Butters is a very pregnant French Bulldog
Ms. Butters (aka Bella, aka BPIS Ch Bullmarket Absolut Harvest Moon) has two weeks to go in her pregnancy, and she already looks like she’s swallowed a watermelon.
At this rate, she’s going to outstrip her mom, Penelope, in the “biggest pregnant Frenchie belly” contest.
More after the cut, including updates about blog changes.
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!
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?
French Bull Dog Nationals 2009 - Butters and Kay showing in open Cream/Fawn bitches.
I’m thinking of entering Butters in a UKC dog show this weekend.
The UKC is the United Kennel Club, a breed registry and event holding club that was formed in 1898. The United Kennel Club was formed as an ‘alternative’ to the American Kennel Club, by Pit Bull fancier Chauncey Z. Bennett. Specifically, Mr. Bennett wanted to found an organization that focused on the ‘total dog’, as opposed to the AKC, which he saw as focusing only on conformation.
The UKC has held a strong line on the concept of dog shows as purely a means of examining a dogs conformational adherence to the written standard, rather than a canine ‘beauty show’.
I like this part, in particular —
I. Prohibition against professional handlers in conformation shows.
United Kennel Club events are intended to be family-oriented recreation for owners of UKC Registered dogs. Accordingly, UKC encourages the promotion of the owner/breeder handler and prohibits the use of professional handlers in conformation.
1. Construction of this rule. The prohibition against professional handlers is one of the cornerstones of UKC philosophy. Therefore, this rule is to be construed as broadly as necessary to achieve that goal. Each UKC Official Entry Form includes the following statement that must be signed by the owner/handler of each dog entered at a UKC event: “I swear that this dog is not being handled by a professional handler in conformation.” Dog owners and professional handlers who look for technical ways to circumvent this rule run a grave risk of losing their UKC privileges if caught.
The part I’m NOT so sure about is this one —
E. Baiting in the ring.
The United Kennel Club believes that dogs should be exhibited in a natural state. We believe that a dog’s temperament, tractability and conformation are best evaluated when a dog is exhibited without any aids used to change the dog’s natural behavior.
Butters’ natural behavior is to EAT. Everything Butters does is designed to give her access to food. She shows well, because showing well gets her bait.
Showing her with NO bait will be sort of like trying to convince me to go to work without getting a paycheck – nice idea, but not gonna happen.
Another interesting side note – the UKC French Bulldog standard’s section on weight differs from that of the AKC and CKC standards, in having a minimum weight limit, and a maximum slightly higher than we’re used to –
WEIGHT
A French Bulldog in good condition must weigh between 18 and 30 pounds.
Serious Fault: Over or under the prescribed weight.
At any rate, there’s more info on the show here — http://www.mapleleafkennelclub.org/november2009showinfo.htm
And more info about UKC shows in general can be found here — http://www.ukcdogs.com/WebSite.nsf/WebPages/DogConformation
You can register same day, which is also an added bonus, although there is a discount if you enter in advance. If you’re thinking of attending, please let me know.
I was privileged to be able to catch up with the beautiful Daisy last night – formerly known as Pixie, she’s litter mate to Jellie, Rumble, Butters and Thor. Daisy lost her sight in her left eye after a horrifically bad reaction to her very first puppy shot. As a result, she only has twenty percent vision in her eye, and it’s also significantly smaller than her good right eye.
In spite of this, Daisy remains pretty as a picture, and is a true Daddy’s little Princess.
The ungrateful little bugger refused to come and see the weird lady who chasing her around with a camera, even after I’d reminded her that I bottle fed her when her lazy butt mommy Penelope gave up on the chores of motherhood. Daisy was unimpressed.
I’d also like to point out that Daisy has made me reconsider my belief that Butters and her sister Jellie are… hmm, we’ll call it “overly voluptuous”. In comparison to Daisy, they are both svelte little ballerinas. Daisy looks like she’s been fed entirely on bacon and sticks of butter, a possibility I am completely prepared to consider.
You can see all of Daisy’s pictures here, on Flickr.
I believe I forgot to mention Butters rather spectacular weekend the week before she finished. From the classes, she managed to take Best of Breed, Best Puppy in Breed, Best Puppy in Group, a Group Second and…
Best Puppy in Show!
We’re so very proud of our little knucklehead. She’s not a genius, but as I always tell her “You’re pretty, so you don’t have to be smart. No one asks Miss America to do quantum physics”.
I think I got that from a talking Barbie Doll, actually.
We’re happy to announce that yesterday at Seaway Kennel Club our little monkey girl, Butters (aka Bella, to her co owner Paula.. lol!), finished her Canadian Championship, making her Ch Bullmarket Absolut Harvest Moon. Butters is sired by our Elliott, out of Penelope. We repeated the breeding because we were so happy with our girls – fingers crossed, we should have pups in June!
She finished as a junior puppy, in three shows, and was undefeated when handled by Kay Reil. Kay did a fabulous job handling Butters, and best of all, Butters just LOVES her.
Paula video taped the judging of the class – it’s on line at http://blip.tv/file/2069898
Butters took WB and BOS, with RoboBull Fabelhaft Hot Pursuit taking BOB and puppy. Hot Pursuit also took a Gr 3 and BPIG earlier in the weekend.
Oh, and in case you were wondering how a French Bulldog celebrates winning her Championship, have a look at this video. Here’s a hint: it involves puddles, mud and a well abused Gumby toy.
