Frenchie Christmas Sheets

Maw and paw are so lucky. They get to sleep in the big bed with these!

Found at Macy's Martha Stewart Collection

I hope they got us the Sharkey and Francesca stuffies too. (Sold out online, but still available in stores.)

Huh?

What did you wake us up for?

816 Pictures

Maw is like a carazy pupparazzi. In the last 14 months since she got me, she took over 3,000 photos! Guess I don't blame her. I am awfully cute. She finally got her lazy behind up and cleaned off the memory and cut her pictures down to 816 which you can see here.

Is your maw and paw carazy like ours?

Holiday Cards

Maw didn't have to work today, so she helped me make Christmas cards for my FBRN friends. I made an extra special one for my foster mawmy because I lub her.

I made 6 extra for me bloggy pals. If you would like one, have your maw email my maw and I'm sure she'll get to it eventually (the lazy maw she is). Deal is; you have to snail mail one back to us too so we can put your card under me and Guinness' Christmas tree this year!

First 6 is a lucky dog.

alee127 at gmail dot com

In the words of Nelson

Basil can be a bully. I feel bad that Guinness gets pushed around. But Guinness isn't stupid that's for sure. Basil was chomping away on the T-bone which tastes like meat. Guinness picked up his squeeky soft toy (the red bone) and paraded it pass Basil. Basil stopped and went to go steal it. After he stole it and dropped the T-bone, Guinness made his move and slipped in there and took the T-bone. In the words of Nelson:

Guinness' First Snow Fall

They don't have this stuff in Florida!

My poor boy was shivering a little, but we went for a walk and he didn't pay any mind to the snow. He would stop and shake it off every once in a while.

Pawz Boots

We want some of these mom!

http://pawzdogboots.com/

Training: Guarding

Renee, our dog trainer visited again yesterday. This meeting was to work on Guinness' guarding issue (guarding of me and my husband when another dog is around) and his lack of manners when greeting another dog. We borrowed our friend Domino the boxer to come over to demonstrate to Renee how Guinness behaves.

We worked with Guinness alone and kept Basil in the kitchen. With harness and leash on, we walked Guinness outside and tried to keep him focused on ME by feeding him treats from my hand one after the other. Just TONS of treats. If he was facing the Domino, turn Guinness' body using the leash and walking in a circle while feeding him treats. Allow Domino to get closer and continue to do the same. Now, walk him in a circle and have Domino follow and tightening the circle a little at a time. Then we did parallel walking where I walked Guinness down the block with Domino walking about 5-6 behind. At the end of the block, we turned and now Guinness is behind Domino. We walked pretty close to Domino so Guinness could get a whiff of him. Then, we went into the backyard and let them run around while dragging their leashes. After a few laps, we introduced Basil into the mix. Guinness did do his chasing off the other dog and giving him a pull on the neck as a warning. Domino has a lot of energy and Basil and Guinness just don't appreciate that. They tried calming him and themselves by ignoring him and eating grass which is a good thing.

In conclusion, my husband and I "just" have to keep play dates short and sweet. Find dogs that are the right match. ie. A lower energy dog and/or a smaller dog. Alternate play time: Bring one dog out for the play date, then put him back inside and bring the other out for play time. Start by doing the greeting outside and do the parallel walking. Keep play dates outdoors. especially when a high energy dog is involved. Never indoors and not in small spaces either. One side of our yard gets very narrow along side of the house. Fence that off so they can't run down that way. This was something I wanted to do anyway so I'm glad someone agreed with me. Pay attention AT ALL TIMES. When you're not watching, fights happen.

The thing I have to get over is that things just aren't the way they "used to be". If it means they need to stay home or that company can't bring their dogs, then that's just how it has to be and I can't put pressure on them.

Other things mentioned that we need to work on:

1. Sit/Stay or Down/Stay - I need to firm up the stay part of it. I also have to practice doing it from the outside of the baby gate. The boys do it on carpet, but when it's different they don't respond as well or at all. Put a carpet tile inside the kitchen so it's not cold or slippery.
2. Desensitize them from the hat. Hubs put on a new hat yesterday and Basil just freaked out. I'm not sure who started it but they got into a fight over the excitement. Basil was on top of Guinness' back and was pulling on his ear until he yelped. Basil was punished for a minute by putting him the bathroom. Desensitize them individually: Put treats around it. Bend it, fold it, move it around and more TREATS. Put the hat on and remove it immediately: quick off on off on and more treats.
3. Again with the crazy barking when guests arrive - keep one dog behind the kitchen, keep the better listening dog outside. Keep feeding treat after treat when the company arrive. Tell him to sit/stay! He must have a job to do. Ask company to go along with the training by ignoring them as well. If he breaks the stay, make him come back and do it again.
4. Ideally of course I want to be able to answer the door and have the boyz sitting in their position and not moving an inch without my say so and NOT have to stand there feeding treats to them hoping he won't go crazy. One thing I was doing wrong was I was going from step 0 to step 5. I expected them to stay when I went outside and back in. Instead, I have start small with one step at a time. Work with one of them at a time since one seems to distract the other into breaking the stay.

