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French Bulldog Walking in Durham

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Sailor and Ellie in the Muddy ElementI spent part of the afternoon walking Sailor and her daughter Ellie in Durham. As always, I brought my camera along, and got some great pictures (in spite of the two feet of mud on the ground).

By the end of the afternoon, I was mud up to my knees, the dogs were mud up to their bellies, and my Element was mud up to the roof. I hate winter, but spring thaw isn’t too far behind on my list of things I loathe.

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, I cooked a big pot of kick ass pea soup. I made it in the crock pot, and left it cooking on low all day. Served with a loaf of fresh bread, it made the perfect ‘welcome home’ gift after an afternoon wandering ‘downtown’.

I love my crock pot – semi instant food, no waiting.

Here’s the recipe –

Ingredients

1 ham bone, 3/4 cup pieces of leftover ham
3 cups dried whole green peas, split
2 quarts water
2 quarts chicken broth
1 cup onions, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped(with leaves)
1 garlic clove, minced
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper

Directions

1. Saute onions until translucent
2. Add garlic, saute until lightly golden
3. Put onions, garlic and remaining ingredients in crock pot on low
4. Cook for five to six hours – add more water as needed near end

Hastie Tobacco Shop, Durham Ontario CanadaI have some awesome photos of Solo to post, likely tomorrow. In the meantime, a the end of the post you’ll find some photos from our afternoon walk – or see them full sized here.

It’s worth visiting Flickr to see the photo of Hastie Tobacco Shop, the local Durham smoke shop. It’s been there forever, and is fitted with the most incredible built in cabinetry. Look closely in the photo, and you’ll see that each custom fitted cabinet has a sign on it, indicating what was originally showcased in it – toiletries, ‘sundries’, etc. It’s simply too perfect for words, right down to the fact that it was a combination Tobacco Store/Pool Hall. There are still three or four tables in the back.

I imagine that Hastie was a pretty rockin’ place to hang out, in its heyday. I look at it and picture leather jacketed hoodlums, lounging at the pool table, smokes tucked into the arms of their t-shirts.

The store and building are for sale – I wish I could figure out something awesome to put there that would let the interior remain intact. It’s just too perfectly preserved to see it all torn out and sold for salvage.

French Bulldogs at Crufts 2008

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French Bulldog CC and Class Winners, Crufts 2008

Crufts is over for another year, and the Best of Breed winner is the simply stunning Ch. Birique Prinzessen JW – better known as “Sassi”. She was awarded this win by respected breeder/judge Dr. Christine Towner, and it is the icing on a career that has been nothing short of stunning.

Sassi is the UK’s top winning fawn bitch of all time, with 22 challenge certificates to her credit. She won Best of Breed at Crufts in 2004, and her triumphant return to the ring this year caps off a career that has also seen her win 5 UK Best in Shows. Her breeders and owners, Neil and Jacky Birks, of Birique French Bulldogs, have every right to be thrilled. Not only did they take the bitch challenge certificate, four of their other dogs placed or took first in their classes.

You can find the Birique French Bulldogs web page here.

Our friend Sue Case, of Epic French Bulldogs, was at Crufts and took a great big batch of photos. Sue’s photos of Sassi are in the slide display below, or view all of her Crufts photos full sized here. After the photos, I have a listing of the Crufts winners, which you can also find on the Midland and Northern Counties French Bulldog Club website.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Results – Crufts 06/03/08

Judge: Dr Christine Towner

BEST OF BREED
CH BIRIQUE PRINZESSEN JW
Bitch | Owner: MR N J BIRKS

BEST PUPPY
FENITON FERGUSON
Dog | Owner: MRS A JENKINS

DOG CHALLENGE CERTIFICATE
ACIREMA COLUMBUS TOMMYVILLE
Dog | Owner: MRS M BOOTLE

BITCH CHALLENGE CERTIFICATE
CH BIRIQUE PRINZESSEN JW
Bitch | Owner: MR N J BIRKS
RESERVE DOG CHALLENGE CERTIFICATE
BARON BERTY AT BREMARS
Dog | Owner: MRS J M MARSDEN
RESERVE BITCH CHALLENGE CERTIFICATE
ACIREMA LADY CHARMAINE
Bitch | Owner: MR P F & MR B KENDRICK & JONES

