Marge

One of our volunteers spent her birthday on Saturday driving up to meet a Pug Rescue of Sacramento volunteer who had picked up this girl from another of our volunteers to get her to her foster home.  Three women spent hours of their day to bring Marge into rescue.  What good eggs!

Marge weighs about 30 pounds, but she could stand to gain a few.  Her foster mom made an appointment to have her seen the very first day she was in foster care.  Her ears are terribly infected and swollen shut to the point that she has lost her hearing except for high pitched sounds.  She is blind in one eye and has only partial vision in the other from an untreated injury.  We hear from her previous owner that she is six years old and has had a litter of puppies.  We'll be laying in some groceries for Marge and she's already taking some antibiotics and pain relievers for the ears.  We are hoping that once the swelling subsides and we can clean out the ears some hearing will return.

Marge seems to prefer the company of women to men, but she pancakes whenever she is approached.  Right now, she is getting to know the dogs in her foster home, getting a hang of the routine and gaining some confidence.

Her foster mom reports that she is a "total love."

We think that this old girl will come into her own once she recovers her health and feels safe enough to come out of her shell.    Maybe Marge will be another Tandy, hopes

The Frog Princess

Gratuitous Beefcake: Grant

We heard from his foster mom that Grant, the fawn pied hunk of burning love here, has finally tested negative for worms!

Let us rejoice!

He celebrated his new passenger-free status by beating up on his foster brother Cooper in a vicious match of Frenchie wrasslin'.

He has no shame in thoroughly besting his foster brother.  Doesn't give a thought to the fact that he's just a guest and it might be nice to throw a match now and then.

 

But that's just not the way Grant operates.


Grant's foster mom says, "I am sharing some pics from Grant and Cooper's (resident frog) play session a few days ago. These two guys are silly- one minute they are bickering like brothers then the next they madly adore each other. Boys- go figure."

One of these days this handsome athlete will be ready to make his appearance on the available page.  Till then, he's building up his stamina and muscles in a lovely green backyard in Texas.




Meanwhile, we certainly hope that foster brother of his is a good sport.  We shudder to think of the kinds of payback that could be dealt out to an unsuspecting French bulldog.

Shudder to think, shudders

The Frog Princess

Poppies, Pansies, Petunias?

We got a note from one of our volunteers this week.  Many of our volunteers bring their friends and family into volunteering or raising money for FBRN.  Here's one example:

"My niece, Ashley, hand makes these beautiful flowers and sells them on Etsy.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/earthangel02?ga_search_query=earthangel02&ga_search_type=seller_usernames

They can have various attachments such as pins or hair clips. For ever three orders that mention "Frenchies" Ashley will make a flower donation to FBRN to go towards an auction or sale! Order up! Holidays are right around the corner!!!

She also takes custom orders!"

There you have it!  Pretty accoutrements for your hatpin, headband, earwarmers, lapels, and what have you!  And if you mention Frenchies when you buy you'll be helping plump FBRN's pockets!

Thanks, Ashley!

The Frog Princess 

TEX RITTER FOUND!

Tex was found late last night running on a road.  The Good Samaritan who found him took him home with her, and he slept in her bed last night!
As soon as she left work she took Tex to the vet to be scanned, and he is back home now.
Whew! 
This calls for treats all around, declares
The Frog Princess

MISSING FBRN GRADUATE, AUBURNDALE FL

 

FBRN graduate Tex Ritter is missing in Auburndale FL.  He is not wearing tags.  He was last seen Monday night when his family put him out into their unfenced yard at approximately 9.30 pm.  The home is less than 1000 feet from the intersection of Old Lake Alfred Road and Stadium Rd.  

If you have friends in the Auburndale area, please ask them to watch for Tex, who is a puppy mill survivor, and not accustomed to life outside the mill or a home setting. He may be hiding under shrubs or near building foundations.  

Please spare a good thought for Tex Ritter, and if you can help, please do!

phone:  863-224-5443

 

Cheyenne with Binkie

One of our commenters wanted to see a photo of Cheyenne with her blanket.  Your wish being our command, herewith the photo:

Obediently yours,
 The Frog Princess

Anybody Wanna See Puppy Pictures?

Last week a Frenchie girl was surrendered to FBRN.  She'd been found a month or so ago by a Good Samaritan who papered his town with posters and advertised and did all the things he had to do to find the Frenchie's owner.  No luck.


This is Destin.  We think she looks sad.  

It was hard to know how long she'd been out on the streets.  She was filthy, emaciated, terrified, and she was simply a pitiful vehicle for parasites, inside and outside.  But, thank god, no heartworm.


This is Destin in the midst of surgery.  


