What I’ve Learned from French Bulldog Rescue

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Today’s photos from CFBR’s staging area

Some days, I can get cranky about the state of our fancy, and of the politics and bullshit that go on in French Bulldogs (or any other breed, really).

One more day of seeing all of those ads with Frenchie cross puppies for sale. One more email from someone bitching at me because their (free) listing on the French Bulldog Links site hasn’t shown up yet, and how dare I make them wait so long? One more email from someone whining that  I tossed them off of Frenchie Friends for spamming their puppies. One more phone call from someone complaining about our upcoming show – but not offering to help, of course – they’re BUSY, and don’t have time for trivial things like that.

Then, something like this week’s Chicago French Bulldog Rescue comes along, and all of sudden ALL of these people just jump in and offer the most amazing things.

Money, which is always needed and always awesome, but other things, too – things that take people’s time and efforts and selflessness.

Need someone to drive a dog across country? Sure, what’s a nine hour drive each way?

Pregnant girl needs a foster home? Not one, not two, not three, not four, but countless people offering to help.

C sections for pregnant bitches? TWO vets so far who have offered their services gratis.

More dogs than you had thought? Here, let me pay for ALL of them, and their vet care, too.

When Ema was sick, we even had two people offer to fly her in their private planes for her surgery.

On the days when you think “This just isn’t worth it”, miracles will happen that restore your faith in humanity, and that make you realize what a truly AWESOME community of breed lovers we really are.

If you’re part of that, then thank you.

And…. if you’re one of the bitchy whiners who never actually do anything, but sure do love to complain?

Screw you.

There are more of us than there are of you, and we will ALWAYS win, so take your negativity and go sulk someplace else.

 

CFBR Puppy Mill Rescue – Live Blogging

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I’ll be updating this post throughout the day, as news comes in from Mary and her team. When we get photos, I’ll add them after the cut, so that the front page will load faster.

Chicago French Bulldog Rescue’s French Bulldog Puppy Mill Updates:

Donate to help cover the veterinary expenses of the rescued dogs and their unborn puppies – click here for the PayPal link. CFBR is a 501(c)3 Charity.

 

6:24 EST

Just spoke to Mary. She asked me to clarify that four of the ten Frenchies rescued by CFBR were paid for by an anonymous east coast donor, who will also be taking responsibility for their veterinary care and expenses. CFBR won’t be fostering them, as they’re heading for a veterinary facility on the east coast.

(English) Bulldog Rescue update: Mary said that Bulldog rescue, with the help of CFBR, got out: 3 10 day old puppies and their mother; one bitch who had just miscarried; several other puppies; several other Bulldogs which had gone unsold at a nearby puppy mill auction. CFBR is trasporting them to the Bulldog rescue staging area.

Mary says that they are enroute to their own staging area, and that they are fine for supplies. They have loads of towels and blankets, but trust me – anyone bringing coffee, donuts or snacks will be greeted with open arms 🙂

I was pleasantly surprised to hear that these dogs are in much better shape than we had feared. They are friendly and well fed, and seem to be refreshingly free of any immediately apparent health issues. They’ll be screened as soon as possible for heartworm or other parasites, and will be given whatever meds and parasite controls possibly (considering that half of them are pregnant).

I will post more updates in the morning as they come in. Mary tells me that they’ll probably be on the road until 1 am or so, after which she still has to get dogs settled, fed and exercised, and then check her mail and messages. So, if you’ve contacted her, be patient waiting for a response!

If you’ve contacted her offering to foster, she’ll attempt to reach you sometime in the morning.

 

4:14 PM EST

OK, facebook and blogosphere – I’m taking a break for an hour to play w my own puppies and to feed my dogs. I’ll check back in later w any news and updates. Happy Frenchie Freedom Friday! I vote that the girl who has her birthday today is named “Freedom” – how about you?

 

12:45 EST

Phone update from Mary.

For anyone who has been asking, this farm is DEFINITELY out of business. Everything is being sold today, including the farm property itself.  The owners are out of money, and stated that there was enough food left for the dogs for one more day.

