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.