Please allow me to introduce myself.....

[el scrubbo]

Hello everyone,

My name is Chris and I live in Pasadena, CA with my fiancée. We are not owners of a French Bulldog yet, but are very interested in getting one. We had no clue about French bulldogs, until some friends got one last year. She is very cute and so friendly, we ended up dog sitting for a week while our friends were on vacation and we just fell in love with the breed.

I have been doing a lot of research in order to avoid any scams, but it's tough, there is a lot of info and a lot of breeders out there. We are hoping to get one in the near future, but are not in an extreme rush.

Just from poking around this board, it looks like posting breeders info is against the rules, but is it ok to ask people to email me if they have any breeders to recommend or positive experiences? We are looking for a female brindle, and are adamant about meeting the dog before we bring her home.

Thanks for listening, and I'm glad to be part of the board :)

[franp]

Welcome Chris...

First, there are many threads on this board about how to find a reputable breeder. One that shows thier dogs to Championship; tests and only breeds to better the breed..IMO, that is the ONLY type of breeder you should be buying from..

There are numerous importers in the area that you live in..NOT who you want to buy a dog from..NO reputable breeder sells a dog thru a third party...EVER. no matter what the importer says...Importers are no different than petstores..

Our breed is very much in demand.. Many of us(myself included) did not meet our dogs before they came to us...We met dogs from the breeder; both adults and pups.. spoke to people who had dogs from breeders that we liked.. Because a REPUTABLE breeder is not always geographically desirable..
And most litters are spoken for before they are born.. With this breed you usually take what is available..as a color, if not the sex..

The personality is something the breeder knows and can tell you...and is a matter of trust.. If you trust the breeder enough to buy a dog, IMO, you must trust them enough to pick the pup for you..They are very aware of each pups' traits and the litter dynamic..as most of us can attest to..

Go to dog shows.. read the threads about how to read a website.. and most of all be PATIENT...look for the "catch phrases"..to watch out for...Champion bloodlines..RUN do not walk from this one..this is a sure sign of a mill or byb..

Stay away from importers... go to www.frogdog.org This site has an excellent comparison of Reputable breeders/byb/millers

Look at the Frenchbulldog Club of America for breeders...Oh by the way , the AKC does not "endorse " any breeders.. and USDA is not a badge of approval..The breeders on the AKC site are not necessarily good either..

Good luck in your search...

[el scrubbo]

Franp,

Thanks so much for all the Frenchie wisdom. As I said, there is so much information out there, and this board is helpful in spotting the bad breeders and scams.

We are not in any rush for a dog, so I think that works to our benefit. I like the advice I have seen about going to shows and talking to breeders there. (It looks like there is a big show taking place in Long Beach in early December, so hopefully that will be a good starting place.)

All the threads I have looked at so far have been tremendous. I'm looking forward to hearing about other people here, their love for the breed as well as their own dog, and gaining more info as we search for our perfect pup :)

[lovemyfrenchy]

Forum. Fran always has good advice. Take your time and find yourself a good person that loves the breed. There are so many scams and byb that don't have any ethics as a human or the best interest for the FB breed as a whole. Find someone that does! Definitley go to the shows. You can go to infodog to find where the shows are and what & ring& time the Frenchies are showing. I have had many of pets, But none have stolen my heart they way my two frenchies have! They make me smile when I feel like crying. When things are dark they are my light..... Okay I'll stop! They are GREAT appicon

[franp]

Chris ,
Thank you...these dogs have my heart...
There are many shows before Long Beach..And if memory serves me; that is the Eukenuba Classic; not the best place to talk to breeders..It is a BIG show.. full of people and tension.. the small local shows are allot more fun and easy going...

As lovemyfrenchy said, go to www.infodog and find out when the local shows are... go to them.. You will be able to talk to people and really look and spend time..

My Dari is 6 1/2; a wonderful Brindle girl..who brings light to the dark; smiles to sadness. There will never be a time that my home/life will be without one of these great dogs..

I wish you luck in your search, that you may experience what we already know.:)

[SadPandas]

We went to a dog show in Pasadena just about a month and a half ago!! Bummer you guys missed it!! Orson's sisters were showing and we had to go root them on. They were so cute.:lol: But this was the type of show you should go to; a little one. The breeders are just chatting about this and that frenchie and who has a great dog and who has litters coming. It's great! Fran is right that there are many terrible breeders out here in the So. Cal area. I have heard of many and have seen the puppies that people have gotten from these people. The hard part about it also is that some people don't realize their breders were bad and I hear them all the time suggest these people to others. It makes me frustrated:mad: . I might be able to help you out a little bit because I know that Orson's dad just had a litter (he fathered a litter that is:lol: ). Those pups are probably spoken for but maybe I can get you in touch with some good people. I am not sure how we contact eachother on this board though. I don't think I am able to post my email address. Oh I know... can I tell them how to find me through another forum? Is that allowed?

