Quasi Hate Mail – I gets it
Apparently my blog postings on changes to the weight portion of the Canadian French Bulldog standard struck a nerve with someone, because I received this in my inbox:
On Tue, Aug 11, 2009 at 9:06 AM, user
Do you think that maybe the reason you are so pissed off about LONG OVERDUE changes to weight in Canada is because your dogs can’t compete against the more robust dogs that win here regularly? THINK ABOUT IT.
Would you like some whine with that Frenchie?
Well, I did think about it, oh anonymous chicken shit free web mail user, and my answer is still “Umm, no. That has nothing to do with it”.
Itsy bitsy 20 pound Butters did just fine here in Canada quite recently (if just fine can be said to include multiple group placings, a group win, and a Best Puppy in Show, and all before seven months of age). Dexter is getting ready to kick Canuck Frenchie butt, and at 23 pounds of lunkheadedness, I expect him to do just fine as well.
My objections to the weight change can be summed up quite simply – grown ups don’t get to change the rules to be able to win the game. That was fine when we were kids, and our parents would say “Yes, sweetie. If you land on Park Place with hotels on a Tuesday, you don’t have to pay rent” just so that they wouldn’t have to watch us thrash around on the floor in a losing induced temper tantrum. As adults, if we can’t win the game with the rules that are in place, then we’d better just step up our game, or else take our cards – and our dogs – and go home.
Also, “robust“? Who the hell calls their dogs robust? What, they’re red wine now? I can just see the judge’s critiques –
“That brindle was robust, rich and earthy, with overtones of tannin and chocolate. He’d go nicely with a venison steak, and I awarded him my best of breed for it”.
Oh well, I’m off to stuff Leah and Pammy full of butter, so that they grow up to be hefty and robust little Frenchie girls. Dwight is on his own – and with his appetite, he’ll do just fine.
Robust. Jeez. Cletus has a robust head. The rest of him is definitely lemonade. Personally, 30 plus pound Frenchies are kind of scarey. What if they decided they wanted your sandwich? What then?
lol!
Robust! What a terrific adjective! I pulled my shorts up over my robust rear this morning and laughed as I watched Bacon’s robust heinie shimmy back and forth as he ran down the stairs.
But I’d say ix-nay on the utter-bay, ‘cuz I wager that will make a pup more runny than robust. Maybe some ribeye.
Someone needs to have the courage of their convictions and put their name to those comments!
I’ve always wondered … why 28 lbs? While doing some research on Frenchie weights and early standards tonight I found this fact: When the Toy Bulldog craze took hold in the 1890s, the Bulldog Club (England) established a minimum weight limit of 28 pounds in an attempt to prevent interbreeding with smaller animals.
Maybe that’s where the idea of 28 lbs as a cut-off comes from? The early Brits’ notion of under 28 lbs = toy bulldog (that could be called a Frenchie if the ears went up)vs. over 28 lbs = a true BULLDOG (coz the Brits just say Bulldog. There’s only one true bulldog to them, the English bulldog, no modifer needed, LOL! All the rest, Frenchies included, were just imposters!).
Lisa r