
Dogue de Bordeaux
Breed Info
TURNER & HOOCH MOVIE

I don't think there is a person alive that does'nt recognise that big dirty slobbery junkyard dog Hooch ( Barry) that destroyed everything who co-starred alongside Tom Hanks , the obsessively neat freak cop , in the 1989 movie Turner & hooch ....... they may not know it was the dogue de Bordeaux breed but they know the dog & remember the slobber ...... so we all know who the star actually turned out to be in that movie lol .
Hooch was a loyal companion to Amos ( his junkyard owner who died in the movie ) and Scott his new owner , even though at times he was a little bit naughty and slobbered excessively everywhere fell in love with him, and no before you ask they don't usually drool that bad Hooch had some help with the use of egg whites.
Viewers could'nt help but love him and enjoy watching just what this huge dog would get up to next....from the bath scene to the office and car scenes this dog had us laughing with the way he was turning this detectives life upside down.
Off screen Tom Hanks and Barry were very close and Hanks was said to have spent most of his down time on the set playing with his new found canine friend. After filming was completed, Hanks even sent a letter to Barryy's trainer & owner Clint Rowe ,who made a breif appearance in the film as one of the SPCA officers, telling him how much he had enjoyed working with the dogs. While Barry was all business during filming, he seemed to know when the cameras had stopped rolling and frolicked with Hanks and the other cast members.
There were three dogues used in the making of this movie Barry / Beasley & Vigor ( who basically played Barrys stunt double) Barry was one of four dogs bred by Peter Curley from TNT kennels situated in rural Merrimac in the USA in 1978 then sold them onto Disney Studios to be trained up by Clint for this movie. Cristo did not make an appearance in the movie.

Barrys preformance in the movie was haled by critics as Oscar worthy .Barry was the longest living Dogue in the movie and passed away at 14 years old in 1992.
The pup that appears at the end of the film was Jojo owned by John and Ricki Toole of Martel Dogue de Bordeaux, California.
Here is a couple of samples of the movie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIYB7Bj2npk

MYTHS
MYTHS
Are there dogues in NZ bred by the same breeder as Barrys?
Yes there are dogues with TNT kennel lines in New Zealand
Are they the direct decendants of Barry the dog used in the movie ?
NO they are not as some breeders would have you believe.
Just because a dogue has the TNT lines in there pedigree does not make them a direct descendant of Barry it makes them bred by the same Kennels as Barry was bred at. ...not to mention Barry was never registered by Disney nor bred from.
Anyone who breeds registered dogs will tell you just because a dog has the same kennel name, or prefix, does not make it the same lines it just makes it bred by that kennels owner so please don't be mislead or sucked in with some breeders advertising hype to try and sell a pup who would be happy to let you believe you have something special and add a huge price tag to it because it is just a con sadly and really shows the lack of knowledge that breeder has.
COMMERCIAL STARS

We have also had a few dogue tv commercial starring Chewie (Chienparadis Caruso ) of bellarouge kennels inAustralia who does the Saachi & Saatchi Oympus Digital camera advertisements to prove how shockproof / waterproof these cameras really are ...remember the dogue with the camera in his mouth and the destroyed lounge!
Check out the advert here if you have'nt seen it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xclt8huX6DU