Here are the totals of what Mary and her team were able to get, with your help:

They were able to purchase ten of the fifteen French Bulldogs for sale, four of which were paid for by an anonymous donor from the east coast, who will be looking after their vet care and other expenses.

Descriptions:

Pregnant Female 1 – Fawn

Born 9/8/09, Due 04/17

Pregnant Female 2 – fawn and white

Born 11/2/06, Due 05/01

Pregnant Female 3 – brindle and white

Born 08/06/07, bred, not sure of due date

Pregnant Female 4 – NINE year old Cream

Born 09/23/02, due 04/26 (touted as having ‘lots of litters left in her’)

Pregnant Female 5 – EIGHT year old Cream

Born 07/03/03, Due March 15

Pregnant Female 6 – Fawn, barely one year old

One year old today, and due 03/08

Female 7 – fawn and white

Female 8 – white and fawn

Female 9 – brindle and white

Male – brindle and white

 

They aren’t sure yet how many Bulldogs made it out, as the sale was still going on as Mary and I were speaking. Mary says that the other buyers were Amish, and that they are PISSED that Mary’s team got the pregnant girls out.

URGENT – this is WAY more pregnant females than was expected. Experienced breeder foster homes willing to whelp and rear litters are desperately needed. Please contact Mary at tushay2mm@msn.com if you can help. C Section and vetting costs are going to be astronomical, so please donate if you can.

 

9:42 AM (20 minutes ago)

Mary just checked in and the caravan is approx 20 minutes from the auction site. Cell phones are spotty at best down there in the mountains! Everyone, please keep them in your thoughts and prayers that they get all of the Frenchies OUT and they themselves are safe!

 

Update: 3:06 pm

First photos – after the cut.

Read more →

French Bulldog Puppy Mill Rescue – Live Blogging Friday

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Ginger, a French Bulldog helped through rescue

This is Ginger - another puppy mill rescue. Her full story is coming on Monday. This is Ginger AFTER gaining weight, by the way.

 

Just a quick update that, thanks to some dedicated Chicago French Bulldog Rescue volunteers, I’m going to be live blogging as much of Friday’s puppy mill rescue efforts as possible.

No updates will be possible from the auction itself (and there are police on hand to make sure of that, which is pretty much the height of irony), but as soon as the auction is done, and from the staging areas onwards, we’ll be getting you news just as soon as we possibly can.

Check in through out the day on Friday, for news as soon as we have it, including photos and video.

These Frenchies are going to need a LOT of veterinary attention, so please – continue spreading the word and encouraging people to give. Once they’re out of the puppy mill, the real job of ‘rescuing’ them will just be starting!

 

Massive Puppy Mill Rescue

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French Bulldogs in acceptable USDA sized puppy mill cage

French Bulldogs living in an *acceptable* USDA sized puppy mill cage

“Cage size: must be 6 inches larger than the size of the dog, on all sides”.

That’s what USDA demands for the dogs being bred in USDA inspected and approved facilities. 6 inches, half a foot on each side, and above their heads, every day, every night, for their entire lives. That’s what the best of them are expected to provide, so imagine, for just one minute, what it is like for the French Bulldogs living in the worst.

There has always been controversy surrounding the purchase of dogs from Puppy Mill auctions. Rescues with good intentions but no auction experience can drive up prices, letting Mills get prices sometimes thousands of dollars more than they would have normally. With that money,breeders can then turn around and buy all new breeding stock, beginning the cycle all over again. Better to starve them of demand, we’ve been told. Let their old stock go unsold, and then at the end of the day, they’ll be more likely to turn the dogs over to rescue. A good theory, but with some dogs going without bids at all, there have been rumors for years of puppy mills who don’t bother to take unsold stock back home. I’ll let you imagine how that’s accomplished.

