Friday, August 31

Gee, Gui

Gui has spent a relatively uneventful month in his foster home.


 The same can't be said for his best girl, Boopie, who has developed a couple of lumpy bumps since her adoption by her foster mom. We are sending Boopie our finest, best quality mojo for a quick recovery following the surgery to remove them later this week.

Boopie looking a little grumpy with her new mom.  She wants the cookie the photographer is holding up.


Meanwhile, M. Gui is looking out into the future and hoping for a home of his own.



As he nibbles on his antler, he daydreams of a family who won't be afraid of a dog with a history of spinal surgery and a little hitch in his giddyup.  He has been a foster with FBRN for almost 4 years, and so far, no one has paddled up to his private Island of Unwanted Frogs and put a lifejacket on him and paddled out again.  You'd think he had cooties or a bad attitude or an ugly face or poor manners, but none of that is true.  He's a loving, funny, well-behaved frogdog, and we just can't understand why he's been on the shelf for such a long, pitiful time.

It's sad to be a lonely little petunia in an onion patch, but that seems to be Gui's lot in life.  Maybe someday an adopter will come by the website and see him and read about him and fall in love.  

Until that lucky day, the antlers and love and a cushy bed to dream on are guaranteed by the volunteers of FBRN and

The Frog Princess 

Thursday, August 30

Tried to Make Him Go to Rehab

Oh, Nathan!
Such a heart throb!
Such a ladies man!


Such a silly boy!


When we heard that he'd had an injury and needed immediate surgery, we were terribly sad and worried.







Now that the surgery is complete and he is peeing on his own, we are hopeful that he will recover completely.  Nathan is on his way to a very experienced foster mom.  She's had the care of several dogs who've had surgery or needed rehab, and we know Nathan will do well with her.











Today Nathan started his trip from New York down to Virginia.  Our volunteers are transporting him, and we got the first photos from the first leg of the trip.


Nathan's transporter said he was a little antsy and fretful for the first few miles of the drive.  He'd gotten used to the kind techs and vets at the hospital where he'd been staying, and it was hard for him to say goodbye.  But after a few miles of traffic, he settled down and got some rest.


If you'd like to contribute to Nathan's rehabilitation fund--he'll need follow up visits with a vet and aquatherapy--please go to Nathan's page and click on his photo.  You can leave a little message of encouragement for him.











Everybody needs a kind word from time to time, attests

The Frog Princess

Tuesday, August 28

Sheena of the Jungle!


Our adorable Sheena is available for adoption.  As a Frenchie of a certain age, Sheena is a delightful companion who is no trouble at all.  

Her foster mom has this to say about Sheena:  "If you're searching for a quiet, sweet, fully housebroken companion....FBRN has a happy girl for you just waiting in Southwest Florida.  

"Because her previous owners never took care of her ear infections and hematomas, her beautiful ears are folded over and cauliflowered and that has made her deaf.  

"She is very alert and follows you with her eyes and does a happy dance when you awake every morning and whenever food is served.  I am a terrible foster Mom and have trained her to beg.  What can I say?  We all share around here! 



"Sheena sleeps most of the day, she loves a sweet cuddle, a belly rub or a scratch behind the ear.  

"She has never had an accident and goes out 3-4 times a day.  She hates the tall grass, especially if it's wet (and we've had a lot of rain in Florida) so she much prefers to do her business on concrete, stones, mulch or sand.  
"She's not much for long walks...a quick trip outside on a leash or 5 minutes in a fenced yard is all she needs.  She is a mature lady with some snow on the roof, but she is happy, healthy, likes her bones and is a great eater and cuddler."
Sheena would be an excellent choice for someone who lives in a townhouse or apartment.  She gets along well with other dogs, and would provide great companionship for a lonesome dog.  

We have a very soft spot for older girls with a gentle, unassuming disposition.  If you do, too, please check out Sheena's available page. 

She's an old girl, and she's looking for a loving home where she can spend the rest of her life with a family who appreciates her and loves her.  It's not too much to ask, and it's not to much to hope for, in the opinion of

The Frog Princess

Friday, August 17

A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody

Do you have a dog?  What kind of terrible event would have to happen to you to cause you to take your dog, put her in a cardboard box and leave her on the porch of an Animal Shelter?

We can scarcely imagine what it would take for us to do something that desperate.

But someone was moved to do just that, and Melody was found by a shelter employee early one morning last week.

Melody is a tiny Frenchie, just 15 pounds.  She has had at least one litter and she has a great big scar on her belly.  We are hoping the scar is from a professional c-section and not a kitchen-table X-acto knife one.

She pancakes a bit when people get close to her.  She has a very goopy eye, which she may lose.  She has a terrible ear infection.  Her ear is so bad, the shelter staff couldn't get a scope into the ear to see anything.  She'll have to be anesthetized to allow someone to get in there and get a look.  Can you imagine how painful that must be?

She walks with a head tilt.  We are hoping the head tilt is from the ear infection, but we don't know yet.

She's very thin, but that we can fix right up!  Her foster mom is feeding her lots of small meals full of the extra-yummiest kinds of mix-ins, and the delicious treats are really striking a chord with Melody.*

She's getting along just fine with her foster siblings.  Here's a video of her patrolling the fence and telling off the neighbor's lawn care people.  She has stepped right up to that responsibility.