[SadPandas]

Sorry I am not able to help you out with that one but just take your time, which it seems like you are, and make sure you feel very confident and trusting with your breeder. There ARE good people out there and when you do find your little Frenchie, your life will change and there will be a whole new part of your heart that fills up you never knew existed.appicon

[el scrubbo]

Sad Panda,

Thanks for the offer and the good thoughts. We plan to try and see if we can go to a few shows and meet some breeders.

Maybe we will get to meet you and Orson Peabody one day :)

I do have a question, I have looked at the infodog show calendar site, and although they list upcoming shows in Southern California, it doesn't alway say what breeds will be shown, only which kennel club or group is sponsoring it. (None of the ones I could see mentioned French bulldogs in their name) How do I figure out if Frenchies will be shown at these shows? Or do I just go and cross my fingers :)

[gravy]

There is usually a link on the sidebar
to the individual kennel clubs sponsoring.
I know it seems like they are closely guarded
secrets, but some sleuthing can get you the details.
The first show I went to I missed the Frencie portion
by an hour because they show in the morning with the
english bulls. By that time everybody with a frenchie
was long gone. I did end up talking to the club reps
tho. and got info for the next show. One resource I
had up here in No. Cal. was the club's breeder rep.
you might see if there's on in yoiur area. Invaluable
source of info.
Greg

[lovemyfrenchy]

usually after the closing date they post a premium list. Which will tell how many frenchies are showing in what group, it will also tell you what time and the ring number as well. Here in florida the frenchies always are in the ring during the morning time. If you look in the brag section with the winners sometimes it will tell you if they breed or have a website, expecting pups all kinds of information with email addresses to contact handler/breeders. Good luck:p

[franp]

The sites are not the easiest to navigate...A few days before the show; go to the home page of the club that is sponsoring the show.. There should be phone numbers for the officers of the club...

Call one of these people and ask.. that is what I did when I was new.. and the person who answered helped me thru the site..this might not be the most orthodox method, but it works..

The times and rings are not posted until a few days before the show..

[franp]

I don't know how far Pasadena is from Oxnard; there is a dogshow there this weekend...
The Frenchies are showing both days at 8 AM... a friend of mine is showing her Special..

[el scrubbo]

Thanks everyone for all the help and info. I think I finally discovered how to navigate thru the Jack Bradshaw website. (Nice once you can get it going....)

Franp--Thanks for the heads up! We are going to drive up there on Sunday morning. Oxnard is about 70 miles away but it is well worth the drive.

Hopefully we will meet some great Frenchies and great owners/breeders :)

(btw--what's a "Special" ?)

[franp]

A "special" is a dog that has already become a Champion and is competing in the Best of Breed category...So when someone refers to a "special" you know the dog is a Champion.:)

( took me a while too.. I thought "what the heck? all dogs are special"... till someone explained it to me..)..

Dogs that are not "finished" that means they are not Champions.. are called "class dogs'...

[franp]

Chris,
Did you get to the show??
My friend Patty's dog took breed.appicon

If you did, tell us all about it.. did you have a good time, was it what you expected? etc...

[el scrubbo]

Fran,

We did! :) Congrats to your friend Patty and her dog, that is awesome! appicon

It was a long day yesterday, which is why I didn't get a chance to post anything.

Got up around 6am, on the road around 6:45. Got to Oxnard just before 8:00 am which is when the Frenchies were scheduled to show. I realized they must have scheduled them early due to the heat (Sat was 110 degrees in Pasadena) and it was already 80 degrees at 8 am.

We watched the Frenchies being shown, there were about 14 total I think. (all very cute :) ) Being novices, it was slightly hard to follow what was going on, but we got the general idea. I was confused by dogs that were shown once (and ribbons handed out), and then brought back into the ring once or twice to be shown again against other dogs. (this was explained later to me)

So while we were watching the dogs, we were also looking at the owners to try and see whom we could approach without being a nuisance. We scouted out a few, but the timing never seemed right, and we didn't want to bother anyone during the actual competition. Quickly it was over (the speediness surprised me a little too), and many people put the dogs in their cages and headed for the parking lot. Our chance was slipping away......

