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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.

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Thursday Thirteen – 13 Movies with French Bulldogs in Them

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I missed Thursday Thirteen last week, because of the power outages and the need to write a long-ass update on the puppies. This week, I cheated and lifted part of my movie list from French Bulldog Z. Here’s a list of 13 movies that have French Bulldogs in them. Please note that I’ve chosen movie titles based on no particular criteria, and their inclusion should not be taken to indicate that I think they’re worth watching (other than for the scenes with the Frenchies in them).

 

1. At First Sight
The basic premise – blind boy meets girl, blind boy regains site and possibly loses girl.. but who cares about all of that? There’s only one good reason for getting this video, and we’re NOT going to tell you what it is. OK, we’ll give you a hint – it involved (gasp of shock!) a French Bulldog. No, don’t beg – we’re not giving the rest of it away. After all, if the rest of us had to sit through this yawner to get to the good stuff, so do you…

2. Wigstock – The Movie
We might be stretching it by including this title, but we did promise to include even those movies giving us just a ‘glimpse of’ Frenchies, right? Besides, this is a great movie, featuring footage of the 10th Annual Wigstock in New York. Plenty of fun, and some really, really big hair. Invite over some friends, pop this in the DVD player, and offer fabu prizes to the first person to spot the Frenchie. It’s more fun if you make all your friends wear wigs, though (or better still, full drag)

3. Babe – Pig in the City
I really, really liked the first Babe movie. Pigs, dogs, sheep — what’s not to like? But this one? – I just could NOT stomach that scene with the Bull Terrier. I came really close to walking out of the cinema. Mind you, that’s just one scene, and the rest of the movie is as cute as a button. Look for the French Bulldog in front of the Parisian Cafe…

4. Grease
Great musical with some memorable song and dance numbers, but most notable to Frenchie fans for the bizarrely Frenchie filled carnival scenes near the end of the movie. The prop department must have bought up literally every ugly, chalkware French Bulldog carnival prize in North America to stock these scenes. A chilling of example of when good collectibles go bad.

5. Titanic
The brief glimpse of a brindle Frenchie being loaded onto the ship, and later walked on the steerage class deck, was inspired by the historical French Bulldog which was on board the Titanic. Director James Cameron thankfully cut the scene where the dog struggles in the water after the ship’s sinking, but it’s apparently included in the DVD edition. I’ll pass on that, thank you

6. Monkey Bone
Deservedly fast-forgotten flick features a mix of claymation, animation and live action, and takes place in the mind of a comatose animator. Whatever. It sucked, and went pretty well straight to video. There are a few shots of Whoopi Goldberg as death, clutching a French Bulldog as some sort of minion, a la Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers movies, I suppose.

7. Armageddon
Watch for the cream Frenchie in the opening few minutes of this popular (if somewhat over done) outer space action adventure video.His shenanigan’s on the set of “The Rock” (another movie his owner actor Brendan Kelly starred in) made director Michael Bay decide to put him in this film. You can see ‘Frankie’ in his own flick below, on the Short Six collection.

8. ‘Franky Goes to Hollywood’
From the BillyBob database: ‘Imagine you are Brendan Kelly, working actor. You’ve starred in the TV series OZ, and films like MALCOLM X, THE ROCK, CON AIR, CLOCKERS, etc. So one day, Michael Bay calls you at home with a hot work offer in his latest flick . . . for your dog! “What a laugh I had,” Kelly recalled, “but as long as someone in the family’s working, who cares?”

Adopted by Kelly when he was visiting Paris, Franky got to chew on Godzilla, and Brendan made this 12-minute black and white flick with some of the cast. Watch it if, for no other reason, than to howl with laughter when Franky attacks some balloons and watches the costs get taken out of his per diem. Steve Buscemi seems mighty obsessed about Franky’s per diem.’

The only way that I’ve been able to find to actually see this short – which won best short documentary at the Brooklyn Film Festival – is on the collection “Short Six”. It’s worth it, even if the rest of the shorts are on the theme of ‘insanity’..

9. The Shaggy Dog
Amazon sez: Tim Allen barks, growls, and slobbers his way through the latest remake of the classic Disney suburban fable The Shaggy Dog. A mystical long-lived dog is kidnapped from Tibet by a nefarious corporation; when it escapes, it bites aspiring District Attorney Dave Douglas (Allen, The Santa Clause, Toy Story), who finds himself regressing into a dog in the courtroom. There’s more to the plot–something to do with creating a youth serum from the dog’s blood–but let’s face it, that’s not what anyone’s going to see the movie for..

That’s right – because what they’re really interested in is the fact that one of Tim’s neighbours has a Frenchie. This one is fun for you, and the kids. Or so I’m told. Plus, it has Robert Downey and Jane Curtain in it.

