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Puppy Blogging

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I’ve got a ton of new Solo photos for you to peruse, but I also have some sad news – Solo has gone over to the darkside. Living in a house full of cats has convinced him to join forces with the catnip licking, litter pan using axis of evil. Next thing you know, he’ll be up on top of the aquarium, staring at the fish. We’ll have to arrange for him to spend summer camps with Dexter, where he can re-learn such vital Frenchie skills as house peeing, toy stealing, dog wrestling and water dish tossing.

Dexter Dreaming DarklySpeaking of Dexter, he’s coming along quite nicely, although I still have days where I look at him and think “Pet?”.

That’s typical of French Bulldog boy at this age, though – they’re all gawky paws and big legs and round goofball heads. Seriously, we should be able to send them away to boarding school at this point, and get them back as polished young gents, rather than the gauche little nitwits they are at four months.

Here are some photos of him pretending to be a show dog.

Barb despairs, because I haven’t yet managed to get him to stand on a table, but every time I try to he falls over into a pile of puppy goo. I’ll send him off for show training boot camp in a few months, and I’m sure he’ll toughen up quite nicely. In the meantime, I think show prospects benefit from exposure to all the sights and sounds that living in a crazed household like ours affords.

Here’s a collection of some of the photos I’ve received of Frenchies with their new families. I have a ton more to add over the next little while, but I’ll probably wait til my beloved great white is back from the shop, because using the back up PC feels odd and alien to me.

In the meantime, here’s a slide show of wicked, wicked Izzy wrecking the ever patient Linus’ birthday party. No wonder she gets left off of guest lists!


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…

 

Solo Goes Home and… Paris Hilton, Dog Breeder?

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Well, life out here in the country sure can be a pain in the butt. A wicked winter ice storm knocked my satellite internet out of service from Sunday afternoon until yesterday morning, and I’ve been going through some serious net surfing withdrawal pains.

Needless to say, I also have some blog post catching upping* to do…

*(is that an actual term? If it isn’t, it should be)

Solo’s New Family

As I mentioned previously, Solo went home with his new family on Sunday morning. Having him gone has been really hard — probably the hardest puppy I’ve ever let go. I think a lot of that has to do with losing Delilah’s brother last summer – but part of it is definately about how special a boy Solo is.

Knowing that he’s someplace where he is so well loved has been a definite comfort, although not to Dexter – he REALLY misses Solo, and has woken me up every night since he left.

Susan, Solo’s new mom, has written up a brief bio about herself and her family, and about how Solo is fitting into their home.

Solo’s new family

We are so blessed to have been able to add Solo to our family. We feel so lucky to have been able to have this opportunity and feel he is the perfect fit. My husband and I have 2 boys, ages 9 and 7, both boys have different levels of Autism. They are both extremely sensitive boys, with a very quirky nature, and the usual behaviours associated with Autism. They were raised around dogs and cats and have always had a compassionate way with creatures of any kind. I am a stay at home mom, so I am always available to be there for my kids and the pets. Solo is our first Frenchie, as we have had large dogs before.

He is a joy to have around, he is not just a pretty face. He is so loving and is always following the boys around the house. He just loves to be around people. He loves to be held and cuddled and we hope one day to have him doing therapy work once he is old enough. I see great things for this little guy, who has stolen all our hearts. He is incredibly smart, which was very surprising to me. He has us all trained already!! He has caught on so fast to his new house and routine. I can just gush over him forever, and he is very photogenic to boot.

We thank our lucky stars everyday to have Solo join our family!!!! We are more than thankful to Carol and Barb for all the thought, work, blood, sweat and tears they put into their dogs. Especially the loving care for Solo, for that is what made him what he is today, a true blessing. And I would also like to thank everyone who rooted for him, and sent their thoughts and prayers for him, thank you, thank you, thank you. He is a special little guy, who has made our special little family a very happy one!

Susan, Terry, Sean and Ian Snider, and wet kisses from Solo

Lots of new photos of Solo with his people (and their toys!) here, or in the slide show below.

Adventures in Puppy Land

Well, tis finally done. Both Journey and Paris have been bred, and what a long, strange trip that has been. Daily 2 hour round trips northward for blood testing and Draminski testing for the past 2 weeks, numerous snow storm delays, worries over sperm shipping, a vet bill well into four figures and counting, and we’re still not guaranteed that either of them is pregnant.

Someone be sure to let me know when all this lucrative dog money we breeders are supposed to have is going to start flowing, because I could sure use it to pay off my Mastercard bill.

In a month or so from now we’ll haul them both in for ultrasounds and see if there are any babies percolating in their bellies.

Of course, I could go the Paris Hilton route, and just let them free range around the yard reproducing willy nilly…

Thank doG she never ended up with a Frenchie. The mind reels.

The Los Angeles Department of Animal Services paid a visit to the home of Paris Hilton today to investigate a complaint about her dogs.

Captain Bowers tells TMZ his department received a complaint from an animal rescue group, after Paris’ appearance on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” on Monday. On the show, Paris talked about having 17 dogs — a huge no-no in the city of Los Angeles. A non-breeder is only allowed three dogs per address — though in Hollywood, Paris is considered a notorious breeder!

Captain Bowers tells us he went to her home Tuesday, only to find it’s under serious construction and nobody — including pets — is living there. So Captain Bowers left word with a maid and hasn’t heard back.

We’re told all of Paris’ pets are not currently living with her — they are with animal handlers.

Here’s Paris on Ellen, busting herself. I suppose it’s better she’s pumping out puppies than babies… too bad Brit Brit didn’t think of that before becoming a breeder.

Ellie Has Insomnia

Every breeder I know of has at least one ‘special’ dog or two. Ours is named Ellie, and she has a hard time falling asleep. Y’know how kids will get totally, fall over sleepy, so sleepy that their heads are nodding – but they will still refuse to let themselves fall asleep?

That’s Ellie.

I can’t really explain it more than that, other than to tell you to watch the video.

ESPP Fridays – It's another Solo Video

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It’s ESPP Friday, and that means it’s time for a Solo video!

Here he is playing with his toys, with Sean, with his ‘brother’ Dexter, and with his Aunt Ellie (who can’t wait for him to leave, and would prefer it if he took all the other dogs with him).

Snowy Day Solo Video

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Snowy days make me want to break out the video camera (well, actually they make me want to break out the credit card and book a trip to Costa Rica, but this is cheaper and doesn’t involve my freaking out over the Atlantic because we’ve hit turbulence and I think the plane is about to do a “Lost” and plunge into the Ocean, which causes me to rip the top layer of skin off of Sean’s arm with my nails because he was stupid enough to try and hold my hand to ‘console’ me).

Umm, anyways.

Here’s a video of Solo, doing cute stuff. Bonus feature – Banjo music!!

(Oh, and what do you think of the new theme? I needed something with a wider layout, no matter how colorful the old one was. Input welcome, please!)