"Beware of the Dog House"
If more ads were this good, I’d watch more TV. That said, the gift at 1:57? I’d be soooo OK with that as a gift.
Tula Reviews the DogPause Dog Bowl
I have one of those dogs who, to put it quite plainly, doesn’t eat her food. No, she doesn’t eat it – ‘eating’ would insinuate that she actually takes the time to chew her food. Tula inhales her food the way a Dyson sucks dog hair off a carpet. She hits the dish, scoops as much as possible into her mouth, and swallows it whole. Tula is the reason that some dogs just can’t eat whole raw chicken parts – she doesn’t chew the wings, she jams them into her mouth and swallows, necessitating my sticking fingers into her mouth to pull out the entire pieces, before she chokes to death.
While every other dog is still busily chowing down, Tula is done and staring at me out of her crate, with a look that clearly says “Where the hell is the rest of my dinner?”. This isn’t an uncommon problem with Frenchies – I had just gotten an email from another owner, complaining about how nothing she’s attempted can get her chowhound Frogdog to slow the hell down, when the nice people at DogPause contacted me to ask if we’d try out their bowl.
I agreed to do so, with the caveat that I’d write a fair and impartial review.
The bowls themselves arrived, and they are definitely cute – bright colored plastic, with a smiling dog face smack in the middle. The bowl is divided into four equal segments, forcing your dog to eat from each, rather than just scooping the bowl’s entire contents into their mouth at a single go.
My concern was that the divided sections are both narrow and deep – an issue for a dog that doesn’t have a long, pointy nose. The only real test, I decided, was to turn Tula loose on a filled bowl and see how long it took her to eat from it.
Initially, the DogPause bowl works precisely as it’s intended. Tula rotated from section to section, grabbing a bite here and another bite there. She actually slowed down long enough to chew her food – something we’d never seen her do before. In fact, the bowl worked just fine until it came to the final bites of food. Tula’s flat face simply couldn’t get down into the bottom section of the bowl, and she became increasingly frustrated about getting out the last few pieces of kibble. I finally dumped them out on the floor for her, or she’d probably still be trying to get them.
Personally, I’d be more likely to buy this dish if it was made of heavier construction, preferably metal. I don’t like plastic bowls, and neither do most other dog breeders I know. They’re hard to keep clean, and targets for chewing (Bunny would go through one of these dishes in about ten seconds, flat). I also think that the dogs would do better with a dish they weren’t pushing across the floor. Finally, and most importantly, this dish just isn’t practical for a short faced dog breed. Bulldogs, Frenchies, Pekes, Pugs – all of them are going to have a really hard with this dish. Perhaps an alternate design, with shallower segments, might be available in the future.
In the meantime, if I had a piggy eating pointy nosed dog, this bowl would be a great solution. I have a second dish to give away to whoever writes to me first and asks for it. <- Update: the dog dish is spoken for!
Here’s our video review of the DogPause bowl:
Rescue and Loss
Edmund, the world's saddest French Bulldog mix, waits to be adopted from French Bulldog Village Rescue
The French Bulldog Village has their annual holiday Gingerbread house up and running. Choose a decoration, and dedicate it to anyone you’d like – a dog you’ve lost, a friend you love, or just send it as a holiday greeting.
Link is here – get your decoration before they sell out.
Speaking of FBV, they have a whole slew of new faces for you to check out, including some awfully cute little Frenchies anxiously awaiting their new forever homes. If you’ve been thinking of adopting a French Bulldog, now would be a really great time.
Wouldn’t waking up to Edmund’s adorable face be the best ChristmaKwanzAnnuka present anyone could ever get? GOD, I love this dog. Sean is getting pretty fussy about his Frenchies – he’s been analyzing ones I show him pictures of, or ones he sees at shows, and can now spot a conformational fault from twenty feet. In spite of this, his first exclamation on seeing Edmund was “Wow, that’s is the CUTEST dog in the world”. And he’s right – Edmund is that perfect mix of adorable/fugly in equal proportions. You’d be the envy of the dog park with Edmund at your side…
Edmund needs a break right now, too. His first adoptive family suffered an economic down turn, and decided that the time wasn’t right for a new dog. Edmund sits in the shadow of all of those cute ‘real’ Frenchies, and keeps getting overlooked. This wonderfully sweet little boy deserves a new family for Christmas.