If you would like to drop a few coins into Melody's little cardboard box and help us prepare for the expense of the trip to the eye specialist, you can go to Melody's page on the website and click on her photo.

We'll keep you posted on this pretty girl's progress, and we'll make sure she gets everything she needs most: good vet care, a comfy bed, fattening treats, special toys, extra tummy rubs, and love, love, love, promises

The Frog Princess 


*Yes, we just said, "striking a chord with Melody."  Puns may be the lowest form of humor, but they are our favorite kind!


Monday, August 6

Incredibly, Hulk

What's so incredible about Hulk?  It's incredible that he's not the crankiest tank in town, that's what.

The boy has a laundry list of ailments!  As a post-puppy mill stud, he is a poster pup for why we don't buy dogs from petstores!  No!

Three missing toenails, yanked out at the root.  What the hey happened  there?  Did he get them caught in wire flooring?  We don't know.  We do know it must hurt like hell.  And he wasn't even being tortured on purpose, it was just an incidental event in a puppy-mill dog's life.

Ear infections?  Heavens, yes.  Nasty ones and they've been untreated for, oh, let's see--forever!  Ever had an ear infection?  It hurt, didn't it?  Imagine having one for years.

Eyeball pain?  Can you see that eyeball in the photo?  It's kind of cute and googly, isn't it?  Well, not from the inside.  From the inside, it's painful and it's protruding outward.  Glaucoma.  Also untreated.  Of course.

At the other end of the frog, we have what might be some joint problems in the knee.  And the boy has some issues with his lower intestines.  He's usually constipated, and the poor guy has hemorrhoids. 

As if all that weren't enough to strip a dog of his inner peace and dignity, today is the day he gets his pockets picked.  The boy could use some mojo, people.  And some moola, if you want to get alliterative.  Mojo and moola for the former puppy mill stud, please!

And yet, here's what is so great about dogs.  Regardless of his pain and the parts of him that are protruding where no protrusions should be, and the parts that are missing, and the parts that are infected, etc., regardless, we say, of the fact that this poor animal is one red-hot pulsating nerve-ending from tip to tush, he's a complete doll.

He's a character!  He loves to pull stuff off of counters and tables--what is it? what is that? lemme see!--for his inspection and sniffage, and he carries his bed around with him all over the house.  Part turtle, maybe?  Or maybe he so appreciates having a comfy bed to sleep in he doesn't want to let it out of his sight.  His poor glaucoma-damaged sight.

He's a champeen fetcher.  Should have made the Olympic team.  

He is enjoying the company of his foster brother, a bloodhound, who puts up with him in the bloodhoundy, world-weary, sad-sack way of all bloodhounds.  And he is gentle and considerate of the kitties in the house.

The boy is a king among frogs, we are telling you!  If ever a frog deserved a bit of consideration, this is the one.  Send him a prayer, send him some mojo!

Send him some coin of the realm! pleads

The Frog Princess

PS Hey!  Get a load of this live action video



Friday, August 3

Cookie, Cookie, Cookie Starts with C!


Have you ever sold a Girl Scout cookie?  Campfire Girls candy bar?  Band chocolate?  Have your own kids sold wrapping paper to your neighbors to support their schools or candles to go to choir tour or asked for support on a 2K run?  Have you made a cake for a bake sale or contributed woven potholders to the church bazaar?

We ourselves held the honor of selling the most Girl Scout cookies two years in a row back in the days when children were allowed to go about without a chaperone.  Oh, the adventures we had!  We met a lonely little old lady who hoarded newspapers in her enormous house.  We stumbled upon a poker game and the players tried to outdo each other in buying boxes of cookies.  And there was a nearly naked man who was obviously expecting someone else who flung the door open wide with an even wider smile only to slam it shut again immediately when he saw us in our little green uniform and hat and badge-bedecked sash.  Two houses up the street he caught up with us, fully dressed, and pressed a $20 bill upon us, apologizing incoherently. He refused any cookies.

Here's an opportunity for us all to pay back the nice supporters who have bought our potholders, candles, wrapping paper, and Rice Krispie treats.  Support our summer fundraiser, a virtual (or pretend--you don't actually get any cookies.  On the positive side, it's a calorie-free treat!) cookie sale, and help our poor Frenchies!  Since April, when the latest influx of Frenchies began, FBRN has been spending more each month in vet bills than we've taken in through donations and adoption fees.

Every year, the same thing happens in the summertime, because people give up their dogs as they prepare to sell their homes, go on vacation, prepare for the birth of a child, or otherwise decide to surrender a pet.  We also take in a number of puppy-mill dogs in the spring and early summer after the springtime puppy season.  Intake numbers settle back down to normal in August or September until the holidays, when there is another spike in surrenders.

Every spring and summer we have to spend down into the savings we have accrued over the winter months.  This year, we've spent more than usual because a number of the dogs already in our care needed unexpected vet care.

Last year, the surrenders came so fast and furious that we had a moratorium on intakes because we didn't have the foster homes to take them all, and we also didn't have enough money to cover the dogs' veterinary needs.  We don't ever want that to happen again.

Please help us.  Please donate to our fundraiser and consider becoming a foster home.  Contact Eden for information about fostering.  Visit our YouCare page to donate.  We thank you, the volunteers thank you, and most of all, the Frenchies thank you!

With Thin Mint-fresh breath,

The Frog Princess