Shameless web host related grovelling – for a good cause

Dreamhost, in addition to being possibly the world’s hippest web hosting company (not to mention one of the greenest), is now offering a staggeringly generous referral bonus plan.

How generous?

Well, for every single person referred to them via our Promo Code who signs up, we receive an $82 bonus. Pretty cool, huh? Here’s something even cooler – we’re going to donate each and every referral bonus we earn to French Bulldog Village Rescue, and the Karen Krings memorial fund. Dream Host allows us to receive referral fees by paypal, and we in turn can donate them to FBV in the very same way.

So, here’s the deal.

Click the button below, and sign up for a year of hosting, using this promo code –

FROGHOSTING (this also gives you a bonus extra free domain name registration)

After you’re done, email me, and I’ll do a screenshot of our transfer of your referral fees to FBV. Full disclosure, baby!

Let me point out here that you’re not just doing the good and philanthropic thing by using Dreamhost. They are, bar none, of the most generous and fully featured web hosting plans on the market, at rock bottom prices (A full year of hosting, for $119.40 , with no transfer fees – and prices drop with every additional year). Plus, you can host UNLIMITED domains under one yearly account! I pay $119 per year, which hosts every single French Bulldog website I have, other than this one (and only because I’m too lazy to transfer over the entire mega gallery to a new site host).

Once you’re signed up, you’ll also be eligible for referral fees, which you in turn can donate to breed rescue or any other philanthropic cause you prefer (or just pocket it, I suppose).

Here’s their features list — don’t forget to sign up at http://www.dreamhost.com using promo code FROGHOSTING. From now on, you’ll see a button link to them in our sidebar. Consider them, when your hosting is up for renewal – the Frenchies will thank you for it!
Disk Storage at signup 500 GB
Automatically Increases Weekly By: 2 GB

Monthly Bandwidth at signup 5.0 TB
Automatically Increases Weekly By: 40 GB

MySQL 5 Databases Unlimited
Operating System Debian Linux

E-Mail Accounts (POP/IMAP) Unlimited
Full Shell / FTP Users Unlimited
IMAP Access Yes
Web-Based Email Access Yes
Procmail Mail Filtering Yes
Spam Filtering – SpamAssassin Yes
Email Addresses (Aliases) Unlimited
Announcement Lists Unlimited
Discussion Lists Unlimited
Vacation Auto-Responders Unlimited

Domains

Free Domain Registration (A $9.95 Value!) Yes
Free Domain WHOIS Privacy Yes
Domains Hosted Unlimited
Subdomains Hosted Unlimited
Domains Forwarded/Mirrored Unlimited
Custom DNS Yes

One-Click Automatic Software Installers:
WordPress, phpBB, Advanced Poll, ZenCart, MediaWiki, Joomla, Gallery, WebCalendar
Don’t forget to sign up at http://www.dreamhost.com using promo code FROGHOSTING.

Missing French Bulldog Alert & Support Frenchies on Valentines Day!

Bella

Bella is Missing from Coffeyville/Montgomery County, Kansas

 

Lost/ Picked up in Montgomery County Kansas, 1 Mi. South of HWY 166 & Dearing turnoff intersection.

Five month old French Bulldog pup, white with large black spot on rump. Speckled ears. Fourteen pounds last week.

Went AWOL while outside on potty break with our other dog, a Lab. Lab came back without her. We searched woods and pastures for hours, which turned into days.

Went missing Thursday, Jan. 24th, 2008. We are 1 mile from the Oklahoma border.

REWARD!

Please call 620-948-6249 or email seegedo@aol.com .

HER FAMILY MISS HER!!

ps: Please cross post, if you can. Such a tiny puppy, to be out in such terrible weather all alone.

 

Support French Bulldog Village with a Virtual Valentine!

Frenchie Kisses CardNone of us need another box of Chocolates this Valentine’s Day, and paper cards are so 2001, so send someone special your love with a virtual Valentine, from the French Bulldog Village!

Pick a chocolate kiss, a classic Valentine, a Frenchie Kisses Card, a candy hug or kiss, dedicate a custom framed Frenchie valentine, or choose one of the fun, animated cards!

Go here to send someone your love, or to show your love for your Frenchie!

Each and every penny you donate supports FBV and the Karen Krings Memorial Fund, which allows them to help dogs like lovely Lulu.