If now isn’t the right time for you to bring a French Bulldog into your home, how about just bringing one into your heart? Did you know that you can sponsor a French Bulldog, just the same way you can sponsor a needy child from overseas? You’ll get the warmth of knowing you’ve helped to provide food, toys, a warm bed and necessary veterinary care to a French Bulldog in need, and you can even send “your new Frenchie” toys and treats. It’s a wonderful way to get all the benefits of a new dog, with none of the ruined carpeting.
Beautiful Kirby - Rest in Peace
We’re sad to have to mention that our hearts go out to our friend Beth, of Champagne French Bulldogs.
Beth lost her beloved Frenchie “Kirby” during a routine myelogram procedure, possibly from a reaction to the dye.
Our thoughts are with you, Beth. Kirby was a really special guy.
Over in Chicago, Mary and her team of volunteers at Frenchies Por Vous have been doing utterly amazing things in aid of puppy mill/commercial breeder French Bulldogs.
Mary and her team drove down to a large, “Bull breed” only commercial auction, and thanks to networking with local commercial breeders, were able to pick up six retirees to bring back to Illinois. As if that wasn’t enough, they then managed to pick up some ‘end of auction’ French Bulldogs, when bids didn’t go too high.
Mary has written up a quick re cap, in her own words, of the auction experience:
well- what a journey and educational trip! We came back with- are you sitting down- 14 frenchies!!!!! All that white noise with 14 frenchies snoring away- was hard to stay awake!
It was interesting to see that the auction was not as big of a money maker as that had hoped for! Maybe it is the economy right now- maybe people are getting smarter and buying less frenchies at pet stores,( one can dream, can’t they) – maybe many things but I can tell you this- only 3 frenchies went for a $1000 or more- highest was $1250 – lowest went for $60- we got 3 boys for that price! No one would bid and they were trying to get the bid started at $500= no one responded- I shouted out $50 – I think someone from the auction house said $55 and then I bid $60 – I won that round and there were 3 boys on the table- they asked me which one I wanted for that price and took all 3!
We got a total of 9 girls out of the breeding cycle and 5 boys- we got the 3 oldest girls starting at 6 and down in age.
Will tell you more about the journey- but like the 14 dogs- I am tired from this journey and I am going to bed with my own frenchies and sleeping, I got 5 hours of sleep Thursday night and another 4 hours of sleep this am.
I am working on a article to share with all of you about the whole experience- very interesting!
We stuck to our guns and did not pay that much for any of the dogs we brought home, we made many bids go up higher against some of the commercial breeders once we learnt, watched and listend to what was the hot item that day and wrote down quotes from the auction. Talked to some of the sellers and buyers as well- what a weekend!!!
Right now, Frenchies Por Vous really needs your financial support. Several of the dogs have needed expensive medical care, and some will need on going veterinary support.
Visit http://www.frenchieporvous.org for more information on how you can help support these sad little puppy mill refugees. Here’s a video of Mary and her team assessing the dogs.
By the way, tomorrow we have a contest, and a review of a new dog bowl for piggy eaters.
Decorative Potpourri Poisons Dogs
Like many of us, I enjoy freshening up the house over the holidays with some decorative potpourri.
I usually buy a new bag every year, replacing the old as needed. I’ve also used the liquid potpourris before, although not so much since Sean and I have been living together, since he tends to be rather sensitive about what he refers to as “that stinky crap you keep burning all over the house”.
A recent email, however, has left me pondering if potpourri and pets are meant to co exist in the same household:
Karencantner writes:
We have suffered a terrible, terrible tragedy.
Last Wed. two, beloved Cavaliers of mine, Haley and Zoe both ate potpourri from a decorative basket in my living room . Within hours, they were vomiting it, convulsing and going into total body rigidity and shock.