CLASSES

VETERAN – Dog
Entries: 3 Abs: 1
1st TRUHALI BLACK ICE OF OTTENSTOCK (MRS S STOCKS)
2nd INT CH GLENLEE NIGHT HAWK (MRS E KOZHEVNIKOVA)

SPECIAL PUPPY – Dog
Entries: 4 Abs: 0
1st FENITON FERGUSON (MRS A JENKINS)
2nd AGEANCOURT SWEET ROCKET (MRS K SMITH)
3rd TERRY LEIGH BOONE AVEC LABANJO (MRS C BURTON)
Res AGEANCOURT TOPS AT TOMMYVILLE (MRS L & MRS M BOOTLE & BONSALL)

SPECIAL JUNIOR – Dog
Entries: 9 Abs: 3
1st FRIEND DE LA PARURE (MR D FRIEND)
2nd TUCHOOS PORTHOS (MR G & MRS D PHILLIPS)
3rd RUOMYES BETE BLOND (MRS P W SEYMOUR)
Res AGEANCOURT MARCEL (MISS H ASKINS)
VHC TOMMYVILLE TEMPERENCE (MR A, MRS M & MRS D CUTTER, BOOTLE & RUMGAY)

YEARLING – Dog
Entries: 5 Abs: 0
1st BARON BERTY AT BREMARS (MRS J M MARSDEN)
2nd BIRIQUE WRIEGNMAKER (MR N J BIRKS)
3rd SHOEBRIDGE FRANCS (MR R & MRS J MAVRO-MICHAELIS)
Res KARCASAM DANCING BEAR AT HELDANSTOW (MR D & MRS H THOMAS)

POST GRADUATE – Dog
Entries: 13 Abs: 3
1st ACIREMA COLUMBUS TOMMYVILLE (MRS M BOOTLE)
2nd OCEAN FANTASY IZ PALEVY BULDOG [ATC AH01295RUS] (MRS M A LEBEDEVA)
3rd GLENLEE CHEYENNE AT SHEARDOWN (MR N R SPENCER)
Res TWINHOE BRIAN (MR C J BLAIR)
VHC TWINHOE RAMONE (MISS E THICK)

LIMIT – Dog
Entries: 10 Abs: 0
1st TOMMYVILLE TANTRUM AT TWINHOE (MR C J BLAIR)
2nd GLENLEE DANCING SHADOWS (MR G & MRS E DRUMMOND)
3rd BIRIQUE PRINZREGENT (MR N J BIRKS)
Res AGEANCOURT FOXGLOVE (MRS K SMITH)
VHC THE PHEASANT CHASER (MRS C HAMMOND)

OPEN – Dog
Entries: 10 Abs: 2
1st ABBEYMILL MR BOJANGLES (MRS L PARTRIDGE)
2nd CH FENITON FERGUS AT MORVERN JW SHCM (MS A & MRS A MCINNES & JENKINS)
3rd TOMMYVILLE TIMMY MCTIMONY (MRS M BOOTLE)
Res TOMMYVILLE TODHUNTER (MRS M BOOTLE)
VHC ELLIOTT DE LA PARURE [ATC AG00709BEL] (MRS FL LALLIARD)

VETERAN – Bitch
Entries: 2 Abs: 0
1st CH TOMMYVILLE TULIP OF GAIS (MRS M LE GALLAIS)
2nd SPANDAPA TANTO TIA (MISS A MITCHELL)

SPECIAL PUPPY – Bitch
 Entries: 7 Abs: 0
1st RICCIBET MISS MINK (MR R E RICHARDSON)
2nd AGEANCOURT SOX (MR L & MRS A GIRLING)
3rd DAPLEDAN PARIS (MR A & MRS J CUTTER)
Res SENKRAH JUST AS HONEST (MR & MRS A W HARKNESS)
VHC REDMIST CRYSTAL MAZE VIA NKUNDE (MR S & MRS J COOK)

