Good Toys

When I go shopping, I always scour the "pets" section for good toys or other dog gear (aka cute clothes eh hem eh hem). Finding a good toy is hard to come by in my opinion. Basil really loves the soft toys. He's snagged a few of my stuffed animals on my bed which I've had to rescue. He's been given some very soft toys for Christmas. We watch him very closely when he has one of those. As soon as he rips them (within the evening), we toss it in the trash. It's not worth the trouble they can cause. FBRN mommy Joan gave Basil a really good toy which lasted MONTHS.

I bought Basil a new toy ring that I found at HomeGoods. It's one of those super tough soft toys. We both love it because I can wrap my hand around it to play tug of war with him which he loves. Also, it has the "beep beeps" around the whole ring and Basil loves squeezing it and making the beep beep sound.

Also, we take the toy away after playing. He goes into chewing mode in the evenings, so we switch out his toy with the bone when he wants to chew instead of chewing the toy down. It also keeps him interested in the toy longer.

What toys do you like?

Come and get it!

Free seedlings! Get your free seedlings!



Mommy: Basil, sit here and help mommy give away these extra tomato and pepper plants.
Basil: But I don't wannaaaa.
Mommy: Quit whining Basil. Be a good helper.
Basil: But what will I eat then when I go into your garden bed?
Mommy: What?!
Basil: eerrr I mean...nothing.
Mommy: Okay, stay here until they are all gone.
Basil: But mom, it's so embarrassing. All the other dogs will laugh at me.
Mommy: Just be yourself and everyone will love you.
Basil: That's true!

Play Time and Break

I had a play date last week and got alllllll wild and caaarrraaazy!


Me panting. That's never happened before.


Play again! yay!


Time out again?! HMPH! Mom and dad are being party poopers. I don't have crazy looking eyes. I'm not winded. PANT PANT PANT!


Let's do it again!

Animal Rescue Stamps

How cute are these? But where's the frenchie love??? Basil was feelin' a little left out, but I told him there are lots of animals out there who need homes. Don't you want them to have good homes like yours? With a mommy and daddy?



The US PO are trying to get the word on the importance of adopting a rescue. See more here.

Sometimes I feel like a Pug

Good Garden Helper

I'm a great garden helper. Today, my mommy worked in her veggie garden while I helped by eating the grass and dragging tuffs of weeds around the yard.

Lazy Sundays

Ahhhhh snort snort I love lazy days like this where I can lay in the sun and do nothing. Wait..that's every day!



Mommy sees allergies in the near future. Lots of restless nights for her, but relaxation and fun in the sun for me.

Basil and the City

No Manolo Blahniks here!

Keith brought Basil into Center City to meet me for lunch in the park. It was such a nice break in the day. Basil was soooo DISTRACTED by all the sights, sounds and smells in the park. Little kids kept going up to him and just patted him on the head and it didn't even faze him. He's such a good dog!


Franklin Square Park, PA


"The sun is in my eyes mah!" Basil with the Phanatic statue.

Later that evening, Basil had a play date with none other than TEGO!!! Tego is a big boy now since we last saw him. Tego is a city dog so he was really excited to run around and around and around and around and around the yard. At one point, he did 8 non stop laps around the yard. He was so happy.


Basil greets Tego at the door. What a good host my little man is!

(Basil is the little one. Tego is up front) Here they are getting reacquainted. He and Tego played so well. Tego and Basil were rough housing and it sounded like Tego wasn't liking it, but then he would lay down for it again and have Basil pin him. And then they would get up and do it all over again.

We need to get some play dates together more often!

Yo-Yo Poop

It's the latest craze! It's easy to make, free, and fun for the whole family!

First. Eat some of mommy's long hair.

Then eat your dinner.

Wait an hour.

When you're ready to make your yo yo, go outside and sniff around the fence.

Get your poopy stance ready and PUSHHH!

If you did it right, the poop will end up on the end of the hair and the other end will still be clenched by your fatty butt cheeks.

Now, to play with your yo yo just run in circles and swing it around and around using your cute behind!