Last week the Good Samaritan looked us up and surrendered her.  Her foster mom named her Destin, for a pretty town in Florida.

On Destin's first visit to the vet, her foster mom pointed out that Destin was funny-looking.  We worried that she was full of worms--which she was--but who'd've guessed that she was full of puppies--which she also was!


This is the first male puppy, a brindle.  There were 3 boys and 3 girls.

At least four little puppy skulls and tiny bodies were swimming around inside this girl!  That's quite a cargo for a dog who was emaciated and homeless for at least a month of her pregnancy.  We were worried for her.

 Second and third puppies:  a pied girl and another brindle boy.


But the vets and staff at Coral Veterinary Clinic were wonderful, and our volunteer got plenty of advice from our breeder volunteers about how to make Destin comfortable and how to know when it was time.  And this morning, it was time!

We wish you could have been reading the volunteer email list this morning.  Rarely has there ever been such tension, excitement, joy and delight amongst our volunteers.


A chubby little pied girl!  Can you see her curly tail?

Destin is doing very well!  Four of the puppies are doing very well.  Two of the puppies are not doing as well as the others, so we are keeping a good thought for them.  We don't know whether they are all Frenchie.  They all have little curly corkscrew tails, so maybe not.


 We heard everyone in the clinic except the receptionist came in to help with the babies!



We hope you will join us in sending good thoughts and well-wishes to the puppies and their mamma!  And while you are at it, please send some warm wishes to the volunteer who signed up to foster one dog, and wound up with seven!

A little morsel of life.  An "item of mortality."  Wish her luck.

Thanks again to everyone at Coral Veterinary Clinic!  If you'd like to send a donation to help with the costs of delivery and the babies' needs as they grow, you can go to our PayPal link and tell us it's for Destin and her babies in the little box for comments on your checkout page.

What an accomplishment for Destin, bringing all these puppies into the world, even without prenatal care and even though she was starving herself.

Mom and babies: Two brindle boys, one pied boy, 3 pied girls.

Amazing that they all survived, marvels

The Frog Princess

Cheyenne Summer

While summer winds down across the nation, Cheyenne Summer is just winding up!  She's growing accustomed to life inside a house after years of producing puppies.  Her foster mom loves her!

"Cheyenne had her spay stitches removed yesterday and my vet pronounced her to be in excellent health.  Her ear/yeast infection is rapidly clearing and is expected to be gone within the week.  Her foot yeast infection is also responding well to the medicine and the related stains are fading.  She has neither type of mange and with a good diet, her coat is starting to shine.  She doesn't like her teeth brushed, LOL.

It has been rewarding to see this dirty, cowering little dog come out of her shell.  She loves people -- all people -- and greets visitors at the door with her entire little bottom wagging.  She has learned not to jump on them and we've been working on hand signals and she's learned sit and stay, but her "stay" doesn't last long.  She loves my husband and will ignore me to snuggle with him when he comes home from work.  When he's not there, she follows me all day long and doesn't like it if I'm out of her sight. 

She gets along extremely well with both of my English bulldogs and she and my male play constantly.  Her only problem with other dogs is that she hoards toys and guards them.  She snarls and growls and pretends to snap, but this is only posturing and she never tries to bite or fight.  I am working on this by telling her "NO" and taking her toys away for a short time.  It's working.  She has no food aggression whatsoever and doesn't care if I put my hands in her dish while she's eating.  If she does finish first, she tries to steal food from my other dogs.  I watch this carefully and let her know it's not okay.  My dogs aren't food aggressive, but if she goes to a family where they are, this might be a small problem.  I feed her last so they all finish pretty much together, but it's hilarious to watch them run to the other's bowl to see if they left anything.

Adoptee applicants should be made aware that she has one funny little quirk.  She likes to suckle blankets - all blankets.  Whether it's a blanket on the bed, couch, or laundry, she will steal them, bring them to the middle of the living room rug, scratch and place them until she makes a binky type wrinkle and then suckles.  She had blankets everywhere and I tried giving her baby receiving blankets, but she doesn't like those.  She wants REAL blankies.  So, I took an old blanket and cut it up and put the pieces all around the house and this satisfies her blanket cravings.

She's doing very well with potty training and always goes to the door, but doesn't make any noise, so I have to be vigilant.  If she does go, it's right in front of the door and not her fault.  I don't know how to make her bark or scratch.  Hopefully this will come in time.  I don't think she will go in her crate, but she's in it so seldom I don't know for sure.  She spent so much time in a cage, I don't have the heart to put her in it.  She sleeps on our "doggie" couch behind a baby gate and loves it.

