Book Review – “Breed Lovers Guide to French Bulldogs”
French Bulldog - a Breed Lover's Guide, by Lisa Ricciotti
I received a nice surprise in the mail yesterday – an advance copy of Lisa Ricciotti’s new book, “Breed Lovers Guide to French Bulldogs“.
This hard cover, spiral bound book is a wonderful introduction to the breed for new and prospective French Bulldog owners. Lisa’s well written text spells out French Bulldog basics, from winter weather care to how to choose appropriate toys and food for your Frenchie. She also does a great job summing up French Bulldog breed history (including the Frenchie’s “shady past”), and her description of the breed’s characteristics and temperament doesn’t gloss over some of the grosser aspects of French Bulldogs (incessant gas, among other things).
The photos are colorful and clear, the nudges to purchase nylabone items (Nylabone is owned by TFH) are less blatant than in years gone past, and the chapters do a good job of spelling out the steps one should take before jumping into ownership.
Lisa even gives me credit for my much quoted, never attributed ode to French Bulldogs, “What am I?“, which I wrote up years ago specifically for FBRN rescue. Much appreciated, Lisa 😉
The Breed Lover’s Guide series of books is the newest incarnation of the TFH breed books, which have been published since the 1950s. The new books are nicely updated, and have replaced the out dated text suggesting pet stores as a great place to start looking for your new pet with tips about finding responsible breeders and links to breed club websites.
This is a great little book, and I heartily recommend it as an addition to any well rounded French Bulldog lover’s library. Two enthusiastic paws up!
Order your copy from Amazon – hurry, limited numbers are available, and only two were left in stock when I checked this morning!
Hero Pit Bulls Save Chihuahua
Buster the Chihuahua Terrier mix is lucky to be alive after surviving a vicious Coyote attack – and it’s all thanks to a pair of protective Pit Bulls.
From Denver Channel 7 News:
“He woke me up at 6:30 to do his thing. I let him out and I came out with him,” said Jodi Robinette of Littleton. “And about a minute later, he screamed like I’ve never heard an animal scream.”
Robinette ran after Buster and the coyote behind her home at 949 West Peakview Circle near Angeline Little Greenway Park.
“And right when I came around this corner, the coyote had my dog in his mouth, shaking him as he was running,” she said. “And then, I see the coyote at the very middle of this field drop my dog.”
Choking back tears, owner Robinette explained that the coyote dropped her dog because it was under attack by her neighbour’s Pit Bulls.
As for the pit bulls – they scared off the coyote and then protected Buster under a bush.
“They were circling him and sitting by him. Making sure he was all right,” said Robinette.
The attack occurred in Littleton, Colorado. Buster has some serious injuries, including lacerations and a collapsed lung, but he’s expected to make a full recovery.
Breeding is Altering Canine Brain Shape
French Bulldogs have been bred for progressively flatter faces since the 1890s.
We’ve always known that one of the goals of breeding dogs is to alter their personality types, to give us the right dog for the right job. Bird dogs who are ‘birdy’, Border Collies who are ‘herdy’, police dogs who are scent oriented. We’ve known we can breed for certain characteristics, such as high drive prey drives or the desire to go to ground after rodents.
In Frenchies, we’ve bred our dogs to perform the ‘job’ of companionship – placid temperament, lower energy levels, a certain need and desire for human companionship, as opposed to the aloof temperament of dogs bred to work alone. We’ve assumed that we’ve accomplished this through intentional selection, but what we haven’t realized is that breeding for flatter faces has actually been altering the actual structural shape of our dogs’ brains.
From Science Daily –
The brains of many short-snouted dog breeds have rotated forward as much as 15 degrees, while the brain region controlling smell has fundamentally relocated, researchers from the University of New South Wales and University of Sydney have found.
The large variations in dog skull size and shape follow more than 12,000 years of breeding for functional and aesthetic traits.
The discovery of such dramatic reorganisation of the canine brain raises important questions about impacts on dog behavior.
The research is published this month in the Public Library of Sciences journal PLoS ONE.
Scientists aren’t yet sure what overall differences in canine personality type and brain function these structural changes may have caused, although they speculate that, at the least, this had led to radical differences in the ability of flatter faced dogs to be able to determine scent.
Co-author Associate Professor Paul McGreevy from the University of Sydney noted: “We think of dogs living in a world of smell — but this finding strongly suggests that one dog’s world of smell may be very different from another’s.”
“The next obvious step is to try to find out if these changes in brain organisation are also linked to systematic differences in dogs’ brain function,” Dr Valenzuela said.
It is interesting to ponder whether the change in brain structure can be linked to any definitive changes in behaviour or personality. One thing is for sure, this makes the occasional tracking titled French Bulldog even more of an accomplishment of merit!