Melody Makes a Friend

Melody has alienated the affections of FBRN grad's Remy's favorite garden statue.

Melody and The Squirrel are spending lots of time together, playing hide and seek

And begging for treats in tandem.

Here's a question for you:  If you are thinking of applying for Melody, will you provide statuary wildlife or will she have to abscond with Remy's?

Remy would also like to know.

Consider your answer carefully, that's the advice of

The Frog Princess

Blessing of the Animals This Weekend

Many churches will be offering a service to bless parishioners and community members' companion animals this weekend, following the Feast of St. Francis this past week.  To learn if your town has any services available, check the newspaper's events pages. 

Everydoggy can use a little boost, believes

The Frog Princess

LaVelle is Pining for Her Person

Poor LaVelle.  She's been dog of the week for almost a month, and yet there has been not a single application for her.  Her foster mom bemoans the fact that this lovely, gentle, kind dog is not appealing to more adopters.

"Poor Ms. LaVelle, dog of the week and not one application. She doesn't know. I know what they are missing! LaVelle may not be the prettiest girl at the ball, still, she is the sweetest. She is so attentive, just stares into your eyes and absorbs every word you say. She is a listener. Her new thing is to bring me a bone at 7:30 am and run to her bowl and drop it in: "Time for Breakfast!" She does the same thing for dinner @ 4:30. Our other dogs eat @ 10 and 7.

"I want her to have her own home, where she can laze on the couch constantly and use her fabulous bark to fend off potential enemies. We just love her, and I pray for that perfect home. She would be a perfect companion to a stay at home person. LaVelle is not irritating at all, in fact, she is a perfect lady. She adores our furboys, especially FBRN Grad Moose (she Mom's him and he let's her, she knows he's blind) and all people. She is a real joy to foster."

We hope that LaVelle's person is out there looking for her, unaware that LaVelle is waiting patiently.  Do you know someone in the market for a great frogdog?  Check out LaVelle's bio.  She might be The One, and you might get all the credit for acting as matchmaker.  That's excellent karma, declares

The Frog Princess

Tragic Story of Zion

This week, we heard one of the most heartbreaking stories we can remember hearing.

A volunteer received a call from a woman whose husband, a conservation agent, stopped a man who was carrying a gun as the man emerged from a wooded area.  He learned that the man had been trying to shoot his injured dog because he claimed he could not afford vet care, but though he was shooting at point blank range, the dog escaped from the grave he'd put him in and had run off.  The agent and the man searched for and found the injured Frenchie.


The agent persuaded the man to turn the dog over to rescue, and his wife made a call to us.



The nearest available volunteer was 3 hours away and when she got the call she was just wrapping up her daughter's 10th birthday party.  Mom and daughter got in the car and drove to pick up the injured dog.  When they returned to the volunteer's vet, it became apparent that the dog, named Zion, had been struck by a car about 2 weeks prior, and had been suffering with a shattered pelvis all that time.

In addition, at some point he'd been shot with a shotgun--not in the woods earlier that day, because these pellets were healed over. 

The vet recommended euthanasia for Zion, and while her daughter waited outside the room, our volunteer held this gentle dog as he crossed the Bridge.

We understand the conservation agent is preparing a case against the man who tried at least twice to kill his dog and allowed Zion to suffer needlessly for two weeks.  The vet who saw him that day offered to participate in any way he can in prosecuting the owner.

The world is full of ignorance and there are many sad stories in it, and those of us who do rescue hear a lot of them.  This one was particularly difficult.  Please take a moment to consider how fortunate your dog is, and please consider donating to a rescue organization in your town or to FBRN in Zion's memory. 

We offer many thanks to our volunteer and especially to her daughter, who learned a very hard, sad lesson on what should have been a very happy day.  Rest in peace, Zion.  You were a very good dog.

The Frog Princess

Yodel for Odell!

Get a load of Odell's pop-up video!  Click here.

Then take a gander at her bio and see if you think you might be in the running to become her person.

Hurry!  There's not a moment to waste! urges

The Frog Princess

Update on Pipsqueak!

Pipsqueak's surgery was successful!  He is recuperating and resting at home.  Thank you so much--SO MUCH--for your generous donations. 

Pip is feeling better already, and it's thanks to you.  You are always there for our dogs.

Pip thinks you are the bee's knees, and the same goes for 

The Frog Princess

Urgent Surgery

Earlier this week, Pipsqueak's owners called and asked to surrender their 8-year-old brindle boy to us because they are going to be traveling and away from home, and in the months since their other dog passed away Pipsqueak has become lonely and depressed.

We picked him up and took him into foster care.  A day or two ago his foster mom discovered a large, cherry-sized lump on Pipsqueak's penis that could only be seen when the lump "popped out" of the sheath.