SPECIAL JUNIOR – Bitch
Entries: 12 Abs: 1
1st ACIREMA LADY CHARMAINE (MR P F & MR B KENDRICK & JONES)
2nd NOKOMIS LITTLE SNOW BEAR (MRS J KEATES)
3rd ACIREMA FLEURETTE TOMMYVILLE (MRS M & MR I BOOTLE & MOYE)
Res DEZINERLABEL ENDLESS SKY (AI) (MRS D & MS J MCKNIGHT-SMITH & MCKENZIE-MORTON)
VHC FAYLOUI AZURA (MR M & MRS VAILE)

YEARLING – Bitch
Entries: 11 Abs: 0
1st BIRIQUE WINNEROVA (MR N J BIRKS)
2nd CRINDLE’S FABERGE (MR B & MRS E WRIGHT)
3rd ABBEYMILL SHTOOM SHTOOM (MRS C A JOPLING)
Res CRINDLE’S PETITE FLEUR WITH AUDACIOUS (MS A STILL)
VHC SHOEBRIDGE GIENNOIS (MR R & MRS J MAVRO-MICHAELIS)

POST GRADUATE – Bitch
Entries: 14 Abs: 3
1st BIRIQUE WANNAGOTU ANASHELL (MR M & MRS K CONWAY)
2nd ROBOBULL SMEG (MRS C ROBERTSON)
3rd MADAINN HIGHLAND MYSTERY (MISS D & MR J MCAULEY & AITKEN)
Res VAGHNA OOPSA DAISY (D & G GAVAGHAN)
VHC MUGGSHOTTS BETTY BOOP (MRS BONSALL)

LIMIT – Bitch
 Entries: 14 Abs: 3
1st NELLBANK GRACES SATIN BEAU (MRS L BANKS)
2nd NOKOMIS ENDLESS SUMMER (MRS J KEATES)
3rd DAMEJA LUCY LOCKET (MRS S MCKENNA)
Res BIRIQUE TCHARMED BY TOMMYVILLE (MRS M & MR N BOOTLE & BIRKS)
VHC FENITON RUBY TUESDAY (MRS J CRITCHLEY)

OPEN – Bitch
Entries: 13 Abs: 2
1st CH BIRIQUE PRINZESSEN JW (MR N J BIRKS)
2nd CH ACIREMA SEALED WITH A KISS (MR P F & MR B KENDRICK & JONES)
3rd PINK LADY JAZZY V MUPPY’S PLACE [ATC AG00731NLD] (MRS E J & MR F P DE BIE)
Res FENITON FRANCINE (MR D H TAYLOR)
VHC DAMEJA EQUINOXE (MRS S MCKENNA)

GOOD CITIZEN DOG SCHEME – Bitch
Entries: 1 Abs: 0
1st NOKOMIS WHISPERING BREEZE (MRS I & MR R STANSFIELD)

 

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.

More Solo Photos & Some Experimental Video

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It amazes me sometimes how many tricks and features my lovely Mac computer has that I remain blissfully unaware of.

I only discovered Boot Camp (the utility that allows me to partition my hard drive and run either Windows XP or Vista on the second partition) after watching a Tech show on TV, and I know for a fact that I’m still not using a quarter of the features available to me in iPhoto. I had started out using Mac computers almost exclusively, but I then spent almost 15 years working in the clunky, non intuitive environment of PCs, and the learning curve of the Mac operating system had left me in the dust in the intervening years.

Other than my graphics and web design software, the bundled program I use most on my Mac is definately iMovie. Faster and more fully featured that Windows Movie maker, it takes all of the guess work out of making small, simple web friendly movies – perfect for the dog hobbyist who, like me, has a video camera addiction.

Over the weekend, I made a new movie of Solo, which I linked to in an earlier entry. Intrigued by the shutter delay feature on my XTI Rebel camera, I threw in some gratuitous stop motion still shots at the very end of the movie, and started toying with the idea of doing more time lapse videos. Hey, who doesn’t like seeing big chunks of time compressed into a single minute? The problem was, I had no intentions of standing in one place for an hour so I could take a billion photos, and I’m too impatient to take a single dog photo a day for the next ten years. I decided to go looking for hardware that would let me accomplish the same thing, and discovered that for just under a thousand dollars, I could get a camera remote with a timer.

