Luke at the IKC Dog Show

Luke is showing in the French Bulldog six to nine month puppy class

Luke is showing in the French Bulldog six to nine month puppy class

Our friend Hope took some photos of the lovely Mr. Luke (aka Bullmarket NewHope at SpiritDragon, aka Tula’s baby boy from her last litter) showing at the International Kennel Club dog show in Chicago this past weekend.

Luke, who is showing from the six to nine month old puppy class, took Reserve Winners Dog, which is a pretty big achievement for his very first time in the show ring. Way to go, Luke, and way to go to Luke’s co owner, Andrea Morden Moore. Andrea has been training him diligently, and it looks like its paid off.

I’m not sure of the name of Luke’s handler, but she looks like she did a great job.

With any luck, Luke’s sister Leah, who makes her debut in Canada at the Purina National Dog show, won’t let her brother leave her in the dust. Practice those stacks, Kristina! 🙂

(ps: thanks to everyone who emailed or called to ask about the babies – all three now seem to be doing just fine!)

Photos below, or on Flickr.

First Video – Tula’s French Bulldog Puppies

Striker, Paula’s little pied boy that Tula is fostering, is having a few problems. He’s losing weight, and is substantially smaller than Tula’s beefy little boys (who’ve gained 30 grams or so each, in less than 24 hours, while Striker has lost 15). The differences are even more striking when I remind myself that he’s almost three days older than the boys.

He’ll be getting some extra nursing time, and is also receiving subcutaneous fluids – which is a nice way of saying that a few times a day I’ll be injecting fluids into him with a needle that’s longer than he is. The fluids go in ‘subcutaneous’, meaning ‘under the skin’, as opposed to injected into muscle tissue, so he rarely does more than squirm a bit while I’m hydrating him. I’m the one who’s being a big baby about it.

Hopefully, we’re just playing catch up with the ground he lost while he was being bottle fed. If you didn’t cross your fingers for us yesterday, it would be nice if you did so today.

Just Born Babies

Tula and her newborn French Bulldog puppy

Tula and her black masked fawn boy

Not much time, but here are some photos of Tula’s newborn French Bulldog puppies – two boys, one black masked fawn, and one black masked silver brindle. It was fun getting to and from the vet’s office – we’re under a severe winter storm warning, and the roads I drove on were basically slicks of ice, in several places.

Everyone is doing well, but Tula has some rather worrisome cyst like growths on her uterus. We’ll be spaying her in ten weeks, per the vet’s instructions – she was reluctant to do it now, and prefers to wait for the uterus to be less engorged before she removes it. Hopefully, the spay will take care of whatever the growths are – but some crossed fingers wouldn’t hurt.

Tula is, as always, being a doting and attentive mother.

Photos below, or on Flickr.

Another Stolen Chicago Area Frenchie

This was just posted via comments:

My little baby was stolen out of my house today – she is 4 months old, a black brindle with a white snipe, her name is Delilah Blue and I am desperate to get her back.

Robber has no eyebrows, pierce earlobes, told me he had 4 puppies,when I went to drop my dog off at my house to go see his puppies, he asked if he could use the bathroom, and somehow unlocked my sliding glass door. When we went to “his house” a few blocks from my house, he went inside a courtyard, called me from a cellphone a few minutes later, and then I rushed home to find my puppy missing, nothing else was taken, and the sliding glass door was open.

Robber has no eyebrows, tattoos on both sides of his neck and a tattoo on his arm that says “Alexii” if anyone knows who this guy is, please reply to my e-mail, I am offering $500 for any information leading to his arrest.

PLEASE HELP ME! I am at 21st & Western area.

Contact Beth Gottlieb
bethgottlieb@msn.com

If you are in the Chicago area, and can help, please contact Beth. Please forward this to any other Chicago area lists you know of. Re tweets might also be helpful.

Let’s hope she’s home again soon.

They grow up so fast…

Luke attends show handling class

Luke attends show handling class

It’s hard to believe that our last round of French Bulldog puppies are almost seven months old. With age comes the thought of show ring careers, so I thought we’d update you on what’s going on with our budding beauty queens (and king).