10. Garden State
I don’t usually get worked up about movies, but in this case I’m making an exception. Unless you’re a complete and utter philistine, you will immediately run out and rent and/or purchase this movie. Why? Here’s why:

A) it has a kick ass cast & plot
B) it has, for one brief and shining moment, a scene which showcases a nice little cream male Frenchie doing one of the disgusting things that nice little un neutered cream male Frenchies do.

11. Bringing Down the House
City slicker lawyer meets street wise ex con, as played by Queen Latifah. And yet again – ho hum, although not to the same extent as Second Hand Lions. After all, there’s no creepy 6th Sense kid in this one to freak you out. Best of all, you get lots more shots of the pied cutie from Second Hand Lions, this time as a spoiled Frenchie appropriately named Shakespeare, and looking quite dapper in his ruffed Elizabethan collar. Actually, this movie is pretty funny, with Eugene Levy as one of the highlights. And look – the Frenchie made it onto the DVD box!

12. Secondhand Lions
Here’s what amazon.com says about it: “If you can get past its thick layer of syrup and molasses, Secondhand Lions reveals itself as a thoroughly decent family film that anyone can enjoy. It gets a little sappy sometimes, but there’s something to be said for a movie in which Michael Caine and Robert Duvall play eccentric old brothers who take the easy approach to fishing: instead of a peaceful rod and reel, they use 12-gauge shotguns”. But who cares about all of that? There are tons of shots of an incredibly cute pied Frenchie hamming it up for the camera, and that alone makes it worth watching. It’s even worth putting up with an increasingly weird looking Haley Joel Osment. *shudder*

13. Just Married
Poor Brittany Murphy. It’s bad enough that she has to spend most of her time being the voice of Luanne on King of the Hill, but when she finally gets the chance to do a big screen feature film, what happens? Well, first of all, she gets dumped by her super hottie boyfriend and co-star, Ashton Kutcher, and then she gets upstaged by an adorable little French Bulldog.

OK, maybe we’re stretching things a little – after all, the Frenchie is only in one scene. But who cares? Other than gazing at Ashton and the Frenchie, there aren’t many other good reasons for watching this forgettable flick… It’s back to cartoon voice overs for Brittany, I’m afraid.

 

 

Bonus Fact: The same French Bulldog appeared in See Spot Run, Bringing Down the House, Second Hand Lions, The Shaggy Dog and Just Married, not to mention numerous print ads and commercials. Linus is one of the animal actors from Birds and Animals Unlimited.

linus.jpg

 

 

 


Power Outages, Flying Puppies & Mouth Wars

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Like a lot of people in Ontario, we suffered through some crazy windstorms yesterday, resulting in a day of sporadic power outages. From about five in the morning on, our power was on and off throughout the day, causing me some major inconvenience, and not a small amount of worry over keeping my puppies warm. With Bunny’s kids in one room, Solo in another, and the balance of the dogs split between the dog room and our family room, there was a lot of space to be kept warm, and just one airtight wood stove to heat it.

Thankfully, Sean had the foresight to purchase a gasoline generator a few months ago, in anticipation of days just like this. Hooked up to space heaters, it was sufficient to keep the entire house warm, and the pups content, if not thrilled about the darker than usual rooms. I’ve never been more thankful that we heat our house primarily with wood than I was yesterday, although I’m thinking of investing in a few kerosene heaters as back up. After all, people in the Muskoka area are still without power, and might not get it back until Saturday. That’s a long time to run a generator, and a lot of gas used. We have a pond out back for utility grade water, but we just noticed yesterday that our pump is hard wired into the house, and so can’t be run off of the generator. We’re going to invest in a dozen or so really big bottles of drinking water. After all, Sean and I can use up the bottled drinks in the house, but the dogs aren’t as keen on Diet Dr. Pepper.

The entire situation was made more hectic because it was the day Harley and Izzy were due to depart for their new homes. Lauren, Harley’s new mom and adoptive mom of our Lola, was flying in from New York City, and Sean had agreed to meet her at the airport to save her driving the five hour round trip to our house. Lauren had agreed to carry both Izzy and Harley back on the return flight, dropping Izzy off to her new mom in New York City. Susanna would then fly her back home to Texas the next day. That’s a lot of planning, none of which could be bumped just because our power was out. I had to make a lot of frantic phone calling to make sure everything was still on track, complicated by the fact our cordless phones weren’t working with the power out, and my cell was completely drained. Thankfully, Sean bought a new cell just before Christmas. Lesson learned – buy an old fashioned plug in phone, in case of future power outages.

So, Izzy and Harley are gone, off to their new families. The house is awfully quiet, and poor Dexter seems a little bit bereft. You’d think he’d be grateful, since Izzy spent the last few weeks terrorizing him at every given opportunity. Sean has taken their leaving rather hard – after all, this is the first time he’s raised up pups, only to see them leave for new homes. He felt a special bond with Harley, who enjoyed sitting on Sean’s feet when he found the rowdy grown up dogs a bit too overwhelming. Poor Sean. He just learned that every litter breaks your heart just a tiny bit when they go.