An experienced rescue volunteer can change up those odds. She or he can get in there, properly dressed, and put in some low ball bids near the end of the bidding. They won’t get the young stock, the healthy young bitches or the ones in ‘rare’ colors, but they can get the old timers, the crippled dogs and the ones who perhaps wouldn’t even be given a car ride back to their pen at the end of the day, if no one else bid on them.

A donation of as little as fifty dollars can buy a dog their freedom, if a rescue who knows what they’re doing are the ones doing the bidding. Fifty dollars can get a dog out of that cage that extends just six inches around them, where they’ve lived their entire lives, waiting for someone to see them as more than just a money making machine.

This Friday, if we can raise enough money, one rescue is going to attempt a massive French Bulldog puppy mill rescue, from conditions that are nothing less than hellish. I hope that I’ll be able to introduce you to some of the dogs next week. There is one that I can’t stop thinking about, without having even met her. She’s pregnant, and she’s also nine years old.  We don’t know how many litters she’s had before this, but we do know that she’s had all of them while living inside that hell – that six inch hell.

I’d like to say that I can’t even imagine that, but I can, and because I can, I don’t know if I can sleep knowing that she might get left behind, bought up by another puppy mill, put back in another cage, whelping – one more litter after this one? Two more? Until she gives out, or her uterus does, or she dies in the delivery, or inside of that six inch cage.

I don’t know what the price is for a life like that, but if just $50 can buy it, then the karma you can get with $50 has just increased infinitely.

From Mary Scheffke and Chicago French Bulldog Rescue:

What we face as a rescue is the fear that we will not be able to get all the dogs out due to people bidding too high and against us. I can tell you how I had nightmares for over a year about the dogs I left behind at the auction last time I went. It is usually hard to save them all but I would love to be able to save them ALL at this auction! So- I am reaching out to all my dear friends to help us help these dogs. They have lived LONG ENOUGH in deplorable conditions! If this farmer is facing serious cruelty charges to these animals- you can bet they have been treated horribly! Without your help- we will NOT be able to get them all out and back into warm houses and blessed with warm hearts to take care of them. We know of other rescues who have gotten Bulldogs from this same place – the dogs had broken legs from being kicked and worse!

Donate if you can, even if it’s just $5, because think about that for a minute – just ten people, giving $5 each, can get a French Bulldog a new life.

What a small price to pay.

Chicago French Bulldog Rescue’s Chip In page is here –

http://helphankwalkagain.chipin.com/lets-get-them-out

Their Paypal link is on their website –

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=188011

Their widget below donates directly to their Paypal fund. Let’s bring them home, people – just one French Bulldog at a time.

 

3 dogs, 2 provinces, 16 volunteers, 1,037 km

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Our rescue relay route

Our rescue relay route

Well, that was pretty much the most impressive rescue relay I’ve ever seen first hand.

Three dogs, two provinces, 13 teams of volunteer drivers, 5 different rescue groups (that I can think of off hand – there might be one or two more, and at least TWO of them don’t even ‘work for’ the actual breeds involved), and a rough total of 1,037 km of driving for everyone involved – and all to get three dogs into their new homes.

End of the day, two collies in new foster homes, one REALLY handsome Frenchie boy being fostered in Beamsville, and I went on a shopping spree at the weird Asian food market.

Did you know you can get a 10 lb bag of goat pieces for $5.99, and that there at least SIX kinds of yam? Also, “Lobster Flavored Shrimp Crackers” don’t taste like shrimp -or- lobster, but rather like somewhat salty packing foam.

Photos of the new boy as soon as Karen has assessed him. He’s definitely dog aggressive – some dogs, at least – but his surrender form says “good with cats and kids”. Well, we think that’s what it says – it’s all in French. It might actually say “good at EATING cats and kids”. One small words, such a big difference.

For all of their help with this rescue relay, our thanks go to Pug Canada Rescue, Greyhound Transport, Collie Rescue Network, Pug a Lug Rescue, the Montreal SPCA, the individual volunteers, the over night home care volunteers and the final fosters. You guys rock, especially Cheryl Lamb who whipped all of us into shape.

Go team Collie/Frenchie Relay!