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French Bulldogs in Kitchener – May 21

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Pickle and her cousin Lyra make their show ring debut at the KW Dog Show next weekend

 

The judging schedule has been released for the Kitchener Waterloo dog show, on Saturday, May 21st. If you’d like to come out and see the Frenchies compete, we are in the ring at approximately  10:30 am

There are five French Bulldogs entered on Saturday – 2 class bitches, 2 class dogs, and one bitch special. Reading the judging schedule is second nature to anyone who shows on a regular basis, but it occurred to me that it can be difficult for anyone new to showing to interpret how to read a judging schedule.

Here’s a quick crash course, courtesy of the Central Iowa Kennel Club. I’ve substituted the KW judging schedule for the sample schedule they used.

 

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That’s CHAMPION Zeus, thank you!

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French Bulldog Champion Bullmarket Absolut Notorious

Thanks to Jean Ashley for offering at the last minute to handle for us this weekend at Elora Gorge, and for taking Zeus to Ch Bullmarket Absolut Notorious!

Jean did a great job, as did Thomas Curley and Kay Reil, who also handled him. The poor guy finished in three weekends — with a different handler each weekend! We’re lucky he’s so mellow 😉

Zeus is out of Int Ch Parys Baflo and Bullmarket Absolut The Hot Chick

French Bulldog Judging Results:

Monday, Dec 27th
Judge – Janet Lobb

WD, BOS- Dr. Zeus Green Eggs and Ham
No BOW or WB – no other class dogs or bitches entered
BOB – Ch. Petite Cherie Savoir Faire At Foxmoor (Group 1st as well)

Tuesday, Dec 28th
Judge – Dr. W Cespedes Arias

WD – Bullmarket Absolut Notorious
WB – Amanda Baflo
BOW, BOS, Best Puppy – Bullmarket Absolut Notorious
BOB – Ch. Petite Cherie Savoir Faire At Foxmoor (Group 3rd as well)

Wednesday, Dec 29th
Judge – William Rodriguez

WD, BOS, Best Puppy – (CH) Bullmarket Absolut Notorious
WB, BOW – Evita Minimolos (new champion!)
BOB – Ch. Petite Cherie Savoir Faire At Foxmoor (Group 1st as well)

I have video of the class judging from Tuesday at Elora – unfortunately, my camcorder gave out just before the end of the judging, so I missed breed and group. It’s below, or over on YouTube

Never Never Land French Bulldogs & Salvolatile

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This is a repost of an article I originally wrote for the FBDCA Specialty Winners Archive on FrenchBulldogZ.Org

Salvolatile – FBDCA Specialty 1910 Original Best of Breed Winner

Salvolatile, FBDCA Best of Breed Winner 1910

In 1910, at the second annual French Bull Dog Club of America Specialty Show, held at the Hotel Astor Ballroom in New York City, a brindle and white bitch named Best of Breed.

Salvolatile was a massive bitch of heavy bone, and extremely “bully” in type. The reason for this is simple – she was, in fact, out of an English Bulldog. This is not as unusual as it may seem, as there was a great deal of intermingling while the breed was still in the early stages of recognition. In fact, up until the twenties one could choose to register their dog with the AKC as either a French Bulldog, or a Miniature Bulldog. In many cases, the only difference came down to whether the dog in question had ‘bat ears’ or ‘rose ears’.

After Salvolatile’s Best of Breed win at the specialty show, a complaint was lodged with the show chairpersons and the judge. Shortly afterwards,  her win was overturned and Best of Breed was instead awarded to her Best of Opposite, Nellcote Gamin.

Salvolatile’s owner, Mrs. Mary Winthrop Turner, describes this occurrence in an excerpt from her kennel brochure:

“During the Fall, 1910, a controversy re the type and origin of the French Bulldog, was carried on through the columns of many of the dog periodicals. This controversy grew out of the protest which was lodged against the famous French Bull bitch, “SALVOLATILE” of which I was then, and still am, the fortunate owner.

Mr. Maurice Greenwood was the owner of the English Bulldog “Peggie.” He took her to the Warren Kennels and she was there bred (so I am informed) by Mr. Purdy, at that time President of the French Bulldog Club of New England, to his dog “Cyrano.”

“SALVOLATILE” was first shown in New England where her breeding was no secret. She was next shown at Newark, N.J., where she received winners and finally, at the Hotel Astor, New York April 21, 1910, Specialty Show of the French Bulldog Club of America where she received winners under Mr. James Mortimer.

Shortly after this, a protest was lodged through envy, and it was sustained, and she was disqualified justly, according to the laws of the American Kennel Club.”

 

 

— Text from a Pamphlet written by Mary Winthrop-Turner, owner of Salvolatile. From the collection of Colette Secher.

A Great Weekend in MI!

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French Bulldogs at Kalamazoo dog show - Bullmarket Absolut Darkly Dexter and Bullmarket NewHope at SpiritDragon

Dexter and Luke shooting "I het you" looks at each other

Congrats to Luke and Dexter on a great weekend in Kalamazoo!

Dex, his son Luke and his other son Manny each took a turn winning the dog points at the Kalamazoo, Michigan show. Unfortunately, the major broke, but it was still a great turn out! Sue managed to get some photos of Luke and Dexter together, but it wasn’t easy. There’s apparently no love lost between them, what with boys (and their hormones) being boys.

Sue’s other big news is that she won the bitch points with her little girl, Cindi. Way to go, Sue and Cindi!

Still waiting to hear back from Kristina and Amanda on how the other Dexter kids, Leah and Finnlee (Delilah’s daughter out of Dex) did over on the east coast. I hope it was another great weekend for them, as well!

