Newbie

[Minky]

Hi there!

My partner and I are the proud parents of two furkid Frenchies. Vuitton who is brindle and 10 months and Fitch who is fawn and 5 months. After getting over the initial shock of "responsilibilty" I have to say they are one of the best things to happen our my lives. Vuitton is placid and "snobby" whereas Fitch jumps on everyone he sees - it is amazing how different they are and how much character they have. I am glad to have stumbled onto this forum because it is nice to be in contact with other people who are in love with the breed and where can obtain information on food, temperment and health issues.

[Borgan]

Welcome!

Love your dogs' names! Tres chic!

Are you going to upload some photos to the forum?
We would love to see your babies!

- Brooke, mother of Luna (the Lucile Ball of dogs).

[adora's mom]

Welcome!

Have to say I love their names too and can't wait to see pictures ;) They sound like they are quite the characters!

Just as a quick intro, I'm relatively new here too. I have a 16-wk old brindle Frenchie girl named Adora (as in Adora Bull - I know it's cheesy, but that's just me :rolleyes: ) and a 1 yr old APBT mix boy named Beckham. And a menagerie of cats, a husband and a 6 yr old foster daughter.

They keep me busy, but provide endless entertainment!

Hope to see more posts from you soon.

[Carolyn]

Welcome to this forum! Life does change when these Frenchies come into our lives! I had no idea how wonderful this breed was going to be. Such enthusiasm for life! appicon I look forward to more posts from you. We all love hearing puppy stories...we can't seem to get our fill! :D

I am the proud owner of Abby (3 1/2 yrs) and Ferris (2 yrs). They are pure joy. I also have a 16 yr old Standard Poodle named Ripley who is my constant shadow.

Carolyn

[Minky]

Thank you for making me feel welcome and thank you for liking the names. People would ask me the names and in most cases I'd have to say them again. It is funny because when I look at the picture of your respective babies, they remind me a lot of my own when they were pups.

Though French Bulldogs are not a very common breed here in Sydney, there are quite a few in the inner city where I live, that is probably because they are adaptable to living in apartments or houses with small backyards. Every Frenchie parent I have met have said how wonderful they are and they have all said they wanted to get another.

I have uploaded some pictures of Vuitton and Fitch under "Group Frenchies". Hope you can see them.

The first day I got Vuitton I was thought "I think I made a mistake, I want to return him to the breeder". A week later, you can not separate us. He is such a wonderful puppy. Just when things got easy with Vuitton with the house training I thought I should get him a play mate. Along came Fitch and little did I know I was back to square one with house training and training. The hard work has now paid off and they get along really well. Fitch follows Vuitton everywhere and they are very cute when they sleep together. Vuitton is still a little territorial when it comes to certain foods and certain toys.

When i read the stories on the forum, I can relate to most of them.

[gilazno]

welcome!! wow, i have always wanted to visit australia...ever been to the states? I am owned by Biggie Smalls a stubborn fantastic loveable pied frenchie:-) Biggie is a single but has a kitty brother and a kitty sister as well as a turtle and some fishies to play with as well as frenchie friends in the neighborhood (thnk goodness!!!) look forward to many stories and many photos of your fabby frenchies!

[kim9755]

Great names! I'm new here too. I'll be loading up a pic of my frenchie soon. Her name is Mimi and she is a 10 month fawn.

[adora's mom]

Hi Kim,

Can't wait to see pics of Mimi! :)

[franp]

Welcome,
Australia is a place I want to go to;scuba is a passion of mine. Second only to Frenchies! appicon
Dari is my brindle 5 year old girl.After babysitting a pup this weekend;she will remain an only child! I live in NYC and one is enough!
I am very active with Frenchbulldogrescue here. Sadly ,we are getting more and more dogs in rescue every year...

Frenchies are VERY special dogs; but you knew that already :)
fran and dari

[Minky]

Hi everyone,

I have been lucky enough to have done a lot of travelling. I worked for two years in South East Asia and I have visited several European countries including the Netherlands, the UK, Belgium, Sweden, France and Austria and I have been to the States several times. Travelling is great but it is always good to be home. On my trips I was surprised how few people have been to Australia - probably because it is so far away from Europe and the States. There is a lot you can do here from snow skiing to scuba diving. Funnily enough many Australians have not travelled within Australia. Anyway, enough with the advertisement.