It's a good thing I have a 4 day weekend to start working on all this.

Basil's ER visit

Let's rewind. Here's a story I never got a chance to tell. Back in February, during the biggest winter storm of 2010 in our area (we're talking collectively 6 feet of snow and ice) we had to rush Basil to ER at midnight.

Our little boy. Look at that snow! Take note of his trim waist.

We spent all morning shoveling the snow. The neighborhood dogs were really happy because they were allowed to run free. However, we didn't shovel out the car because we didn't think we would need to.

While dad shoveled, the neighbor girls invited Basil in. 15 minutes later, dad went to go get him. When he came home, I fed him dinner. Then he drank maybe 20 cups of water (a medium mixing bowl size).

At night, Basil looked really lethargic. He was waddling up the steps. I checked him out and his tummy seemed unusually swollen, but I wasn't sure. Is it normally this way? Did he just need to poop?

I emailed our friend Joan C. (FBRN foster mom and volunteer) and thank god for people like her who check their email at 11pm at night. She told me if we can, we should get him checked out because bloat can be fatal. This was the first time I ever heard about bloat.

Basil's tummy right before we took him to ER. Look how big and low it is.

Dad threw on some clothes and then had to shovel the car out. The snow was now ice and it's midnight! He drove Basil alone to the animal hospital and I stayed behind in case I had to get help if the car got stuck on the road somewhere.

Immediately, they admitted Basil and took him away from dad :( Of course, the second thing they did was give us the price list for his care. $1600 to keep him over 2 nights. $800 for overnight and $450 for the visit anyway (which includes fluid/meds to make him poo and the late night ER hours). My husband called me and asked what we should do? I asked, Well what's wrong with him? If they tell us what's wrong before we can consider if he needs to be overnight or not. They said they don't know but need to keep him overnight to "monitor him"....

"Monitor him" in vet language is "Charge you $1600 so we can watch him poop."

My husband was all torn and teary eyed. They took Basil away already and he couldn't even see him or say good bye or see if he was scared. Since they couldn't tell us what they thought was wrong with him, I made an executive decision. "Bring him home." I said, it's snowing, cold and he's alone with strangers. There's no way he's going to poo in front of them anyway. So they did what I would have expected in the first place. They gave him the "fluids" (meds) which they injected into the hip area of him and he came home. We were told not to give him any water or food for a day. My poor boy. He came home with not only a big swollen belly but now this fluid pocket on the side of his hip. He looked all Quasimodo-ish.

The next day, we found out that while Basil was over at the neighbor's he ate all of Carmel's dinner. 3 cups of IAMS dog food and 1 cup of dinner at home. That explains it!!! We didn't give him any food or water and yet he pooped 8 times that day. Now, we have to keep an eye out on him when he goes to other people's homes because he goes right for the food bowl!

Whew! Has this ever happened to you? Ever go to ER?

Two bundles of joy

One late night, you hear a knock on the door. When you answered the door, all you saw was a basket. Inside were two frenchies bundled in the basket. What would you do?

Two bundles of joy

One late night, you hear a knock on the door. When you answered the door, all you saw was a basket. Inside the basket was this...

What would you do? :)

Basil's reactiveness

As you all know, I've been working hard trying to tone down Basil's reactiveness to the door bell, a knock on the door or a new person walking into the house. Ideally, you want the dog to lay down in his bed in one spot and stay there until given the okay to go greet the new person. This is really hard when there's as much excitement as new company.

I try to use every opportunity for training. We had friends coming over and in anticipation, the leashes went on and the boys were behind the baby gate in the kitchen. They were sitting in the bed and watching me. Our friend came into the house and I kept giving them treats for being quiet and staying in their bed. They boys didn't even realize our friends came over. They were so good. I led them by the leash out of the kitchen and into the living room. We would stop and they would sit and they got a treat. I moved closer and closer to the friend and continued the same thing.

It was great!

FBRN in print!!!

I talked to someone from dnainfo.com and here we are!!!

http://www.dnainfo.com/20101121/midtown/doggie-fashionistas-strut-bryant-park

FBRN Fundraiser in NYC!

Basil and Maw went up to New York City for the book launch of Christmas Feet!

Basil and maw at Bryant Park.

Dere were lots of other fronchies!

