Posts

Welcome Home, Caleb!

/6 Comments/in , /by
Caleb and Pickle, Cream and Brindle French Bulldog puppies

Caleb and Pickle

I lost most of this weekend to a killer migraine, but even that wasn’t enough to stop me from bringing home Bon yesterday. My second pick puppy out of Butters and Versace, Bon has fitted in since he got here like he’s lived here his entire life.

The only problem? His name didn’t seem to fit him.

We tried a few out over the weekend (Winston was too Bulldoggy, Gavin made him cry, Atticus made Sean roll his eyes, Gaelen was too.. something or other), and finally settled on Caleb. From the Hebrew, Caleb means

“like, as” and Lev, meaning “heart,” making the meaning “like the heart.”  Because the name in Hebrew is spelled with the same consonants as the word for “dog,” the name is commonly thought to mean dog.”

Another interpretation is ‘faithful and dog like heart’, which fits a stoic little guy like Caleb to perfection. Like his father, Caleb is calm and relaxed about most situations. Meeting all of the strange (and sometimes less than enthusiastic) dogs in our house was a breeze for him – he played with Pickle, tried to nurse on Mae, and quickly learned to stay away from his cranky Great Grandma, Sailor. He slept through the entire night, only waking up at about 4 am when he finally realized he was all by himself. He got over it fairly quickly, and didn’t wake up again until 8 am this morning.

He and Pickle have become fast friends, a fact for which I’m grateful – Pickle needs a pal she can play with. Delilah is less than thrilled, even though he technically is her brother. She feels this house already has far too many dogs in it, and that one more (and a boy, at that) is a really bad idea. We’ve told her she has to get used to it, but that she’s still our Princess Pudding Pants.

Caleb is sleeping on my feet as I type this, and I couldn’t be happier with him. He’s been a nice end to a crappy weekend.

By the way, we’ve decided that Caleb’s brother, Hammy, will be made available to a pet home. He’s still the most adorable, smiley faced Frenchie you’ve ever seen, but he’s a tad light in bone. Our loss, some lucky family’s gain!

Here’s Hammy, being adorable –

Hammy the French Bulldog Puppy

And here’s a whole set of his photos. For more info, you can email me.

Photos of Caleb after the cut, or on Flickr

Read more →

Itty Bitty Butters Babies

/5 Comments/in , /by
Butters loves her baby French Bulldog puppies

Butters loves her babies.

I have some footage of Butters’ entire c-section, shot in full on, gory detail, partly as an educational video, and partly as a scare tactic style ‘are you really, really sure you want to breed your dog?’ cautionary tale video.

Instead of sharing that right off the bat, I thought I’d start instead with my favorite thing of all – photos of teeny tiny baby puppies. I love them when they’re this age, because they have two modes – sleeping and passed out cold. Both make for nice, stationary photo objects, unlike Paula’s two week old Bullmastiff puppies, who are like eleven whirling, sucking dervishes. The film footage of those guys is awesome, and should be up by Friday.

In the meantime, if you get really, really close to screen, you should be able to scratch your monitor and get a whiff of puppy breath.

All the pix after the cut, or on Flickr.

Read more →

Weekend End Frenchie Photos

/2 Comments/in , /by
Tula's 3 French Bulldog puppies

The boys, their last weekend together

Here are some photos from the last day or two – and can I just ask, completely without any prejudice, aren’t these boys growing into the most handsome fellows?

Teddy’s markings are so eye catching – his mask may have faded, but his “eyeliner and mascara” are still in place, giving his a sort of doe eyed prettiness that’s hard to look away from. Simon – now Zeus – is in his awkward phase. His head, while still gorgeous, looks too small for his body. It will all even up in a month or so, and in the meantime he’s just a gloriously gallumphing little guy. He’s growing into quite the snuggle monkey, too.

Alvin still looks like Alvin – round, cartoon eyes and that adorable little grin. He’s just to cute to be anything other than a muppet, I swear.

And speaking of little Alvin, he left today, back to Paula’s first, and from there on Sunday he’s on to his new home. Paula tells me he was NOT happy about the solo car ride home, but he’s settled in well at her place, and is behaving like the little gentleman we know he is. I know he’s on his way to a FABULOUS new home, but I just can’t help missing his little tiny muppet face. His brothers, on the other hand, have been gleefully cackling “More food for US, sucka!”. Hellions, I tell you. Cute hellions, but hellions none the less 😉

You can see the photos over on Flickr, or check out our iPhoto slideshow below.

Catch Up Post

/1 Comment/in , , , /by
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!

—————–

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!

—————

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/

—————

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!

Read more →

Added bonus: outside puppy pictures!

/3 Comments/in , /by
Simon Meets Pickle

Simon Meets Pickle

Today the pups had their first outside experience – it was a big success, and I’m proud of them all for being so bold!

Pix after the cut.

Read more →