I give nightly wrinkle sponge baths to my bulldogs and Cheyenne gets hers also.  She loves them.  Today she gets her first real bath since her stitches are now gone.  With her temperament, I know she will love this too."

The blanket suckling may be from having been taken from her own mom too soon.  We once knew a kitten rescued as a tiny little kitten who would suckle on any exposed skin you left lying around on the couch or bed.  The toy guarding may have to do with puppies that were taken from her.  It's hard to know.  But she's a dog who has learned very quickly, and so what if she has some funny little quirks?  As long as she doesn't swallow any fabric, it's a harmless compulsion.

It's not like she's staying up all night buying stuff on QVC or sniping French bulldog collectibles on eBay.  Not that we'd know anything about that, hurriedly adds

The Frog Princess

Triple scoop!

What's your favorite Frenchie flavor?  Here we have Darwin (brindle), FBRN grad Maggy (fawn), and Harvey (fawn pied).

One of our volunteers dog-sat for another foster mom who was out of town over the Labor Day weekend.

She sent this photo and said:
"We are in Frenchie Bliss this holiday weekend. Darwin is in our company while J is back east for the weekend. Harvey, Darwin and our Grad Maggy are enjoying each other and a little couch time in the attached pic. Darwin is a doll. He is truly a six year old puppy, just sweet as can be."

Chocolate caramel swirl, butter pecan and dulce de leche?

We'd like a waffle cone with a scoop of each! screams

The Frog Princess

What's It All about, Alfie?

Well, here's a tale of sorrow and woe.  And then happiness!  And then some more sorrow.  And then hope!

Alfie's first people thought Frenchies were outside dogs, so Alfie spent the first few years of his deaf life on a rope tied to a tree.  People--do not make the mistake of imagining that a Frenchie is an outdoor dog. A Frenchie is not an outdoor dog.  In our opinion, no dog is an outdoor dog and certainly no dog should ever live outside tied to a rope, lest something truly horrific along the lines of this (warning, graphic and sad)* should happen, but since no one asked us, we'll keep that to ourselves.


When his first family was persuaded to give Alfie to a rescue, he was placed in a home with children.  His family absolutely adored him, but Alfie was wont to nip at the children.  With regret, but knowing they were doing the right thing for Alfie and their family, his adopters surrendered Alfie to us.

We know the boy is deaf or hard of hearing.  We suspect he has hydrocephaly, on account of the domed head and widespread eyes.  He reminds us in that way of Mr. Gibbs, who has become a well-known boulevardier and obedience school graduate in his hometown in New Jersey.

The vet says that he shows no significant neurological symptoms, so we are happy about that--the eyes are a little offset, but his vision appears to be ok.


A procedure got some press several months ago when a  pediatric surgeon from the Mayo Clinic helped out in a surgery on a hydrocephalic French bulldog puppy, did you see that?  Very interesting!

Alf may have some hearing loss and he may be a bit wall-eyed, but he's a superior snuggler, he is potty trained and he already knows some commands.  What he really needs is to overcome all those months in the backyard, get some confidence and learn some socialization.  He should be fine and at the head of his class in obedience school in no time!

We find those single quotation mark eyebrows strangely mesmerizing confesses

The Frog Princess

*It appears that there is a movement afoot to legislate against tethering in High Point, NC, according to this article
For more information on the anti-chain/tethering movement and where you can find out about laws being considered in your state, see this page on the the Dogs Deserve Better website.

Who Doesn't Love a Rubber Chicken?

Pippi Longstocking is a newcomer to FBRN.  Her spinal surgery didn't have the hoped-for results, so she's looking for a special adopter who can handle the needs that come with a partly paralyzed frogdog.

We hear the girl has so much energy there is just no slowing her down--even without a working pair of back legs.

Her favorite thing?  A rubber chicken.

We ourselves love a good rubber chicken and a pair of Groucho glasses.  These are the two best novelty items ever invented, in the informed opinion of

The Frog Princess

Kees, Kees! Hug, Hug!

Heavens above!  Once more the skies have opened and the gods are pitching Frenchies at us like little big-headed, bug-eyed lightning bolts.  75 Frenchies since June 23rd.  Of those, about a third were from just 3 states: 13 were from Texas, 9 from Florida, 6 from New Jersey.  My friends!  It is madness around here!

One of our devoted foster parents got the call that a stray Frenchie, nearly hairless from allergies and skin infections,  but well-behaved, was in danger of being euthanized at a local shelter.  She donned her cape and rescue boots and golden lariat and off she went!  Here's what she had to say about her new foster, Kees:

"I went to pick up Kees at a County Humane Shelter about 1 hour from my house. He had been seen as a stray in town for a while and was picked up by Animal Control and held at their Shelter for 7 days but no one came looking for this pretty Pied boy! He was micro chipped  but the chip has never been registered.  He has severe allergies for starters. He has a cough, a runny nose, an eye infection and needs to be at least 28 lbs or so, he is 20 lbs and in some places his spine pokes through his skin. What can I say about the odor??? Stench!!!