Solo is coming along swimmingly, and has finally reached the stage where he seems like a ‘real’ puppy. That’s the stage where this tiny little bundle of fur suddenly develops a real personality, and sense of consciousness. You look at them, and they are looking back, not just gazing unfocusedly into the ether. Solo has a vocabulary of little puppy growls and barks, and did his first puppy mouth war with me. He’s breaking his baby teeth, and likes to chew on the nipple of his bottle. He looks more and more like a baby polar bear cub.

Unfortunately, Mae is pretty thoroughly bored with Solo. She’ll give him a cursory lick now and then, but other than that they’re rather like two polite roommates sharing an apartment. Solo stays on one side of the pool, and Mae on the other. This disinterest on her part has given Sailor a new hobby – licking the puppy. After I finish feeding him, I place him in front of Sailor on a blanket, and she spends the next twenty minutes acting like a canine car wash. She licks him up one side, then down the other, and repeats the process for good measure. Solo gives off little baby growls when he’s had enough, but usually he ends up falling asleep on his back mid lick session. Sailor has been a veteran puppy licker since she first climbed into her mom’s whelping box to tend to Tessa’s new litter, and she’s been at it ever since. This is a photo of her licking her half brothers and sisters, shortly before Tessa told her to shove off and get a new hobby.

Sean took some pictures of the pups before they left yesterday, and some photos of Dexter settling in with the brindle bunch today.

See them on Flickr, or below.

Solo is Feeling Better… and a new video

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Well, Solo is feeling a bit better. Thanks to the advice I received from some list members, I spoke to my veterinarian, and we switched him over to Zithromax on Friday. It seems to have really worked – his check up Saturday morning confirmed his lungs are MUCH less congested, and much ‘drier’ sounding, although he does now have rhinitis (a nasal infection, similar to a cold).

Luckily, he’s still managed to gain a bit of weight throughout all of this, likely because I’ve been getting up every two hours to feed him, then staggering back to nap until the alarm goes off again. I think as of today I might try stretching that out to every four hours or so, since if I don’t get some REAL sleep soon I’m going to go utterly crazy.

This is the first time since Thursday or so I’ve been on the computer, so now I get to wade through nine hundred piles of email…

Bunny’s pups go home next week – Harley to New York City, and Izzy to Texas. I shot some new video this morning, and there’s a scene in there where Tessa is defending Mr. Monkey, everyone’s favorite stuffed animal, from the puppies. They wait until she’s asleep, then stage a “Mission Impossible” style theft of him that involves sloooowly climbing over the bottom shelf of the bookcase.

I’m going to miss the mayhem they cause, although I’m pretty sure Tessa is already packing their suitcases and pushing them towards the door.

You can see the video here –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23935blK1l8
Or it’s embedded after the cut.

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If it weren't for bad luck…

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I woke up this morning at six am to give Solo his morning feeding, and found him in a state of distress. He was listless, wheezing, and had milk coming out of his nose. A quick inspection indicated his chest sounded congested, and his energy level was depressed. This was a 180° change from his demeanor of last night, and I knew pretty much right away what the problem was – aspiration pneumonia.

Aspiration pneumonia occurs when fluids have gotten into the lungs. In this case, I likely allowed Solo to overeat during his last feeding of the night. He vomited, and some of the fluid got into his lungs. He now faces a chance of developing a bacterial infection from the fluid in his lungs.

I had him into the car, and on his way to our vet office as soon as they were opened. Since I don’t function my best with just five hours sleep, I managed to leave the house without my wallet, which wouldn’t have been an issue if I hadn’t stopped for gas on the way. This was one of those times I was grateful to live in a small town, as they allowed me to leave to go back home and grab my wallet, instead of just calling the cops.

Finally arriving at the Vet’s office, Dr. Gomez did a thorough check on Solo, and confirmed he has ‘wet’ sounding lungs – and that we’d caught it right away, thankfully. Solo was dehydrated, so he received 30 mls of fluid subcutaneously (which he didn’t enjoy in the least). He’s now on Clavamox, to stave off possible infection.

He’s also back on every two hour feeding, with the goal of getting smaller amounts of food into him, more frequently, instead of allowing him to gorge every four hours.

Goodbye, sleep, hello alarm clock.

If he regurgitates again, I’m going to have to take the plunge and start tube feeding him, and tube feeding scares the beejesus out of me. I’ll do it, however, if it will save his life.

I find it ironic that on the same morning I was racing around trying to save my single surviving puppy’s life, someone was sending me the following email:

Can you give me some advice on how I become a French Bull Dog breeder? I want to make some part time money and I really like dogs. I had a litter from my cocker spaniel two years ago and it seems pretty easy.

I haven’t bothered to answer them yet. Some days, answering questions like this can’t be done without copious amounts of swearing and tears.

Here’s a video demonstration of tube feeding, for those who’ve never seen it done.

Carol