We are somewhat shy, and we weren't sure exactly how to approach someone. Finally my fiancée asked a gentlemen (who seemed pretty knowledgable from our observations) if he would be willing to talk to us about Frenchies. He was very friendly and incredibly informative. (One of the first things he said was that we had done the right thing by coming to a show :D ) He and his partner were very gracious, spoke to us for about 20 minutes on the breed and care, and even let us play with and give their dogs treats. The first man gave us his card, and said to contact him, so I plan to email him this afternoon.

All in all, it was a great experience, and we were floating from having met these 2 kind individuals who generously gave us their time and expertise.

What color was your friend's dog? If she showed towards the end of the Frenchie part, I might have missed her as I was getting nervous about driving all that way for nothing and missing our chance to meet anyone.

The rest of the day was spent at a Dodgers game (extremely hot, and they lost 6-1) and then in the pool to cool off. A long, but great day!

[franp]

Patty has a Brindle male named Igor..

What you saw was the dogs winning their class. ie Puppy class 6-9 month bitch or dog , then 9-12 month bitch/ dog... then open bitch/dog..Bitches and dogs never compete against each other until the final competition for Best of winners...

after the dog wins its' class , it comes back to compete with the winners of all the classes.. The winner of the classes gets Best of Winners.. BOW is the when it gets points...if BOW is a dog then there is a best of opposite.. a bitch... Then the BOW competes against the Specials... for best of breed... and then if Best of Breed is a dog, there is a best of opposite.. there is always a dog and bitch winner..

Very complicated.. took me forever to get it straight.. and the # of points depends of the # of entrants.. and that varies from geographic region to region..:confused:

[el scrubbo]

Some of the basics were explained to us on Sunday, but I'm not that smart and so your post still made my head hurt :)


We are looking forward to getting the ball rolling and start the process of finding a great Frenchie to add to our household.

[el scrubbo]

Just wanted to let everyone know, it looks like we will be getting our Frenchie next week :)

We lucked out with meeting breeders at the Oxnard dog show, who put us in touch with other breeders that had a female brindle available. (I know the old stigma about dogs available "right now", but both parents and all 4 grandparents are champions, so we are secure in knowing she has a fantastic pedigree)

We are so excited to add her to our family (so far just the two of us). This board is an amazing resource and although I have looked over many of the threads, I'm sure I will be going over them again and asking dumb questions as we raise her.

Thanks for everyone's help and advice. Looking forward to maybe meeting other Frenchies in Southern California :)

Now it's off to buy supplies to prepare for our puppy's arrival!

[franp]

[QUOTE=el scrubbo]Just wanted to let everyone know, it looks like we will be getting our Frenchie next week :)

CONGRATULATIONS!!appicon

We lucked out with meeting breeders at the Oxnard dog show, who put us in touch with other breeders that had a female brindle available. (I know the old stigma about dogs available "right now",

Sometimes you are in the right place, at the right time...:)

but both parents and all 4 grandparents are champions, so we are secure in knowing she has a fantastic pedigree)

[el scrubbo]

Well, we finally got our girl! :)

We picked up Roxy on Friday and spent the whole weekend with her. She is beautiful and so much fun.

She is only 5 months old, so we are currently working on the house-breaking with her. She is getting it for the most part, we are trying hard to watch for her "signs".

We couldn't be happier with the way she looks and her personality, both are first rate (in our opinion....).

Anyway, we are having much fun with her. :D

(on a side note, I am trying to post pics to the forum, but it says they are too big. how can I make them under 100kb?)

[Amanda]

(on a side note, I am trying to post pics to the forum, but it says they are too big. how can I make them under 100kb?)


Congrats on your new puppy. In terms of the pictures, I had the same problem. I downloaded a free viewer called FastStone Image Viewer from downloads.com and when the program opens you'll see your pictures there. Click on your picture and go to "save as" and you'll get a save prompt. On the bottom of the prompt it says "advanced" click that and it will allow you to change the size of your jpeg file. Good luck!

[Carolyn]

Chris.....congratulation!!!! Roxy is a very nice name. ;)

I have a (free) software program you can download called IRFANVIEW. It's very easy to use.

[el scrubbo]

Ok, I think I muddled my way thru the directions. I d/l Easy Thumbnails, so hopefully that worked.


Apologies to the mods, when I uploaded the pics they had generic image numbers as their file names--so I uploaded again with more obscure names. Sorry about any potential confusion.

[franp]

Roxy, great name... So glad you got your dog.. For someone who was not "in any rush" LOL... isn't having a Frenchie the BESTappicon

I am going to look at your pictures...

[violetblue]

Congratulations from a fellow newbie brindle female Frenchie owner!

~Tracy