This was because of good friends. Dog people, from all over, offered comfort and support. They also offered me puppies, adults, anything to help me continue. Diana VanSandt of Farpoint Mastiffs was instrumental in gathering donations to cremate my beloved dogs. All was taken care of for me by friends and family.

Laura and David Hagey offered me a puppy that was a grand daughter of Rebel. I named her Foxglove Spirit of Eldorado, as she was my hope to carry on.

This is where the PAST ends and a new chapter of Eldorado begins. I picked up the pieces and moved on.

Lost on 9-5-98 were:

CH Eldorado Rebel W/Out a Pause, CD, WD, CGC, TT, TDI

Eldorado Wrightous Killian, CD, CGC, TT

CH Eldorado Ain’t Misbehavin Too, CDC, TT “Bevin”

CH Lazy Daz Eldorado Moqui, CGC, TT

CH Eldorado Simply Irresistible, CGC, TT “Izzy”

CH Eldorado Gold Digger, CGC, TT

Foxglove Eldorado Taniwha

Eldorado Kiss My Aspirations “Pele”

CH Legendary Fannie Flaunts It, CD, TT, CGC, WD died in my arms 6 weeks after taking Best Veteran at the MCOA Specialty in 1995.

CH Eldorado Murphy’s Law, CD, TT, CGC, WD was put to rest in May, 1998.

Click on each dog to see pictures and their story.

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