Stella, Gunther and Betty

When mom and dad are busy cleaning my house and making me dinner, I catch up on some light reading at my new favorite blog about 2 pugs and 1 frenchie. When I see their pictures of Stella, Gunther and Betty together, I wish mommy and daddy would give me a brother or sister. I would love someone to sleep with and play with. I promise I'll share my food and toys. It seems like so much fun.

Sometimes I hear mommy and daddy talking about "having a baby"...what's a baby? I hope it's something yummy to eat or something I can chew and fling around the living room.

I know mommy secretly looks at the French Bulldog Rescue Network's website for frenchies up for adoption. It's just a matter of time that she'll convince daddy for a wittle brother or sister. Preferably a sister. She's just worried she won't find the right match for me - likes kids, fence not necessarily required, very playful but likes to cuddle, follows mommy and daddy around, a good listener, smart, and preferably a smaller, cute, fawn colored little girl.

For those of you with brothers and sisters, how did you know that you would get along? How do you find the right match? Oh, and what's a baby?

Bad Habits

It's funny how dogs can learn things from other dogs. I just never thought about it. Maui barks and growls at the front door whenever someone approaches. Basil has picked that up. I hope to break him of that habit because it's very ungentlefrenchielike (and annnnoying!)

Maui and Basil got into a fight over food two days in a row. We can see that Maui is trying to assert his dominance. He drinks all of Basil's water from Basil's water bowl but not his own. He also intentionally blocked Basil from drinking water from his bowl. I caught him doing that.

After their tiff over food, Basil wouldn't rest and seemed anxious. However Basil is still kissing, licking and wanting to play with Maui. Maui usually gets up and moves away from him, but he hasn't been aggressive. Today, we saw Maui likc Basil. I guess they are kissing and making up.

Easter

There's a new member in the family! His name is Otis or you can call him Otie! He and Basil had a great time playing. It was such sweet puppy play too.


Cause I'm leavin' on the butt train..


Basil loved rolling around with Otis. It was sooo sweet.


Basil's human nieces "walking" them.


Maui and Otis


Even cousin Winston got in on the fun. He really started to get interested in Basil towards the end of the day. Winston's brother Murphy was camera shy or he had too many chocolate bunnies.

House Guester Maui

(Getting two dogs to sit still for a picture is harder than getting kids to sit still!)

Basil's cousin Maui came to stay with him for a week while the family were on vacation. Keith and I were very excited that Basil would have a buddy to commiserate with. We hear two dogs are great together. So far they are getting along well. We already knew Basil liked Maui and we love Maui too, so we knew it would be okay to put them together.

Maui is 11 years old, so we hope Basil is learning some good things from him. Basil is a little antsy. He can't relax if Maui is pacing about and if Maui jumps up to growl at the door, Basil is like the little sidekick who interjects "What's goin' on huh huh huh? What are we barking at? Let me at 'em! I'll get it I'll get it!"

If Maui comes to us for affection, Basil gets into a frenzy and has to love us too. Basil likes to nibble our ears and he does it to Maui too. Maui seems to like it.

The most trying thing so far is keeping the food separate. It takes us extra time to get both dogs taken care of with their separate needs and potty schedule. Maui won't eat Basil's food but Basil is licking his lips every time he sees one of Maui's pig ears (which is a big no no for Basil). Maui gets all sorts of goodies and wet food, so we feed him in the bathroom while we occupy Basil in another room. Maui went in the house the first night and the following day, Basil went in the house too (on my new rug!) Also, we're not sure how to handle the dominance factor that another older dog is now in our home. We're trying to keep it equal and not neglect Basil, but we want Basil to learn to respect an older dog.

Any suggestions? What's your life like with two dogs? Any rug cleaner recs?

Garden Helper

Basil went to the garden nursery with me today. We had a great car ride there and he was soaking up all the stimuli. When we arrived at the nursery, he was so excited. He sniffed pansies, daffodils and herbs. He met some garden friends of mine. He started eating some of the celery plants too. When we got home, he helped me in the garden by checking on the soil, intimidating bunnies, and tasting the veggies before I planted them.

Does your furbaby help you in the garden?