My husband is a good man! We took his brand new truck so we would have room behind the seat for a kennel for Kees. It is in the 90's here and Kees was hot so we turned on the air but it would have been easier with the windows open! My husband is now outside trying to air out his new car! I am sure Kees is not housebroken, he looks like a back yard dog to me!!! He even has a bald spot from some collar. I know I should have waited until he sees our Vet tomorrow, but we could not breathe, so we have given him 2 baths with some Oatmeal shampoo I use on Vinnie, the water in the tub was mud.

We were not planning on fostering right now, we are going away in 2 weeks on vacation and again in October. He just needed to be brought into our Rescue.  He has a place to lay his skinny head for now. He seems sweet and knows language because when I talk to him he turns his head sideways to see what I am saying. We have tried all dog names known to men to see if that is his name? He is calm and friendly.

About the shelter: Amazing!!! Huge, brand new. Looked like a Hospital, large round reception desk, computers, Staff everywhere, amazing kennels for the dogs, about 300 of them! They told me they do euthanize but try to place as many with Rescues as they can! It was the prettiest shelter I have ever seen, Vet on Staff! Kees received his shots and was neutered before I could pick him up, no dog leaves there unfixed.

I walked him around our whole property to show him the horses and he followed me everywhere, came when called, went inside when told, is a dream on a leash!!! This dog had a home at one time.

Long letter but we can all be proud that we make room for Frenchies like this, out in the street, starving! He is not eating at all. I will ask our Vet for advise tomorrow."

Kees really did get lucky.  First to be picked up by such a lovely shelter, and then to be offered to rescue rather than euthanized!  We love to work with shelters, and we are so grateful when shelters will work with us!

That boy needs some food he isn't allergic to, stat!  We know we can find it--it might take a little while.  We found Kees a new foster mom--you can see photos of the handoff above.  No word about the condition of the new truck.  But that is dedication for you!  That is the kind of selflessness we see every day in FBRN, boasts

The Frog Princess

Darwin

Last month we brought you Rooster Cogburn, and it seemed impossible to us that the gods could send us any frog more fabulous.



And yet today we find that still more pulchritude has plopped upon our virtual porch.



This is Darwin.  Sure, Darwin might have been a better name for a beagle, but what's in a name?


Here's what his mom had to say about this giant  of the sciences:

"Darwin has been one of our easiest fosters. He is such an adaptable little guy. He is always so happy and has a big smile to prove it. He went to the vet today and everyone was just in love with him, and he did really great-- he was completely calm and even tried to give the vet kisses while he was looking in his eyes.

He listens very well and is always looking to see what we are doing and what he needs to be doing.
I would love his new family to be very patient with him. This seems to be the first time he has ever lived in a house and he is a very curious boy, so he often wants to explore the house--he looks under the bed, crawls under the coffee table, etc.




 His new family will need to treat him like a new puppy and teach him how to be loved by a family and how to live in a house! He is so sweet and good natured!  I know it will be easy for someone to love him!"

Easy? Easy?! Someone?  Someone?!  The entire reason humanity has evolved to this degree is in order to adopt and to adore a dog the likes of Darwin!

People will naturally leap to select this french bulldog, and if you are interested, you should make haste to apply for him as soon as he is available, goads

The Frog Princess

Hitchcock Comes Home

Poor Hitchcock!  He was having a lot of pain from a problem with his hip.  Now that he's had a Femoral Head Ostectomy he's feeling a lot better--running and playing already!  Maybe you remember, this is the guy who got hurt when he fell into the grease pit at a local auto garage?

Here are some photos from Hitchcock's time recovering at the vet's.  The first photo was Day 1 after surgery, still feeling a bit groggy.  You can see his big scar.

And here's a photo of Hitch with his favorite vet tech, Heather, just before his release from durance vile.  Well, maybe not so vile.  He had a chance to make good friends with a beautiful vet tech, how vile could it be?

And the little boy in the photos whose name is Tim was waiting to hear about his own dog, who was spending some time in ICU.  He had a Pringle's can with some change in it for the vending machine.  When he shared with the foster mom that he was going to use it to adopt Hitch, our foster mom said he should maybe save it for his own dog's bill.   Tim gave her a look and told her it was *his* money and he could spend it the way he wanted.

You tell her, Tim.

That's a kid after our own heart, declares

The Frog Princess