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The Boy is Growing Up…

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Dexter spent quite a bit of time this spring going through a fairly horrid – and fairly typical – gawky stage. His feet were too big for his body, his chest was too big for his body, his rear looked high, his head looked small, and his ears resembled satellite dishes.

Add to this the fact that he was barely what one could call ‘graceful’, forever slamming head first into walls, or tripping over his own feet in the garden. He seemed to have little control over co ordinating where his body was aiming with where his feet seemed to be going, and chaos inevitably ensued.

The only solution seemed to be a paper bag and a career in something math related, because beauty contests did not seem to be in this little geek’s future.

Dexter and Tessa, waiting for French Bulldog ice creamLuckily for Dex, I am a patient woman (ha!), and was willing to wait it all out. Swans from ugly ducklings sometimes come, etcetera – plus, he’s a fun little goof to have around. Still, it was a pleasure to notice that he’s finally starting to bloom. As if over night, we woke up one day and said to ourselves “This is turning out to be one good looking little dog”.

His head has finally started to square up, losing the apple dome he had between his ears. His neck has turned from a scrawny stick that seemed to exist only to attach his head to his should into a thick, muscular column. His chest has dropped and started to muscle, and his forelegs are thick and strong. Even his slow to develop rear is muscling up and filling in, and he’s developed into a graceful and agile mover, able to leap over dog gates and onto couches in a single, flowing motion.

He’s still a teenager, but he’s a teenager with potential for both beauty and grace. It’s an amazing process to witness.

He has his faults, of course, including today’s foray into peeing on the couch, and a disturbing new penchant for flicking his weiner when he’s bored. That’s boys for you, I guess. After a lot of years just having girls here at home, I’ll have to get used to his testosterone laden dumbness, in addition to his manly good looks.

Loads of photos on Flicker of Penelope, Delilah, Dexter and Tessa going for a hike yesterday over near the Saugeen River, or view the slide show below.

Tessa Earns a Nap, Dexter Fails at Geography and Solo Goes to the Darkside

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Tessa is the last remaining puppy from her litter – although I suppose I can’t even come close to referring to her as a ‘puppy’ any more. It doesn’t really matter that she’s thirteen and change – to me, she’ll always be that little red and white trouble maker I tucked inside my coat and brought with me every where I went.

 

It’s not that I don’t realize she’s getting older – that’s obvious. She moves slower, sleeps more, and occasionally wanders into a room and forgets why she’s there (I’ve compared it to those moments when I get to the kitchen and think “What the heck did I come in here for?”). In spite of that, she’s still pretty perky for her age. Playing with the Grandkids (Fanny is an honorary Grandpuppy) gives her something to do, and probably makes those fireplace naps that much sweeter.

 

Here’s a video of her wrestling with Dexter, Fanny, Paris and Bunny.

 

 

Dexter is living up to the Frenchie family tradition of getting stuck in stupid places. A few nights ago, we heard him bark-bark-BARKing outside, so Sean came down to investigate. Seems Dexter had gone out the dog door, and around the corner of the house into the fenced play yard (probably following his ‘girlfriend’, Tula, who he shadows almost everywhere). Once there, he got a bit confused, and stood outside the ground level windows of our downstairs bathroom, yelling for someone to let him in. That’s where Sean found him, after walking around the house in his slippers – through three feet snow drifts. Dexter seemed pretty happy to be back inside.

 

Here are a few new photos of Dexter snuggling with his mommy Bunny, along with some lovely profile photos of Paris, and two that show how incredibly similar Sailor’s markings are to Dexter’s. Barb calls it ‘the mark of the Devil’. I don’t think Dexter is ready for a career of evil just yet – he should probably stick to figuring out how to navigate the backyard before he takes on total world domination….

 

 

Lots of new photos of Solo to post this week, including some of his exercising his ever growing ESPP powers, and a few worrisome ones where he contemplates going over to the darkside. More on that this week…

 

OK, so maybe just one more video

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Technically, this one could be about Dexter. It just also happens to have Solo in it. Sorry for the music, but between L Word and Clerks 2, I’ve got Jackson 5 on the brain.

