Pammy Makes New Friends

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Pammy in the sunshine

Pammy had an adventure this afternoon – she traveled to our friend Kelly’s house, where she made some new four and two legged friends, chief among them Luther and Heart!

Luther, of course, is daddy to Bunny’s most recent litter – Po, Vela, Jacques, Hugo and Paco (formerly known as Peanut Butter). Heart is our very own Heart of Gold puppy, born just about one year ago. It’s always nice catching up with Miss Heart and seeing how she’s doing (and finding out how much trouble she’s been getting into). Apparently, Heart’s new favorite hobby is glaring at the miniature horses, and jumping onto Kelly’s dining room table (mid meal) to steal food.

Heart and Pammy

Luther was quite taken by Pammy, but we had to break it to him that she was still jail bait, so he’d better back off with the amorous advances. Pammy fell head over heels in love with Winston, who she didn’t seem to regard as a sentient being, but more as a really large, warm throw rug. She also came nose to nose with her first kitten, an experience she shrugged off as ‘eh’.

Pammy and Winston

All in all, a busy day for a small puppy!

Lots of photos after the cut, or on Flickr.

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Frenchie Family Photo Update

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One of the great joys of breeding dogs is getting update photos from owners. I’ve got a great big photo update to share today, and hopefully more to come in the next few weeks!

As I mentioned, Luke rode the Frenchie Underground Railroad from Mount Forest to Illinois. Here he is on one of his stopovers, monopolizing Fran’s lap space while he crashed at Auntie Hope’s house.

Luke is a Lap Dog

Hugo and mom Renee checked in from Brooklyn.

Looks like Hugo has decided two things:

1/ Parks rule
2/ Ears aren’t needed for him to be über cute

Jacques, on the other hand, has decided that not only are ears a good thing, but that he plans to follow the path to enlightenment (in hopes that it is sprinkled liberally with cookies).

Vela checks in to show us that she’s still a snuggle monkey…

And Maggie checks in with some updated photos of Sushi and Lola. In the convoluted family tree that is Frenchies, Lola would be Great Great Great Grandmother to all of the puppies, while Sushi would be great Aunt (possibly great aunt once removed – Frenchie family trees rival hillbillies and royal families when it comes to confusing cross over relationships).

Sushi Smiling

Sushi Smiling

Lola is still fetching (quite literally)

Lola is still fetching (quite literally)

Last, but far from least, Daisy (formerly known as Pixie), takes her very first trip to the beach with dad Ashley. Need we add she was not amused?

If you’re wondering where Po’s photos are, they’re over on his blog! Make sure to check it out.

If you have a Bullmarket Kid, make sure to email me your photo updates, so we can share your Frenchie’s splendiferousness (it’s a word, trust me) with the world. frenchbulldogz AT gmail DOT com

All of the photos in one big slide show, after the cut.

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Indian Summer French Bulldog Puppies

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Indian Summer French Bulldog Video after the Cut

Indian Summer French Bulldog Video after the Cut

On the weekend, Phyllis, Lukey and Peanut Butter all left for their new homes. Phyllis flew home with Amanda, and seemed quite content to be tucked into her travel bag. Lukey and Peanut Butter were picked up by David and Theresa, mom and dad to the suave Mr. Maurice (formerly know as the Cow Puppy) and to the late and much missed Mr. Bumby. Sailor, Bumby’s sister, had Theresa picked out as a soft touch from the moment she arrived, and did her best to monopolize all of Theresa’s time (and petting energy).

Lukey is catching a ride with David and Theresa to Chicago, where he’ll be spending some time with his Auntie Hope (and an undoubtedly unimpressed Dax). After that, Hope will take Luke on the final leg of what I’ve been calling “The Frenchie Puppy Underground Railroad”, on to Andrea, who managed to bung up her rotator cuff and arm while doing something athletic. This would have made it near impossible for Andrea to make the long drive from Illinois all on her own, so alternate – and creative! – methods of transportation were required. Way to pull together, everybody. It always amazes me the outpouring of love and support I’ve found within the French Bulldog community when it’s called upon. Even within show circles, while we might all bitch about each other from time to time (shut up, you know it’s true), when push comes to shove, we’ve got each others backs.

Go Team Frenchie!

It sure looks empty outside with just Pammy, Dwight, Pickle and Leah left. I plan to spend this week taking as many photos as possible.

In the meantime, here’s a video I shot on Friday, showcasing all of the kooks in their nutjob glory. Well, other than Peanut Butter, who sat there, looking stoic and handsome and very sedate. Sigh… did I mention that neither he nor Luke even spared me a backwards glance as I helped load them into the car?

Frenchies sure are ungrateful little monkeys sometimes!

Video after the cut.

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I broke the baby

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Turbo Charged Pickle

Turbo Charged Pickle

Well, it’s been a fun week. Someone at work gave me two bags of a new brand of raw dog food, and I stupidly decided to feed it to the babies. The result? Food poisoning, in all seven puppies who ate it. Bad food poisoning, no less – the kind that’s like a scene from the Exorcist, complete with projectile vomiting and diahrrea.

Fun.

A very expensive vet visit later, and a battery of fecal testing testing confirms only that it’s some kind of bacteria, probably campylobacter or clostridium, but likely not salmonella. We’ll have lab results in a few days. All the babies had to go on antibiotics, but thank goodness they’ve all recovered in near record time. Just 48 hours later, and it’s like it never happened at all.

As much as I am a proponent of raw feeding, the problem is that if it’s not made using the very best ingredients and with rigorous testing, there will always be a risk of incidents like this. In commercial raw especially it’s essential to know not just the ingredients, but how they’re made, how they’re testing for contaminants, and if the company follows proper food handling protocols. Sadly, I’ve learned that an awful lot of companies are somewhat lax about cleanliness and quality of processing and ingredients. Too risky for me, thanks.

Topping it all off, Leah got a quick and painful lesson in why we don’t go near the sensitive parts of boys. After she bit Elliott on the winkie (while he was peeing, no less) he retaliated by chomping her on her tender little face. Poor Leah – she probably won’t have a scar, but it definitely left a mark, and scared both her and I half to death. Nothing says “please make it stop” like a tiny baby puppy who’s screeching in pain.

Super Sad Leah

Super Sad Leah

The trauma was all too much for Leah – the food poisoning on top of the face bite combined to make her ear drop back down again, a not untypical Frenchie puppy reaction to stress. Think of it as a Frenchie mood barometer – it will come back up when she’s back to feeling 100% again. In the meantime, Sean has been asking her if the other puppies are calling her “baby” and making fun of her flopsy ear. I’ve been telling it just makes her look even more adorable than she already is.

New photos of the rugrats after the cut.

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Let’s Look at Some Puppies

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Thanks for not letting Michael Bryant run us over!

Thanks for not letting Michael Bryant run us over!

Do you know what I do when I’m having a bad week? I go outside, sit in a chair, and look at puppies. Puppies in the grass, puppies sun tanning their bellies, puppies pouncing on each other from on top of rocks, puppies piled up in big sleepy puppy piles.

An hour of that, and I feel much better.

If your head, like mine, is exploding from reading comments about how we should all ‘give Michael Bryant the benefit of the doubt’, gaze on the following photos of these nice, short coated, bully breed puppies, and join me in saying a prayer of thanks that the murderous asshole in question never managed to include us in his stupid ban. Then say another prayer for all of the dogs who were included, and who’ve died as a result of it.

Then look at some more puppies, and smile.

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