Mz. Bunny Settles In – Photos after the cut

As I mentioned in my last blog, I made a trip to Michigan to pick up the lovely Mz. Bunny, soft fluffy coated Frenchie extrordinaire. While there, I grabbed Divine, who was going to her new home in St. Catharines, Ontario, and Mz. Bunny’s sidekick, Paris.

Integrating new dogs into any pack can take some work, but when your pack consists of a mix of neutered and intact bitches, introductions can be particularly tricky. My pack is composed of the canine equivalents of high school cliques – little clusters of dogs who prefer to hang out exclusively with each other, with very little mixing with the bitches in the other cliques. Read more

The Ellen Fiasco – and Delilah Learns Bad Habits

It’s been a long time between posts, but there are mitigating circumstances – namely, a trip to Michigan to pick up Mz. Bunny, her sidekick Paris and the ever so lovely Divine. I also managed to squeeze in some work, a job change and a fevered bout of book reading.

First though, let’s address the truly important issues – Ellen DeGeneres and her absolutely mesmerizing on air break down. Has Ellen finally lost all of her marbles? Quite possibly. Do I feel sorry for her, in all her sobbing, sad sack glory? Not at all, and I’m not going to jump on that ‘Oooh, those mean old rescue groups’ band wagon, either.

Ellen adopted a dog, and that dog came with a contract, and that contract spelled out what she could and could not do with the dog once she had it. I’m willing to bet that Ellen signs lots and lots of contracts, on an almost daily basis, and employs lots and lots of people to make sure that the eensy weensy details of said contracts are spelled out in full to her. Tough cookies that Ellen either didn’t read, or didn’t understand this contract – or that, quite possibly, she just assumed that super-celeb stardom meant that such minute details could not possibly apply to her.

It’s not like this is the first time she’s dumped a dog that didn’t work out, either. She adopted a dog from an LA producer, only to toss it off to one of her staff a few months later.

Kerri Randles told Page Six that she gave DeGeneres a male mutt named Stormy two years ago, only to find out less than two months later that Ellen had given him to a member of her staff.”

So, yeah. My sympathy for Ellen is limited – and, lest you assume I’m one of those meanies who just enjoys picking on poor Ellen, bear in mind that this is the same woman who purchased a French Bulldog puppy from a pet store, as a gift. The dog, which she named Pig, is featured on her line of greeting cards. Funny thing is, no one is even sure if Ellen still has Pig – rumor has it that he didn’t work out, either.

In 2006, Degeneres and de Rossi were photographed buying an adorable white French bulldog. Earlier this year, the couple was spotted walking a playful white puppy. And, in 2003, there was Oakland, a cute border collie Degeneres adopted after seeing the dog on TV in San Francisco. However, it remains unclear if Ellen still has any of those dogs.

I suppose that I take all of this so seriously because I have a take back clause of my own in our sales contract. It’s simple, really – if you buy a dog from us, you can’t EVER get rid of it, for any reason, or in any way, without first notifying us and obtaining our permission to do so. We have it there because I want to always, always know where the dogs I’ve bred are, and that they are doing well. Simply put, I’m responsible for them, for life – and I take that responsibility seriously.

I once found out that a dog I’d placed in a ‘puppy back owed’ type scenario had been placed in rescue. I imagine you can guess how furious, how worried and how mortified I was. I phoned the woman who’d adopted my girl, and (initially quite irately) explained that this dog should never have been placed through rescue, and that the person who had given her up had no right to do so. The adopter was stunned, and apologetic, and it was a short phone call before I realized that she really was a good home, and my dog was in a better place than where she had been initially. That didn’t mitigate my anger, but it did mitigate my fear. It also made me tighten up my contract even more, and put a good lawyer on retainer – a lawyer I’m more than willing to use, if a repeat of that scenario ever happens in the future.

All of this is to say that yes, I can relate to a rescue group insisting on their contract being adhered to, and I can relate to expecting adopters or purchasers to uphold their end of the bargain we all enter into when we place living creatures into new homes. It’s about responsibility, and adhering to our word.

In Delilah related news, Sean has been teaching her some bad new habits – namely, barking on cue. This one is going to come back to bite him in the proverbial butt, trust me. There’s a video at the end of the post, of her in action, with him egging her on. Daddies and their little girls – what can you do?

I have three more looooong posts to come in the next few days – one I’ve been agonizing over, about the ethics of breeding for the show ring. Let’s hope my reputation can survive that one.

Delilah video after the cut Read more

My Dog VOTES – Or, 'why does Dalton McGuinty want to kill my puppy?'

Next week is the Ontario provincial election, and if Dalton McGuinty wins, I’m planning to pack my shit and head for south of the border.