If you have issues with the Blip TV Player, this video should be up on my YouTube page later today.

Thursday Thirteen – Top 13 Names I'll Probably Never Give My Dogs

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Barb and I, while happily partnered as breeders for a good long while now (longer than either of us probably would like to admit), do tend to disagree on several topics, not the least of which is the naming of animals. Barb likes snappy patter, names with a sense of humor and preferably a play on words. To wit, her first dog from me was registered as Bullmarket A&As Stripe Ts (get it? Stripe Ts, Strip Tease?). There’s also Elliott, registered as Absolut Bullmarket SeeSpotRun (I can’t wait to register one of his kids as “See Spot’s Son”).

Roch VoisineI, on the other hand, am a big fan of theme litters — that’s where each puppy in a litter gets a name that’s a play on the same theme. It lets absent minded people like me instantly remember which litter is which just based on each name, plus I like the fun of picking out names that are all part of the same over all idea.

For example, Sailor’s dad was El Torro’s Roch Voisine, so each of her eight siblings has a name playing on the ‘Roch’ theme – Roch the Boat, Roch E Mountains, Roch Lobster, etc.

I’ve also done ice creams, jazz musicians, herbs and Christmas related names.

There are a few themes, however, that I’m pretty sure Barb would put her foot down on, rather firmly. Herewith, my top thirteen list of theme named litters Barb would pitch a hissy fit over. In other words, don’t expect to see these on registration papers any time soon.

1. Hardcore Band Names

Personally, I think a puppy named Absolut Bullmarket Social Distortion would be pretty darned cute, but I’m guessing this is never going to happen. Maybe I can sneak in Husker Du, or Pixie(s) (of course, the jury is out on if they really qualify as ‘hard core’ but that’s splitting hairs).

2. Indie Movie Titles

Come on, admit it — Donnie Darko would make a great Frenchie name, and I could get him a little stuffed Frank the bunny toy to play with. I can even get him a ‘sparkle motion’ t-shirt. For a girl? Little Miss Sunshine. I could always push the boundary, and call one of them ‘Reservoir Dog’.

3. Bars I Got Drunk at in My Twenties

Well, it doesn’t have quite the cachet of a dog named “Duc D’Deluxe Monsignor Elegance”, but in my opinion ‘Bullmarket Absolut Vatikan‘ or Velvet Underground still have something of a ring to them. Probably not so much ‘Bullmarket Absolut Bovine Club‘, no matter how many celebrities have gotten plastered there over the years.

Eye Shadow 4. Urban Decay Eye Shadow Colors

In yet another nostalgic look back at the past, I’ve contemplated naming an entire litter after Urban Decay eye shadow colors, since I spent close to half my available income in my twenties snapping up every color they make. Lots of possibilities, too – ‘Acid Rain’, ‘Grifter’ or ‘Midnight Cowboy’ all have nice, show ring-esque rings to them.

5. Vodka Flavours

I’m not a vodka drinker, but the sheer amounts of vodka flavours out there are staggering. As a bonus plus, most of the flavored Vodkas are from Absolut! Bonus! Absolut Raspberri or Absolut Kurant Vodka seem custom made, or we could go with Effen Black Cherry Vodka. Or maybe not – I’m picturing trademark lawyers getting in on this…

6. Dead Poets Society

A litter of puppies, all named after dead poets! How romantic! How not so very cheerful. Sylvia Plath doesn’t inspire images of playful puppy antics, and I’m not sure I’d trust ‘Absolut Bullmarket Lord Byron‘ alone with the other puppies. Of either sex.

7. Dead Painters Society

I think I might well be able to slide this one past Barb, but only if I skip naming one ‘Van Gogh’. No one needs a Frenchie named after a one eared painter – that’s just inviting too much bad karma…

8. North America’s Worst Neighbourhoods

Again, this one would be kinda funny – Absolut Bullmarket Parkdale? Absolut Bullmarket Cabrini Green? No? Fine, be that way.

