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Judging at Westminster – Stocky Bodied White Women in Suits

Hey, it’s really the handlers being judged most of the time, so why not just announce* it that way?

* on that note, what the hell was up with the actual announcing this year? Is turning your mike off between comments really that difficult to figure out? I loved the part where, during best in show judging, he kept muttering that he “couldn’t see” (I assume because they turn the lights way down for it). I kept thinking “someone needs to get him one of those portable wallet lights“. It was like listening to your grandpa trying to give a speech.

Video – Choosing a Dog Breeder

Eukanuba has a video up that gives a good overview of what to look for when selecting the breeder of your new puppy.

Like many other viewers, I do have one quibble – the outdated vaccination information. The video suggests that your puppy should have two sets of shots by eight weeks. Honestly, I don’t know of a single veterinarian who is still suggested this outdated vaccination protocol. Personally, we follow Dr. Jean Dodds’ minimal vaccination protocol, which I’ve outlined below the cut, as well as provided a link to. In essence, she suggests that the puppy receive its first shot at 9 – 10 weeks, and that this shot should consist only of Distemper and Parvovirus.

This brings us to the second question – when should is your puppy old enough to go to its new home? Joanna, on her Ruffly Speaking blog, has provided a wonderful argument for the choice to send puppies home at 8 weeks of age.

I have, over the last few years, been slowly keeping my puppies longer and longer. In part, this is because of my preference to not give their first shots until ten weeks. I then prefer to keep them here at home for a week after they’ve received this first shot, in case of any adverse reactions. I agree with Joanna, however – it’s very difficult to give an entire litter of puppies the kind of constant, varied socialization that they require if you plan to keep them this long. We’ve done our best, but it rapidly becomes a full time job. I take puppies in to work with me, as well to the Hardware store, the bank, the Co Op and any where else that pets are welcomed. Even so, this means that I’m going one to two pups out at a time, max.

Keeping puppies for this long also means that I tend to form very strong attachments to them. I’d like to think this is mutual, but in typical French Bulldog fashion most of them seem to barely spare me a backwards glance. For my part, letting two of the older pups from my last litter go left me absolutely devastated, and swearing that I’d never, ever go through that again.

I’ve decided that, with our upcoming litters, we’ll do our first shots at seven and a half weeks, with the goal of having them leave by eight and a half. This means that the puppies I am keeping will get their fair share of socialization, and that the puppies that are leaving get to their new homes in time for that crucial socialization period.

I will not, however, be sending them home with two sets of shots – and neither should any other breeder who isn’t still living in the 1950’s.

Full Jean Dodds’ Minimal Vaccination protocol, below the cut.

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Friday Moment of Zen – the Jack Black Jig

The spec-freakin’-tastically awesome Mr. Jack Black dances a jig, on the kids show “Yo Gabba Gabba“.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that Yo Gabba Gabba is to today’s generation of 4:20iers what “Hammy Hamster” was for my generation.

update: someone narc’d on the poster of the original video, and it was taken down. Damn you, Nickelodeon! I however, will NOT be denied my jig dancing Jack Black, so here you go. Sorry about all the commercials.

Delilah Pup Video Debut – and attack of the killer Pickle!

Delilah’s puppies, in their very first video appearance.

See it after the cut, or on YouTube.

btw, music is “Elle Panique“, by Olivia Ruiz.

ps: added secret bonus video!

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"Beware of the Dog House"

If more ads were this good, I’d watch more TV. That said, the gift at 1:57? I’d be soooo OK with that as a gift.