We even met Kim Barnett!!

Ellie Mae and I did so well in the fashion show! Look at our kewl stylish costumes!

Foster Morty was there too. He is so cute and recovering very nicely! Whoever adopts him is a lucky human.

More pictures and video of our fashion show to come!!! Stay tuned.

Our Basil in Print

I'm so proud of my boy! Basil, Ellie Mae and foster Morty will be famous tomorrow! Who woulda thunk it? From Florida to the big apple!

Stay tuned for pictures! I'll be twittering and updating on facebook live tomorrow!

Maws so nervous. She just found out she has to walk the catwalk..err I mean dogwalk with Basil this weekend at the fashion show.

Basil Reads

Maws makin bookmarks for this weekends event in NYC! Don't gim dem all away. Can we keep sum?


I need it fur the bawk I'm weeding.


Don't I look edumawcated?

Mischief Night gone wrong

Look what maw did to me the night before Halloween!

I AM...

My people!



GUINNESS...MAXIMUS...BROWNICUS


I am a pensive frenchie...


A fine physical specimen to be envied...


I get along with other dogs...


And I'm green conscious...

Remembering Betty

It's a sad sad day. Our beloved Betty from Smush Faces has crossed the rainbow bridge. We can only imagine what her mom must be feeling like right now. We've enjoyed following her adventures on their blog. She and Guinness had one thing in common - they both loved tootsie rolls and giving kisses.

We will miss you Betty!

Guinness Fetch!

In Guinness' bio, his foster mom wrote that he plays only one part of fetch. That's frenchie fetch for ya! Well, the other night I was able to get Guinness to keep bringing his toy back to me. We did it 5-6 times before we ended the game. Yay!

Who says old dogs can't learn new tricks.

Captain Mac has a Home to call his own

We all have a special place in our heart for Captain Mac. Captain Mac was one of Basil's foster mates and visited us in NJ on his way to his next foster home. While Basil lived comfortable on mom's lap for a year, our friend Captain Mac still had no home to call his own. Mom did everything she could to promote him. Even by putting his face on her cookies during a bake sale fundraiser. Now we have great news! Captain Mac has found a wonderful new home with a new mom.


From FBRN,

"FBRN is tickled pink that Captain Mac has sailed off into the sunset with his long-awaited soul mate. When Captain Mac's new mom came to pick him up, his happiness was written all over his face! After years of not having someone special to call his own, Captain Mac has been adopted by a new mom who is as in love with him as he is with her. We've already gotten updates that everything is going perfectly and that Captain Mac has brought so much joy to his new mom's life. She knew it was meant to be!"

Bio:

"Mac has a bite history.

Like many sailors, Captain Mac’s history is a bit spotty. What we do know is that he was surrendered to FBRN after a neighbor tried to offer him a home and got a bite for the trouble. Mac has been adopted before, and he didn’t so much take a liking to the man of the house. This also resulted in a bite incident, and the Captain was returned to FBRN to once again tame his ways and look for calmer waters. Mac is now ready to sail into the sunset with his perfect forever home, and we think he’s ready. Although he did seem to have issues with some men, he did amazingly well with his first foster dad who is a patient and wonderful guy. We think the Cap’n would do great in a home with a similar male figure.

Mac had some health issues when he came to FBRN and has had a hernia repair, some teeth removed and a couple of recurring eye infections. He is now in tip-top shape and has no real health issues to speak of. Mac does have a paralyzed larynx that can cause him to breathe rather loudly, but it doesn’t seem to have any effect on him otherwise.

He’s still ready to roam the high seas—in short bursts of course—and take a nap in the sun. After many months of toilet training, Mac has gotten the hang of things and rarely has an accident. All that time at sea can make a fellow forget how to behave in polite company, but his foster homes have gotten him back on the right track and ready to live with refined land lubbers. He is also crate-trained, and although he doesn’t have formal obedience training, Captain Mac will come when called.

Mac is an insecure little man prone to anxiety, but with the right guidance he has learned to relax more and have confidence. He’ll need a home that will continue to work on his confidence and help him through his anxious moments.

Although Mac does better as an only dog, he does seem fairly comfortable around larger breeds. He is able to coexist peacefully with the Boxers in his current foster home. Mac can be prone to separation anxiety so he'll need a firm but kind human in his life to help keep him on track with some basic ground rules.

A funny and affectionate little man, Mac loves to cuddle up and give lots of kisses. He's a great snuggle buddy and a wonderful companion and would suit a retired person or someone who works at home. He only needs moderate exercise and loves to keep you company in the yard when the weather is nice for gardening or just relaxing.