Lulu

From the FBV site:

Poor LuLu! At just eight weeks old on September 1, she is struggling to adjust to her new foster home. Her new foster parents, two teenaged boys, and the resident dogs are all trying to make it easier on her, but she still wakes up in the dark and screams her little heart out. She doesn’t know where she is. She doesn’t recognize the voices around her or the hands holding her.

It’s always dark when LuLu wakes up. Before her eyes even opened, a severe infection took away all of the vision in her right eye, and most of the vision in her left eye. Faced with a blind puppy, her breeder decided to turn her over to the French Bulldog Village so that this little four pound baby could get all the special attention that she needed and have the best possible start on what we all hope will be a healthy long life.

Learn more about Lulu here.

How could you say ‘no’ to giving just $5 to help a dog like Lulu? (Shameless guilt tripping – I’m perfectly OK with it).

My Christmas Wish List

Dear Santa Claus:

I know you’re really busy this time of year, what with the last minute gathering of the gifts, and the packing of the sleigh. I don’t want to take up much of your time, and, even if I did, I’m not sure how much attention you’d pay to the wish list of a non believing ethnic atheist Jew. That said, if you have some spare time, could you look over my wish list and see if there’s anything you can do?

I’d really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance,

Carol

My Wish List

Adequate SpaceI wish that not one single dog, whether Frenchie or Lab or Doodle or any other breed, is spending their Christmas in a cage that looks like this one.

I wish that there was some kind of deity who could give the people who operate puppy mills the kind of punishment they deserve.

I wish that every politician who allowed legislation to pass saying that this much space is legal was forced to spend just one night in a cage that gives them ‘adequate room for exercise’.

I wish that every single stupid celebrity who bought a throw-away puppy from a pet shop was forced to visit the puppy mill where their dog’s parents still live. While there, I want them to actually see the bitch who gave birth to their puppy. Then, I wish on her the gift of speech, so she could curse them to hell (using small words that even Britney and Paris could understand).

I wish that every single Pit Bull in the world could have a home as good as the Pit Bulls of Bad Rap.

For every Sophie in the world, I wish for soft beds, warm laps, cookie stuffed kongs, soft words of kindness, people who care, and the chance to spend the remainder of their lives living in dignity and compassion.

I wish that pet stores would finally be banned from selling live animals, including bunnies.

I wish all of the K Kids have safe, happy trips to their new homes, and that there’s no longer a reason for dogs like Cosette to need French Bulldog Rescue.

I wish that the stupid, ridiculous, pointless, ‘Dangerous Dog‘ legislation here in Ontario, and all over the world, could be over turned, so that legislation based on pragmatic reality could instead be introduced.

Most of all, I wish for the basics we all ask for – peace on earth, and good will towards men – and animals. Can we not forget the animals this year?

French Bulldog Comics, contest update & all aboard the FBV Express!

The comic strip ‘Pooch Cafe‘ tossed in a sorta gratuitous reference to French Bulldogs in the last few days strips. Rather than laboriously explain it to you, I’ll just post the strips in question.

Pooch Cafe Comic Strip - French Bulldog reference

Pooch Cafe Comic Strip - French Bulldog reference

A few years ago, someone in France almost blew a gasket when they noticed a page on the French Bulldog Rescue Network titled ‘Surrender a Frenchie’. Six pages of blog ranting ensued, with the writer stridently objecting to the insinuation that the French had a tendency to surrender. When it was finally pointed out to him that the page in question actually referred to giving up your French Bulldog for adoption, his response was a rather abashed ‘nevermind’.

I wonder if I should track him down and send him a link to this comic?

Contest-a-palooza!

Holy cow, are some of you guys creative (and a bit twisted, a few of you). Keep those captions coming – I’ve finally decided on what the prize will be, and it is a SUPER good one, that should also do some super good things for a super good cause. Isn’t that super?

All Aboard the French Bulldog Village Express!

I admit that, from time to time, I get rather cynical about Christmas. All the gift buying, gift wrapping, festivity planning frenzy can wear a type-A personality down, I tell you. In spite of this, I can still stumble across something that warms my heart, and reminds me of what Christmas should be all about – giving from the heart, for the sake of giving.

This year my redemption came in the form of the French Bulldog Village Christmas Express. This colorful little train allows donors to decorate it, in exchange for a donation. You can give as little as a few dollars, and still make a difference. All money donated goes to an incredibly worthy cause – the Karen Krings Memorial Fund. This fund not only allows FBV to rescue and place dogs themselves, but it allows other rescue groups to apply for funds to help dogs they are fostering or caring for. In this way, even the most underfunded rescue can still take in and care for a French Bulldog in need – something that is, quite sadly, needed more and more often these days.

