Do you breed for temperament?

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As some of you may have noticed, we’ve started a new rescue. French Bulldog Last Chance Rescue is primarily devoted to the idea that every dog, even those with a history of being very bad Frenchies, indeed, deserve to get one last chance at rehabilitation.

This is an essential point, since many rescue now have closed their doors to French Bulldogs with a bite history. Some of this is simple logistics – it’s hard to find foster homes willing to take on a Frenchie who might try to quite literally bite the hand that feeds it. Some of it is likely liability related.  At any rate, Last Chance Rescue aims to give all French Bulldogs on last chance at a new life, but it does make me consider the issue of temperament in our breed.

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This Wheely Sucks – Toronto Pug’s Wheelchair Stolen

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A Toronto area pug and his owner have learned the hard lesson that sometimes people really suck.

From the Toronto Star:

 

Christine Borsuk, who owns Roscoe, forgot to bring his tiny, custom-made wheelchair in from the porch of her McCowan Ave. home on a Saturday night two weeks ago. It was gone the next morning.

Roscoe, whose hind legs are paralyzed, has been housebound ever since, where he drags his immobile rear end around by his front paws instead of enjoying a daily stroll.

“He loved his walks,” said Borsuk. “He lives for his walks, and his treats and his hugs. He’s missing them.”

The only exercise Roscoe gets now is when she hooks him up to a sling that allows her to hold up his rear end and trot along behind while he wobbles around on his front legs.

“It’s hard on him and it’s hard on me,” she said, adding it looks “somewhat like a marionette. He gets out of breath really fast. It’s good for about five minutes.”

 

Poor Roscoe.  I think that if a donation was made via Pugalug Rescue, specifically earmarked to get Roscoe a new wheelchair, we could likely get him wheeling around again pretty quickly.

An update I received this morning from PugaLug:

 I just got an email from a pug owner is willing to donate her cart which is also an Eddie’s Wheels cart as her pug has passed away.  So Roscoe may be rolling again soon…..

Increased Security

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Due to a recent hacking attempt on the blog, I’ve had to increase security. To post a comment, you’ll have to register for a comment account on the blog, and be logged in.

Sorry about that, but there’s not really any other way to make sure this doesn’t happen again.

French Bulldog Last Chance Rescue

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In the aftermath of Dakota, those of us who have been so incredibly frustrated by this entire situation are faced with a choice.

We can give up on rescue altogether, toss in the towel and let the dogs fare for themselves. We can decide that rescue is just too hard, too painful and too emotionally fraught. We can choose to walk away.

We can devolve into bickering, as many of us (myself included) have been doing for the last few days. We can become bitter, jaded, angry. We can point fingers, assign blame and watch as rescue in North America turns into a game of politics, more than an exercise in saving French Bulldog lives.

We can put our heads down, ignore it all, call for peace and cry that we should all just get along. We can cross our fingers and hope that there will be homes for the other Dakotas in the future, in spite of the fact that a lot of rescues are walking away from this situation deciding that the Dakotas of the world are just too much trouble.

Our we can choose another option altogether – to look for a solution, to work for a change.

From Charlotte Creeley (Founder, French Bulldog Rescue Network – FBRN, and French Bulldog Village – FBV) –

Following discussions with various French Bulldog rescue supporters and the pledge of a significant amount of funding, we have started a new North American (USA and Canada) French Bulldog rescue group, the French Bulldog Last Chance Rescue (FBLastChance). We do not intend or want to impede the efforts of the existing rescues, our target group is the temperamentally challenged French Bulldog. The… death of Dakota has brought into sharp focus the fact that, as few and far between as these dogs might be, they deserve our help too. If we believe that a French Bulldog can be rehabbed, we aim to give him or her that last chance.

We will be announcing our board of directors as soon as we have final confirmations. Right now, we are in the planning stages, and we welcome your input, your support, your expertise, and especially your willingness to open your home as a foster home for one of our dogs going forward.

If you are interesting in becoming a volunteer in any capacity, please join our email group at http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/FBLastChance/

No secrets, no politics. These dogs need our help.