This was Finnlee’s first weekend in the ring, so let’s hope she didn’t ‘pull a Delilah‘ on Amanda (that’s my nickname for anytime a dog makes a fool out of you – and especially if it seems intentional).

I am making plans to attend the Hamilton Kennel Club Dog Show, on Saturday June 26th.  I’ll be showing Delilah, because apparently I am a glutton for punishment.  I am fully expecting her to do something horrid to me in the ring – either she’ll fall asleep on the grooming table, or she’ll simply refuse to move on the down and back. Either of which would be a nice tribute to her grandmother, Tessa, who at one point or another in her show career did both of those things, with a spectacular flying leap off of the grooming table added in for good measure.

Details on the show can be found here – http://www.canineshowservices.com/hamilton/hamiltonpl2010.pdf

If you’d like to come out and meet with us to ‘talk Frenchies’, please drop me a line. Video cameras will be strictly banned from ringside – the last thing I need is video of Delilah winding the lead around my feet until I fall flat on my face going viral on YouTube.

Catch Up Post

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Belle's Easter Babies

Belle's Easter Neo Babies

Some news from Kelly about Belle and the Neo pups – sadly, Belle accidentally crushed one of the puppies to death (a little dark brindle boy). That’s always a risk with the big dogs, who can’t always tell if they’re sitting on top of one of their kids. Pig rails around the whelping box help, but aren’t a surefire preventative for sad accidents like this.

Needless to say, Kelly is devastated. She’s now removed the pups from Belle, and is putting them back in with her every three hours, under Kelly’s watchful supervision. A lot of work, as you can imagine – and not much sleep for Kelly. Her dedication is amazing.

Kelly also says that she is VERY concerned about finding a home for Bronx as soon as possible. He is NOT happy being outside, and with the puppies taking up all of Kelly’s time and attention, Bronx is feeling sad and lonely. He makes a sad, haunting “wwwwoooo-oooo-oooo” sound, in essence calling out for someone – anyone! – to please come and spend some time with him.

If you think you can provide a home for a sweet natured, very loyal male Neopolitan Mastiff, please contact Kelly – she’d like to see him have a chance to thrive, in a family he can love.

Kelly has tons of new photos of the puppies here – http://picasaweb.google.ca/105778920928071786403/BabyPics?feat=directlink#slideshow/5456689921539295522

..and more photos of Belle and Bronx are here – http://picasaweb.google.ca/105778920928071786403/BellaBronxAndBabies?feat=directlink#slideshow/5456676952824298882

Please note that, as we’ve mentioned before, there WILL be an adoption fee for the puppies. With luck, the adoption fees will be able to partially cover some of the vet expenses which Belle, Bronx and the pups have accrued. A few people have contacted Kelly assuming that ‘adopt’ equals free.  It doesn’t – it does, however, mean that no one is making any money off of these pups – instead, Kelly is just hoping to cover at least part of their ever growing expenses!

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Gunny and Rider, French Bulldog puppies

Gunny and Rider as puppies

Dick and Rider

I was thrilled to have visitors on Friday – Dick and Nancy Lillie came by, to meet with our little foster baby, Alvin.

Dick and Nancy owned and loved Rider – Tessa’s litter brother from a repeat breeding, and brother to Andrea Morden Moore’s Gunny.

Rider sadly passed away a year or so ago, and while their new Frenchie girl, Belle, is wonderful, they were missing having a little pied man around the house.

Enter Alvin, who’s just about the most adorable little pied you’ve ever laid eyes on, and who has the sweetest, silliest personality.

Dick and Nancy were smitten with him, and will be taking him home in a few weeks.

I can’t help thinking he’ll be a wonderful addition to an already wonderful family.

I’m going to be waiting for a LOT of photo updates!

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Down in Syracue, Leah (Bullmarket Absolut Padme) was entered in her first stateside show. After taking reserve winners bitch on Friday and Saturday, she topped the weekend off with a Best of Breed win on Sunday!

Not bad, for a nine month old puppy!

Leah’s mom, Kristina, was there to cheer Leah on  – but from a distance, and safely hidden behind a pole.  No sense distracting the girl while she’s in the ring! Leah was ably handled by Thom and Diane Curley, of Ottawa. Thanks, guys!

Leah will now be staying back home with her mom, and will be doing more stateside shows, via ringside pick up handling.

Photos are on Kristina’s Flickr page – http://www.flickr.com/photos/leahandfriends/

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Simon is on the prowl

The weekend weather was just perfect for playing outside with puppies! I continue to be amazed at how bold these boys are – they’ve never met an experience they didn’t leap into with gusto, especially Simon!

While Teddy and Alvin liked to check in on me from time to time (“Is she still there? yes? Head scratches, and off I go again!”), Simon is quite comfortable exploring all on his own.

After a while, I noticed he was off in the corner of the garden, looking quite intently at something, and doing the occasional puppy pounce, paw slap move. Closer investigation revealed a baby garter snake, and before I had time to swoop in and grab him, Simon had grabbed it in his mouth and was giving it a death shake.

The other dogs were instantly on the scene, trying to figure out just what high priority treat the new kid had managed to nab for himself. Simon wasn’t about to let a bunch of girls intimidate him – he whirled around and growled, clearly telling them to ‘back off, and get your own snake!’.

Since he’s actually a good boy at heart, Simon instantly – if not happily – dropped the snake when I told him to, and it slithered off, shaken but apparently none the worse for wear. The other dogs were deeply disappointed in me.

Photos are after the cut – and video tomorrow!

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