So, go forth and give – a little, or a lot, as you can afford. Me, I’m donating a tree, in memory of our little boy lost, and all the other Frenchies that have given me such joy over the years. It’s the least I can do for all of those Frenchies out there who have never known a lap, or a kiss, or the feel of hands touching them in kindness. Give a needy Frenchie a Christmas gift, and help yourself to remember what the season is really supposed to be about.

http://www.frenchbulldogvillage.com/french_bulldog_express.htm

The Ellen Fiasco – and Delilah Learns Bad Habits

It’s been a long time between posts, but there are mitigating circumstances – namely, a trip to Michigan to pick up Mz. Bunny, her sidekick Paris and the ever so lovely Divine. I also managed to squeeze in some work, a job change and a fevered bout of book reading.

First though, let’s address the truly important issues – Ellen DeGeneres and her absolutely mesmerizing on air break down. Has Ellen finally lost all of her marbles? Quite possibly. Do I feel sorry for her, in all her sobbing, sad sack glory? Not at all, and I’m not going to jump on that ‘Oooh, those mean old rescue groups’ band wagon, either.

Ellen adopted a dog, and that dog came with a contract, and that contract spelled out what she could and could not do with the dog once she had it. I’m willing to bet that Ellen signs lots and lots of contracts, on an almost daily basis, and employs lots and lots of people to make sure that the eensy weensy details of said contracts are spelled out in full to her. Tough cookies that Ellen either didn’t read, or didn’t understand this contract – or that, quite possibly, she just assumed that super-celeb stardom meant that such minute details could not possibly apply to her.

It’s not like this is the first time she’s dumped a dog that didn’t work out, either. She adopted a dog from an LA producer, only to toss it off to one of her staff a few months later.

Kerri Randles told Page Six that she gave DeGeneres a male mutt named Stormy two years ago, only to find out less than two months later that Ellen had given him to a member of her staff.”

So, yeah. My sympathy for Ellen is limited – and, lest you assume I’m one of those meanies who just enjoys picking on poor Ellen, bear in mind that this is the same woman who purchased a French Bulldog puppy from a pet store, as a gift. The dog, which she named Pig, is featured on her line of greeting cards. Funny thing is, no one is even sure if Ellen still has Pig – rumor has it that he didn’t work out, either.

In 2006, Degeneres and de Rossi were photographed buying an adorable white French bulldog. Earlier this year, the couple was spotted walking a playful white puppy. And, in 2003, there was Oakland, a cute border collie Degeneres adopted after seeing the dog on TV in San Francisco. However, it remains unclear if Ellen still has any of those dogs.

I suppose that I take all of this so seriously because I have a take back clause of my own in our sales contract. It’s simple, really – if you buy a dog from us, you can’t EVER get rid of it, for any reason, or in any way, without first notifying us and obtaining our permission to do so. We have it there because I want to always, always know where the dogs I’ve bred are, and that they are doing well. Simply put, I’m responsible for them, for life – and I take that responsibility seriously.

I once found out that a dog I’d placed in a ‘puppy back owed’ type scenario had been placed in rescue. I imagine you can guess how furious, how worried and how mortified I was. I phoned the woman who’d adopted my girl, and (initially quite irately) explained that this dog should never have been placed through rescue, and that the person who had given her up had no right to do so. The adopter was stunned, and apologetic, and it was a short phone call before I realized that she really was a good home, and my dog was in a better place than where she had been initially. That didn’t mitigate my anger, but it did mitigate my fear. It also made me tighten up my contract even more, and put a good lawyer on retainer – a lawyer I’m more than willing to use, if a repeat of that scenario ever happens in the future.

All of this is to say that yes, I can relate to a rescue group insisting on their contract being adhered to, and I can relate to expecting adopters or purchasers to uphold their end of the bargain we all enter into when we place living creatures into new homes. It’s about responsibility, and adhering to our word.

In Delilah related news, Sean has been teaching her some bad new habits – namely, barking on cue. This one is going to come back to bite him in the proverbial butt, trust me. There’s a video at the end of the post, of her in action, with him egging her on. Daddies and their little girls – what can you do?

I have three more looooong posts to come in the next few days – one I’ve been agonizing over, about the ethics of breeding for the show ring. Let’s hope my reputation can survive that one.

Delilah video after the cut Read more