Tula Takes Over

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Heart - sleeping French Bulldog puppy

Last night, at about 12:30, I heard a strange ‘skritching’ sound coming from the spare bedroom across the hall. Like most dog people, the most quiet of noises, if it’s out of place, can wake from an almost dead sleep, and this noise was most definitely out of place.

::scritchy scritchy scritch::

pause…

::scritchy scritchy scritchy scritch::

pause…

::scritchy scritchy scritchy scritch scritch scritch::

Fine, time to go and check it out. I discovered Tula, sleeping in the whelping box, and Heart on the floor, scritching the edge of the pool in an attempt to get back inside. Big enough to get out of the pool, small enough to be stuck outside once she did. I set a temporary barricade up around the pool, popped Heart inside with her mommy, and headed back to bed. In the morning, I discovered Heart once again toddling around on the floor of the room, within ‘trouble’ range of electrical cords, carpeting and other not puppy safe hazards.

It’s official — she’ll go live in the ex pen with the other kids, including over night.

As a compromise, I’m alternating Tula and Penelope in the whelping room with the kids. I don’t want to just take Heart away from her mommy – they love each other! Penelope, on the other hand, dashed into the dog room and out into the yard without a backward glance. Freedom!

Tula nosed around the ex pen, sniffed noses with Heart across the doorway, and decided to pop inside for a visit. In a few moments, a light bulb went off inside her head. “These are puppies — other puppies!”. What do we do with puppies? Why, we clean them and nurse them and play with them and organize them into tidy piles, of course, which she promptly proceeded to do.

Within fifteen minutes, Tula had each of the Nellkins sniffed, washed, and tucked safely into her side for feeding. Heart slept through the entire procedure – hey, she gets mommy time all the time. The Nellkins, on the other hand, are completely enamored with Tula. A mommy who licks us! A mommy who plays with us! A mommy who wants us to eat! Who knew such a thing existed? It was like a scene out of that TV Show, “Wife Swap”. Penelope would be the slacker mom, tossing Heart a box of Kraft Dinner and telling her to go to the store and pick up some smokes after she’s done cooking it.

Speaking of Nell, when it was swap back time she mooched back into the room, high stepped around the pups with an expression that said “Get ’em off me”, and finished off the rest of their food before high tailing it out of the pen.

Maybe I’ll just leave Tula in there with them all from now on, and let Penelope get back to her career.

Photos on Flickr — http://www.flickr.com/photos/frenchbulldogs/sets/72157607787521200/

The video from yesterday (it seems to be displaying oddly in the previous entry):

A Whole New World

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Heart and the Nellkins are having fun exploring their new home. The ex pen is divided into three areas – sleeping, playing/eating and elimination. It’s amazing how quickly the figure out which is which, and other than the occasional pee, they’ve been shockingly good at keeping their bed area clean.

They’re also enjoying solid food – right now, they’re eating puppy kibble softened with goat milk. Next week, we’ll work on introducing them to Honest Kitchen.

Ex Pen Puppy Pictures!

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Helps! We iz puppies in jail!

Some pix of the kids in their new digs are up over on Flickr —

http://www.flickr.com/photos/frenchbulldogs/sets/72157607725967594/

Don’t forget to send in your crusty nose photos — contest closes this coming Friday! Stay tuned for another great contest – with prizes! – coming soon!

I'm calling it maintenance…

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.. but really it’s an excuse to screw around with new graphics and some awesome new plugs ins.

If you check in over the weekend, don’t be surprised if, from time to time, things look a bit wonky.

I’m playing around with some new blog styles — some of which are pretty radical looking — so don’t be all “OMGWTF?” if you drop in and find flying crows and goth-slash-emo fonts littering up the place.

The sucky thing about word press is that, if you really want to tinker with a theme, you have to activate it to try to change the features and see if they’re working. There’s really no other way to test it out fully.

On the other hand, if you enjoy the mental image of me tearing out my hair and bashing my head against the monitor in frustration, feel free to drop in and see if anything looks seriously screwed, because rest assured that, if it does, I’m sitting over here quietly losing my mind trying to fix it.

Oh, and the Nellkins are out of the whelping box, and into.. umm, the whelping pen. Actually, it’s an ex pen, in which they have an automatic waterer, beds, toys, pads for wee weeing on, and a gate that Nell can get in and out of at will (ok, mostly out of). Heart will be spending half the day in there with them, and the rest of the time — and at night — she’ll be with Tula.

I might get ambitious and break out the web cam tomorrow night, for some live puppy play time action. If I do, I’ll post it here and on the mailing list.

Frenchies in Montreal Puppy Mill Bust

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A handful of new photos over on Flickr, including one of Heart REFUSING to share the bed, and the cutest squishy face photo of Jelly Bean ever taken.

Pix on Flickr —

http://www.flickr.com/photos/frenchbulldogs/sets/72157607640196814/

Screen capture of French Bulldog in cage at Montreal puppy mill bust

Now, in more grim news…

A HUGE puppy mill just north of Montreal has been busted. I mention this here, because one or two people I’ve spoken to have mentioned that they were going to Montreal to look at French Bulldog puppies.

I’ve since heard that this is apparently the same place some of them visited.  I’m told it wasn’t a pretty scene, and that the dogs were in abysmal shape, even the ones being trotted out for viewing by buyers. There were at least five or six French Bulldogs there, both adults and puppies.

This is on top of the English Bulldogs, poodles, and numerous other breeds also rescued from this tiny corner of hell.

From the CSPCA news release:

HSI and CSPCA rescuers were able to save 110 dogs, seven cats and one rabbit from this overrun breeding facility. The dogs, ranging from Boston Terriers to Dogs de Bordeaux, were living in piles of their own feces, and many were suffering from obvious medical conditions such as open sores and severe skin conditions. Skeletal remains were found still locked in cages inside the home, and a pile of burned animal remains was found in the rear of the property.

“The conditions at this puppy mill were by far the worst Humane Society International has ever seen,” said Rebecca Aldworth, director of animal programs for HSI Canada. “These animals were living in tiny wire cages stacked on top of one another with little or no access to food or water. Ninety percent of the dogs we rescued were severely emaciated, and many needed immediate medical attention. It is criminal that the CSPCA does not have the power to enforce provincial animal welfare legislation; in absence of this, puppy mills will continue to thrive in Quebec.”

News links:
http://www.hsicanada.ca/puppy_mills/second_montreal_bust_1009.html
http://ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080926/puppymill_Montreal_080926/20080926

Video (warning: graphic images)

The CSPCA is in DESPERATE need of funds to help care for these dogs. We ask that you consider making a donation. We’ve already made one, in the name of Heart and the Nellkins.

Link for donations:

http://spcamontreal.com/aidez1a.php?lg=en

By the way, did you know that you can help with situations like this, even if you can’t personally take a dog into your home? Volunteering for rescue takes many forms – you can help transport dogs, you can assist with fund raising, you can do home visits in your area, if you’re a trainer you can help rehabilitate dogs in need of re training, you can make sure your local shelters know about French Bulldogs and French Bulldog rescue – and yes, you can even foster dogs waiting for adoption.

Why not take a few moments, and register to become a French Bulldog Village volunteer? It doesn’t take much time, and it will repay you in more ways than you can imagine!

http://www.frenchbulldogvillage.com