Dalton and his lie-berals – I mean Liberals – are the brain trust behind Ontario’s Dangerous Dog legislation, the one that banned everything from Pit Bulls to Staffy Bulls to every dog in between that looks like it might have a little of whatever in it.

Delilah is sad because Dalton McGuinty wants to kill herThis law scares me. It scares me, and it scares right thinking pet owners everywhere. What scares me even more, however, is the Lie-berals – I mean Liberals – stated position that, if re-elected, they will not only keep the Dangerous Dogs laws intact, but will expand it to include even more dogs – including, it’s rumored all the Bull breeds. Yup, that includes Frenchies, and English Bulldogs and likely Bostons (Boston Bull Terriers, don’t forget). Don’t even bother pointing out that obvious, that this is utterly ridiculous. We know. We all know.

Want to know what’s even more ridiculous? This law includes puppies. All puppies. Puppies like Delilah. It’s a law that would allow – no, not allow, force – Animal Control to come to my door and seize my six week old puppies and kill them. Kill them.

Kill them for being the wrong breed. Kill them, because politicians are stupid, and it’s.. well, it’s for the children, don’t forget!

They’d kill Delilah. Dalton McGuinty wants to kill Delilah.

Over my. Dead. Body.

Or his, whichever comes first.

Content of the most recent CKC bulletin about ‘My Dog Votes’ day, after the cut. Read more

Scams, Dumb Email Du Jour & Delilah earns new title

A new puppy scam is making its way around the net. This one preys on the weakness of people to ‘help homeless animals’, with a liberal helping of greed thrown in for good measure.

The email purports to be from someone running an ‘animal rescue’ in Thailand. Apparently, they’re swamped with tons of cute puppies needing good homes, and financial support. You’re directed to their free served hosted website, which shows photos of clean, healthy, show quality French Bulldog, Pug, Boston and Bulldog puppies. Wow, who knew Thailand was over run with feral packs of show quality Brachy puppies? Last time I was there, all I saw were skinny, malnourished little street dogs. Things must have changed a lot since then.

You’re invited to contact this ‘animal rescue’ group to inquire about adopting or sponsoring one of their rescues, which inevitably leads to the request for a money order transfer to pay for the puppy’s shipping costs, or medical needs. This new scam is good – they can milk this out for months, telling the prospective ‘owners’ that the puppy needs vet care before being shipping, or export papers, or a government inspection, all of which they need you to pay for. Once they’ve milked as much as they can from one website, they shut it down and set up shop with a new one.

You’d think this would be easy to spot by now, but it’s amazing how many people’s brains shut down when they see cute puppy photo+cheap price. So, be on the look out, people. Oh, and if the pup belongs to a ‘Missionary’ who’s been sent to  Africa? Run double time fast.

New Email Dumbness

Some days, it just doesn’t seem to pay to try to be polite to people. Here’s the newest fun from my inbox:

Initial Email:

I’m writing to enquire about your Frenchies. We really want to add one to our life!! We live in a small apartment in XXX. I am a single mother with two very well behaved children, a xxx aged 10 and a xxx aged 12. I am on a very limited income, but we have so much love to give and we would be a great home. We’d appreciate any help yiou can give us.

My reply:

Thanks for writing, XXX. It sounds like you and your children would indeed be a great home for a lucky dog, but perhaps Frenchies aren’t the best choice for you.

No matter how inexpensively you acquire one, it’s the long term costs with French Bulldogs which can add up. Owners are strongly advised to set aside a minimum of $2,000 per year just for veterinary expenses. It’s not often you need to spend that much, but it certainly can happen, and it’s best to be prepared. As well, Frenchies do best on some rather esoteric – and rather expensive! – foods, which can easily cost another $40+ dollars per month.

If you still think you’d be interested in a Frenchie, I can suggest you try rescue. Here’s their link – http://www.frenchbulldogrescue.org . They will have their own criteria they’ll require you to meet, but the adoption fees are certainly more reasonable than the standard $2500+ most good breeders ask for a puppy.

Good luck, and let me know how it goes.

Her reply:

You think that just because we’re not rich we only deserve a crappy dog that no one else wanted? My kids want a PUPPY. Thanks for being too greedy to make their dreams come true. God will make you pay for being so cruel to two small children.

Well, crap. Now God apparently hates me, because I won’t sell cheap dogs to random strangers. It certainly does suck to me sometimes.

Oh, Delilah has a new official title – The Cutest Puppy in the Entire Known Universe, So There. And yes, that’s an officially sanctioned title. More photos of her Royal Snottiness after this weekend’s Turkey Fest (For you Yanks, this weekend is Thanksgiving in Canada).

Delilah has a new video!

As promised, here’s Delilah’s new video. Can you tell I’m slacking off at work again? Let’s hope the boss doesn’t read this blog…

Video after the cut.

Read more