Over in Illinois, Andrea Morden Moore and the lovely Luke are getting ready for their show ring debut. Luke has already been doing some ring training, and Andrea says he is progressing quite nicely. I’m very pleased with him, albeit only from his photos.

Luke will be making his ring debut at the Chicago International Kennel Club show, which takes place the last weekend in February.

You can learn more about the IKC show on their web page – http://www.ikcdogshow.com/

Luke and Andrea will be showing during the ‘benched’ portion of the show. The Westminster Kennel Club website has the description for “Benched” shows –

Originally, most shows were “benched” in some fashion, where the entered dogs were required to be in assigned areas (on benches) at all times when not being judged in the ring. This allowed for interaction of dogs and their owners with spectators and other owners and breeders as an educational process.

What this means, in essence, is that all the dogs of a single breed are set up in the same area in between showing. All of the French Bulldogs, for example, will be together, which means you’ll also have easy access to all of the French Bulldog breeders and exhibitors who are at the same show. Many times, people will set up little informational booths and displays, often with the breed clubs or local breed rescues also offering a display.

There are very, very few benched shows left in the world, and while exhibitors might complain about them, there are really no better shows for the average public to attend.  Benched shows are ultimately intended to provide a way for the public to interact with large groups of breeders and exhibitors, all in one place, and most people who enter benched shows do so with the understanding that they will make themselves available to answer questions about their dogs and their breed.

If you live in or near the Chicago area, Luke and Andrea would LOVE to have you come out to meet them, and to cheer for them. As I mentioned, they’re only entered in the ‘benched’ portion of the show, which is Saturday and Sunday. I’ll be posting entry times as the show dates gets closer, but please let me know if you plan to attend, so that they can keep an eye out for you.

Up in Michigan, Sue Simon had been hoping to attend the IKC show with Luke and Leah’s dad, Dexter. Unfortunately, the timing isn’t great right now, so she’ll be entering him in some local Michigan shows, including Cobo Hall – which just happens to be another benched show!

This means another great chance to come out and meet with dogs and their owners, including the Dashingly Devious Dexter. Please give him a head skritch from me, and tell him to try to behave himself for Sue!

French Bulldog in the snow

Leah 'enjoying' the snowy CT weather

Over on the East Coast, Luke’s sister Leah is also getting ready for her show ring debut. We’re currently working out details for the Lovely Ms Leah to head up to Canada, where she’ll be ably handled by the ultra talented Kay Reil, who finished Butters for us last year.  I have high hopes that Leah will make it up in time for the CKC’s Charitable dog show event, the Purina National dog show. This year’s show should have a great turn out, as it’s being held at the Interational Center near the Toronto Airport.

Last year, Butters made her debut at the Purina National, and it would be nice to see Leah do the same. We’ll be offering a breed information booth at the Purina National this year, and again – we’d love to see you come out to meet us, and to learn more about Frenchies.

Also on the east coast is Finlee, Delilah’s Dexter daughter. Finlee and her new mom, Amanda, will be making their ring debut some time later this spring, and we look forward to hearing more about their progress. We also need Amanda to send us more photos – Flickr is your friend, people!

Last but hardly least is our own little Dex-ette, Pickle. She’s coming along quite nicely – her body is lovely at this stage, but her head needs to catch up with it. Right now, she looks like she’s got a mature body, with a puppy head. We’re going to give her some time for all of her bits to catch up with each other before we put her in the ring. Some pups just aren’t fully finished until a year or so, and I’m in no rush to get her out there. We’re aiming for early summer, with our fingers crossed. In the meantime, we’re going to do a local obedience class, as I think it will be good for her confidence.

I hope Barb can’t read the blog from Heaven – she used to freak out when she heard I was putting show puppies into obedience class! It’s that lingering, old school belief that “if you teach them to sit, they won’t stand in the ring!”. I think they can learn to do both, and I think it’s good for them to be stimulated and learning something other than just to be pretty faces.

How about you – if you have show prospect puppies, are you making plans for spring? If you’re a pet person, have you ever attended a dog show, or would you ever?