We took them to the after hours clinic, they had no idea what it could be and wouldn’t listen to me about them vomiting potpourri at home and how I had such concerns about the toxic effects of it. They treated symptoms. We transferred them to our day vet. He also wouldn’t listen to me about the potpourri theory. He said they had “strychnine” poisoning symptoms.
I kept telling him that the potpourri was Made In India, sold by a company in California and sold at my local WalMart. My heart told me that it was the culprit of their condition.
They declined rapidly throughout the day and we transferred them back to the after hours clinic for a second night. At midnight, I made the agonizing decision to put them to sleep. Haley was in constant seizures that wouldn’t stop, fluid was filling up in her lungs, body temp was dropping on both of them, Zoe was lying almost lifeless on the table, struggling with every breath she took. Every muscle was completely rigid, you couldn’t even move her.
I have devoted the last couple of days (now that I can get out of bed and function) to researching my concerns with the potpourri and have since found out I was right…………there is a lab in England that has case studies on toxic potpourri from India!! The toxin….strychnine, which in it’s commercial source, comes from a certain tree grown in India.
I am completely heart broken over this. Please be aware of the potential toxins in any and all stuff like this in our homes. I would’ve never guessed this could happen but when I saw them both “playing” in the potpourri and then after about two hours saw the symptoms of a poisoning, I just put two and two together.
Karen Cantner, Heartland Kennels, Evansville , Indiana USA
The liquid form is no safer for our pets (or for toddlers, for those who prefer their babies two legged). The ASPCA’s Dr. Steven Hansen, veterinary toxicologist and senior vice president, says of liquid potpourri that
the essential oils found in many of these products can cause irritation of the skin, gastrointestinal tract and mucous membranes. More significant injuries are typically a result of thermal burns or exposure to a specific type of detergent. Says Hansen, “A class of detergents known as cationics is usually responsible for severe ulceration of the membranes of the mouth, throat and gastrointestinal tract.
Where there is contact with the skin, redness, swelling and extremely painful lesions can appear.” Symptoms of these exposures include drooling, vomiting, depression, metabolic disturbances and difficulty breathing from fluid on the lungs. 10 percent of the liquid potpourri poisoning cases managed by the ASPCA since 2001 have included life-threatening effects.
If you’ve used those scented sachets to add a pleasant smell to your dresser drawers, take care to keep them out of reach of pets and children, since they’re also often toxic.
A healthy, non toxic alternative would be a home made sachet with rose petals, hips and dried lavender and herbs, or choose a ‘Mulling Spice” potpourri, such as the one pictured above. Pretty, and everything in it is actually meant to be used as a tasty spice to be added to wine or apple cider.
Barring that, you could choose, like me, to share your home with a man who prefers the smell of a pack of small, gassy dogs to the smell of artificial air fresheners.
Update: the Aby kittens have gone to their new home (they went together – isn’t that nice? I love it when sibling kitties and puppies get to go in a pair). I’m leaving the video up, though, because who doesn’t want to look at cute kitties?
Lost/Stolen French Bulldog in Chicago
Chicago area readers, please be on the look out for this lost little baby. There’s speculation she was stolen out of her yard, which means she could literally end up anyplace. As someone who has had a puppy stolen, my heart goes out to her owners, and I hope she’s home safe and sound and in time for Christmas.
Pet name |
Tonks |
Status |
lost |
Date lost |
December 14, 2008 |
Zip |
60618 |
Lost in location |
Belmont/Kimball/Drake/Melrose/schoolChicago Illinois |
Species |
Dog |
Primary breed |
French Bulldog |
Secondary breed |
|
Primary color |
Black |
Secondary color |
Brown |
Pattern |
Brindle |
Gender |
Female |
Fixed |
No |
Age |
Under 6 months |
ID Tags |
|
Description |
Bat Ears, Very Tiny, White Toes |
Owners name |
Shane Hooten |
Phone |
773 – 426 – 695 |