Rescue and Loss

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.

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.