Mac would not do well in the city or in a busy household and will be looking for a quiet residence with no children to call his forever home. All that hustle and bustle can make his anxiety worse, and he really is ready to leave adventure behind him in favor of a peaceful retirement with lots of Nylabones to chew. A fenced yard is preferred but not necessary.

Mac’s foster mom would prefer that there be meetings prior to adoption and that adopters be within reasonable driving distance so that post-adoption support will be readily available if needed. Here’s what she has to say about this lovable lug: “Mac has a super sweet loving personality which needs to be seen to be appreciated. He does need someone who can set basic rules for him, otherwise his anxieties will return.”

Captain Mac is a gem. If you think you’re the right person to treasure him forever, put in an application now. Mac is being fostered in Connecticut and will not be shipped."

We are on Dogster!

Basil

#1 dog site for dogs & bipeds!

http://www.dogster.com/dogs/1164044

Guinness

#1 dog site for dogs & bipeds!

http://www.dogster.com/dogs/1164045

At the Park

What a nice day today! It was so warm and sunny dat maw and paw took us for a long walk along the river by some hispawric town. But first they make us pose for their "no no thats not your toy Basil" contraption that they always hold up. Oh how they make us grovel for walks!


Maw and us


Paw and us


Yay! Off we go!

This hispawric town is so strange. So many people walking around weely fast and saying Ohhhh so cutttee.

Guinness vs Pillow

Maw leaves this squishy throw pillow on the floor just so I can lay on it. When I see it, I bum rush it with my head and roll over and start playing with it. Maw just laughs and makes all sorts of sounds like "ohhh, cuuuuute, guiiinnnesss, soooo cute".

Me maw loves me. She comes over and rubs me belly.

Head bump in action!

Then my stinky brotha comes and gets involved.

Who ELSE Wears Cool Hats?

Meet Nadia and Jack! Brother and sister frenchies who joined Da Kewl Hat Club!


Bundled up and ready to go!



If you want a kewl hat, just message me. All proceeds go to FBRN.

"Boys Down"

In this book I'm reading, "Feeling Outnumbered? How to Manage and Enjoy your Multi-Dog Household" it talks about assigning your multiple dogs a group name. That way I can say "BOYS sit" or "BOYS wait" instead of "Basil wait Guinness wait". It's especially useful when you need both dogs to do something like "wait" before exiting a doorway.

First, each dog must know the command very well. In this case, it's "down". Now that they know the command. I just say "Boys down" and immediately they both went down, say "yes!" then give them a treat.



I did this several times and when I felt like they both understood they both had to go down in order to get the treat I rewarded them with a new toy to play with.



This is a double headed snake toy from Ellie Mae's mom. It's been a great toy because each dog can get one end of the toy. Basil who hogs toys can't hog both ends of this toy even though he'll try. Guinness gets an opportunity to play with one end while Basil hogs the other end and at least they are playing together and Basil can get used to the idea.

"DOWN"

“Down”

I do “down” with the boys when I get home from work, but before I feed them dinner. They seem to be more attentive when we train before dinner.

Because Guinness seems to already know “down” without a food lure or hand gesture, I’m concentrating on Basil first. We just taught Basil down last week using a food lure. When Renee was here, he didn’t know “down” without the food lure.

I put Guinness behind the baby gate and worked with Basil first.

Say “down”. Hesitate 2 seconds. Then hand gesture (food or no food lure) your fingers to the floor (don’t say “down). As soon as his belly touches the floor, say “yes!” and reward with food from the other hand.

Then throw a treat for him to get so he pops back up and walks back over. I did this with Basil maybe 12-15 times using no food lure (because we did that last week and he should know by now). I did it both sitting and standing but mostly standing since that would be ideal. Then finally, he did it without a hand gesture! When he did that, he got a jackpot of treats!

I repeated the same with Guinness except I would tell him “down” as he was walking back to me in order to get him to do down from a stand instead of a sit. Guinness is a little ahead of Basil, so he goes down immediately. He rolled over a couple of times thinking we were doing “bang”, but I just turned my back and ignored him. After 2-3 times of that, he caught himself and rolled back over and did a firm down stay. Then I took it a step further and we did down on the cold floor. Guinn would go down but pop right back up.

By day 2, Basil had it all down without hand gesture or food lure.

Next: "STAY"

Who Wears Cool Hats?!

WE WEAR COOL HATS!!!

A lady friend makes these and all proceeds go to FBRN.


Domino (blue)


Basil (green), Guinness (red), Ellie mae (purple)


Chunky monkey


Guinness decided to do a little shopping.


Guinness decided to help himself to some treats. Caughtcha!


Ellie was tuckered out already.


Argh I wrestle you to the ground!

Don't you wish you had a cool hat?