South Park Characters9. South Park Characters

On the one hand, this seems like a great idea, because South Park is one of my favorite shows (shut up, I know). Kyle and Kenny are perfectly fine names, and even Cartman isn’t that bad, especially if the puppy is both a miscreant and portly.

On the other hand, Cartman regularly dresses as Hitler, and I’m not sure the world is ready for a puppy named after Christmas poo, no matter how cute Absolut Bullmarket Mr Hanky would look on the registration papers.

10. Programming Languages

I happen to think there are some really cool opportunities for names within the world of programming languages. In fact, I already named a puppy ‘Perl’, which likely says more about me than even my fondness for South Park does. I remain, however, fairly convinced that not only would Barb object to a puppy named Bullmarket Absolut COBOL (let alone Fortran), but that I’d be reducing the dog to a life of getting slapped around at doggy day care. I am going to slip ‘Bullmarket Ruby on Rails‘ in there eventually, though. It’s just too good to resist.

11. Operating Systems

See above, with a side note that while Bullmarket Absolut Linux or Leopard would be adorable, I’d expect Vista to be clunky, unstable, an overeater and prone to crashing. Heh.

12. British Comedy Series

I fail to see how anyone could resist naming a puppy Absolut Bullmarket Monty Python, although even I draw the line at naming one Benny Hill.

Dave Allen would be awesome, though, but then you’d have to worry about the puppy losing a finger toe.

13. Rappers

My son would be in favor of this one – in fact, I’m pretty sure he’s suggested it once or twice. While I can see the lure of naming a puppy “Lil’ Bow Wow“, I’m afraid that the world is just not ready for Bullmarket Absolut Fiddy Cent to win at Westminster. Bullmarket Absolut P Diddy might do OK, but he’d want to change the name on his registration papers every other damn week.

Dexter Dreaming Darkly(BTW, this post was inspired by Barb’s recent unhappiness at learning Dexter’s registered name is ‘Bullmarket Absolut Darkly Dexter‘.  Apparently, there’s an unspoken rule that one just doesn’t name ones puppies after serial killers, even fictional one. My explanation that the name fits because Dexter the puppy means to be good, but just can’t help occasionally being bad, didn’t really cut it)

Mae's Pups & a Meditation on Breeding

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Wednesday, when I went to bed at 10 pm, Mae was doing fine. No temperature drop, no funny behavior – just Mae, being Mae and looking happy to see me every time I came into the room to check on her, wiggling her Mae Mae butt and grinning her grin.

At 2 am, I woke up out of a dead sleep, convinced something in the house wasn’t right. I came down to check on Mae, and found her nesting in her bed, panting heavily and discharging signs of lochia in her pee. Despite being two days earlier than our earliest estimated due date, Mae was in labor, and there was no time to wait for our regular clinic to open at 8 am.

The emergency vet was wonderful – she worked fast, she anesthetized lightly, and she had the pups out within 10 minutes of getting Mae under and on the table. Unfortunately, two of them were dead before birth, with obvious signs of first stage decay. It kills me that there was nothing that could be done to try to save them.
The third pup, a little cream boy, is doing well, although he’s rather small. He eats well and vigorously, and Mae is being an attentive mom. The poor little solo puppy looks very small and very alone in that big whelping box, with no company. Mr. Monkey will be joining him for snuggling as soon as I give him a good clean, and we’ll give him lots of snuggling, but it really can’t be a substitute for the company of litter mates.

This has been a hard year for me with pups. I haven’t had a litter in almost seven years, and then two out of my first three have dead pups. I know it’s just all about bad luck and bad timing, but it’s hard not to take it personally. I’ve been lucky when it comes to breeding – until now, I’ve only ever lost three pups at birth, one litter due to veterinary negligence, and one week old pup. That’s pretty good, for almost 18 years of breeding. As I said to Sean, if I’d had this kind of bad luck in my first year of breeding, I doubt I’d still be in Frenchies. This kind of heartache is hard to justify on an ongoing basis.

For now, I’m just going to watch over this little tiny one, and give extra hugs and kisses to Dexter, Izzy, Harley and Delilah. I’m more thankful for them now than ever.

Here are a few pictures I shot yesterday. The rest can be found over on Flickr.