After a fast trip to the vet, the tumor was diagnosed as a mast cell tumor.  When we looked closely at his vet records, we saw that the owner had seen the lump two years ago and had taken her dog to one of a national chain of veterinary clinics and had been told that her dog had a deformity, but that neutering would help reduce the size of the lump.  She believed the vet.  She didn't get a second opinion.

Now, Pipsqueak is facing an expensive surgery to remove the tumor.  It's a complex surgery because of the location of the tumor, but we are going ahead with it because after xrays and ultrasound, there is no sign that the cancer has spread, even after two years.   Mast cell is very common in Frenchies, and it is very treatable when it is caught before it spreads.

Pip is in considerable pain when the tumor "pops out" from inside the sheath (as you can see it has in this photo) because the penis can't retract.  The tumor has grown so large that urination is difficult. 

His foster mom reports that possibly due to his pain or his confusion about the change in his circumstances, Pipsqueak is a very needy boy.  He gets so upset when he is left alone that he will throw up.  He'll only eat if she sits beside him on the floor.  At just 12 pounds, he is a very tiny little wee thing--hence the name Pipsqueak!

Pipsqueak is so new he doesn't have his own foster page, yet.  He'll be on the website on Thursday or Friday this week.



If ever a little frogdog needed help, it's Pipsqueak!  We know many of our supporters will come through as they always do when we ask for help in a special, urgent case like this.  We are so grateful that our friends are here for our frogs! Clicking on this highlighted text will take you to our donation page.  On the top right corner, click on the yellow donate button. Please be sure to leave a little message of encouragement for Pip in the Message to Merchant box as you check out.  

Thank you for helping!  We'll keep you posted on Pip's progress, promises

The Frog Princess

This is a photo of young Pipsqueak in his salad days.

PS Frenchies (and boxers and a few other breeds) are prone to mast cell tumors, and most vets are very aware of this sad fact.  If your dog has an unusual growth, regardless of its location, be sure to take your dog to the vet immediately.  If the growth changes quickly, or you aren't satisfied with your vet's diagnosis, don't be afraid to get a second opinion.  

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 

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

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

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!

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! 

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

Cloet: She Likes to Roll

Cloet, our adorable red-haired girl, loves to roll in that cool summer grass.  She's waiting for the right application to catch her foster mom's eye.

Here's a video of the cutest little frog in Massachusetts. 

This is what she looked like when she first got here.

In this photo with her foster sister Gwen (that's Gwen on the left), you can see that she's gained weight and her coat is much more lush and colorful.

Cloet has some special needs.  She can't get overexcited or overheated because she has problems with her trachea--even beyond the problems we expect in Frenchies.  She's also a martyr to allergies, and she has a bathing and medication routine that must be followed to prevent flare-ups. 

But apart from these special concerns, Cloet is a dream dog.  Friendly, happy, easy around other dogs, she is the kind of dogs people  were thinking of when they invented the term "lap dog." 

If you are the kind of person who is dreaming of a little red-haired girl to call your own, check out Cloet's available page.  


The Frog Princess

Sanford and His Stuff

Sanford loves to collect stuff.  At nine years old, this foster boy is always looking for something to pile on his dragon hoard.  He's heard about the economy, we are guessing, and he's trying to collect some treasure for his retirement!  Here's a photo of the nutty devil dog with one of his collections.

Sanford is a hoot, and he's going to be available later this week.  If you are in the market for a Mr. French to pick up after you, consider this handsome, active, loving madman.

There may be snow on the roof, but there's a compulsive collector in the basement, advises

The Frog Princess

Deep Thoughts with Boopie and Gui

Boopie and Gui, two long-term foster we are trying to place together on account of they are so bonded, moved to New York state recently.

For a long time we thought Gui would be a diaper dog for the rest of his life, but he has slowly healed to the point that he no longer uses them.

Their new foster mom had this to say recently about Boopie and Gui's wisdom.

"It has been almost 3 weeks since Gui and Boopie arrived in upstate NY. They have snorted their way into my heart and I can't imagine not seeing them everyday!! They have taught me so much since their arrival, about myself and about life in general. I work alone grooming dogs for 8-10 hours per day and have a lot of time to think about things (this can be a problem sometimes =)...and today I realized the biggest lesson they have offered so far....

"Change can be difficult, even a bit scary, but with a little time things will get easier and you will adjust, maybe even enjoy it. It doesn't hurt to have a friend along to help you through it either...

"These dogs have been through so much and just keep going with the flow. They have such wonderful personalities and are the perfect complement to each other!!"

There you go.  Boopie and Gui and many a rescue dog before them not only bring companionship and laughter and a lower blood pressure, they can serve as gurus for spiritual growth as they remind us not to take ourselves too seriously. 

We hope there's someone in the world who is looking for a pair of happy, playful, wise, and adorable pied frogs.

Come out, come out, wherever you are! calls

The Frog Princess