Umm, maybe not.

I then discovered that I could get a nifty piece of software that connects to my camera via USB and collects timed still images that can be knit into a movie. Perfect! But it only works on Windows.

Another hour of googling, browsing, downloading and being disappointed, and I finally stumbled across Mac Docs link that pointed out that iMovie came with built in time lapse photography capture.

Oops. I guess that’s why we’re supposed to read the manual.

Anyways, I spent some time this afternoon capturing video of Solo, and of the bed area where my dogs spend most of their time. It’s in front our family room bookcases, and nicely close to the fireplace, so they sleep, roughhouse and stash toys there, making it a good place to shoot time lapse.

You’ll find links to both videos below, and embeds after the cut.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XwTAHMkbtM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVepFq5D4Kw

I also shot some new pix of Solo playing with Dexter. It’s so nice to see that he finally has a buddy to spend some time with, and Dexter is being so gentle with Solo that I’m well and truly impressed.

Solo with SnugglePuppieSolo has another new friend – his SnugglePuppie. Solo’s friend Judith sent it to him, because she is obviously powerless in the face of his ESPP. The SnugglePuppie has a heart beat, and can contain warming packets. You can even insert a bottle into it, and let the puppy nurse directly from the toy, in a way that more closely simulates natural nursing.

We put Solo on his new best friend just after lunch, as soon as we’d unpacked the SnugglePuppie and set it up. He literally did not move from it for the next four hours. He’s usually a restless sleeper, but sleeping next to the warm, beating presence is obviously soothing. Thanks so much, Judith! Here are some pix of Solo and the SnugglePuppie, sleeping the sleep of the content.

Embedded video after the cut.

Read more →

Snowy Day Food Blogging

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The weather here today is horrific — blowing snow obscures everything, it’s minus -7° celcius, and expected to drop to -15° , and I have no intentions of leaving the house if I can possibly help it. Unfortunately, Solo is out of goat’s milk, so I don’t really have much choice. Sucks to be a responsible pet owner, doesn’t it?

Thrive Dog FoodI have another reason for leaving the house today – I’m going to pick up some sample packs of Honest Kitchen dog food from our local distributor. He’s actually the Canada wide representative for Honest Kitchen – he just also happens to be located here in Durham, a town with a population of about twenty people. It really is a small world sometimes.

I’m going to try switching Ellie over to Honest Kitchen, in the hopes she’ll find the texture easier to eat. She has a hard time eating kibble, even if it has been soaked. Honest Kitchen is a dehydrated food, as opposed to a kibble. The basic ingredients have been dehydrated, and you then re-constitute them with water before feeding. This results in a food with a ‘pudding’ like texture.

Apparently, not all dogs like it, so I’ll start with just some samples and see how Ellie tolerates it.

As for Sean and I, we’re eating Jamaican food today. I’ve got oxtail stewing down in the slow cooker, and tonight I’ll fry some plantain, boil some yellow yam and Irish potato, and make a batch of coconut rice and peas. For dessert, we’re having fresh made banana fritters. Since I can’t get ethnic food out here, I’ve had to learn to make do with what we can cook here at home.

PhoNext week, we’re going to get together the ingredients to make Pho, the Vietnamese noodle soup we ate at least once a week in Toronto.

Every block in our ethnic neighborhood had a decent Pho place on it, and I really miss being able to just drop in and grab a huge bowl filled with noodles, broth, seafood and bean sprouts. Sean likes his plain, but I love my Pho with a squeeze of lime and a dash of chili sauce.

Here’s a simple recipe for rice and peas —

Serves: 4-5

1 medium sized can red kidney beans
1 can coconut milk
2 cups of rice
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 table spoon oil
1 scotch bonnet pepper (whole, do not chop up)
water

Drain the liquid from the can of beans into a measuring cup and add the can of coconut milk and enough water to make four cups of liquid. Place liquids in a pot with beans, onions, garlic, thyme and oil, bring to a boil. Add rice and stir for a minute. Reduce heat to Medium-Low. Place scotch bonnet pepper on top of liquid and cover tightly for 30 minutes or until rice is cooked. Remove scotch bonnet pepper before serving.

This recipes can also be made using other peas.