I will say however we are pretty fortunate that it is extremely rare to find a French Bulldog in a rescue. How can anyone give their baby up? I totally commend people like Fran who work at rescues. I had to go on a waiting list for almost a year and if there was a frenchbull rescue I would have definately adopted one from a rescue.

[Carolyn]

Minky....I am very proud to say that I am 1/2 Australian and I really feel my roots there! My mother (war bride) is from Melbourne and I still have family there. Kelly and Manja post here and are from Australia...can't remember exactly where. Hope to hear more from you/your partner! Carolyn

PS: Fran is a wonderful person who is very involved in Frenchie rescue here in the US. I have had the great pleasure of meeting her and Dari. appicon

[franp]

Hi everyone,

I have been lucky enough to have done a lot of travelling. I worked for two years in South East Asia and I have visited several European countries including the Netherlands, the UK, Belgium, Sweden, France and Austria and I have been to the States several times. Travelling is great but it is always good to be home. On my trips I was surprised how few people have been to Australia - probably because it is so far away from Europe and the States. There is a lot you can do here from snow skiing to scuba diving. Funnily enough many Australians have not travelled within Australia. Anyway, enough with the advertisement.

I will say however we are pretty fortunate that it is extremely rare to find a French Bulldog in a rescue. How can anyone give their baby up? I totally commend people like Fran who work at rescues. I had to go on a waiting list for almost a year and if there was a frenchbull rescue I would have definately adopted one from a rescue.


You ask how anyone can give their dog up; Let me tell you.

In this country there is an incredible demand for our dogs.Reputable breeders get 300-500 emails a DAY for pups. Not nearly enough to fill the requests.
So people, who for the most part have little or no knowlegde of the breed go to what they think are reputable breeders.In truth they are puppymillers and import brokers.

Reputable breeders are people who show thier dogs and breed to better the breed ,both in physical appearacne and temperment. They do not place a dog without doing a home check and getting references. Rarely do they have puppies available without a wait. And never do you buy by color.And you can go to the breeders home any time you want to see where the pups are.

With import brokers (this being the major problem) the dogs are taken from the mothers too young and are not socialized.They come to America and are quarenteened for 3 weeks ALONE , then sold at 8-10 weeks. They should not be sold till they are at least 12 weeks.

Well at about one year or so, the true temperment of the import dogs starts to come out; AGGRESSIVE.And to a person who has little or no dog knowlegde , the dog starts to take over. It starts to bite and to be uncontrollable. The dog is more terrier like than the American bred dogs.And it is LARGER.. The males are closer to 35 -40 pounds.People just can not handle them.They terrorize the families..And the health problems start..

The American puppymill dogs have health issues; serious issues. Skin problems back problems. People didnot do research and can not deal witht he expense and heartache..

Impulse buying.. The puppymillers and Import brokers do not ask questions beyond what is your credit card number..

So when the dog is terrorizing your home, or the medical bills are piling up; and you didnot do your research; you give up your dog...

We have people in rescue with YEARS of experience rehabilitating dogs with behavior problems; and let me tell you the dogs coming in from the Eastern block are like nothing we have ever seen..

Please go to www.frenchbulldogrescue.org and read the stories. Read about Piglet. REad about Keaton's ; an infamous import broker..
And do not make the mistake of thinking that any of them are any different; they are NOT. It is all about the money...

off my soapbox..

[Martina]

Hey Minky,

I'm one of those Americans who's actually been to Australia - and New Zealand! I swear, sometimes I think I'd like to move Australia. I just remember having so f-u-n there! But then I think about the saying "the grass is always greener on the other side" and remember how far I'd have to travel to visit family and think "It's a great place to visit again" and leave it at that.

Actually, my siblings and I traveled in Turkey several years ago and were constantly confused for Germans (big blondes) and then Australians when they realized we spoke english. We finally asked someone why they would think we were Aussie since we (obviously) don't have an Aussie accent. They told us it was because of these skirts - homemade and ugly, but great for traveling - that we kept wearing (since we were in a Muslim country). They said that the skirts were so ugly that we must be Australian! Boy we sure laughed about that one :lol:! But we were happy to be confused for Australian for the anger the Turks feel against the Germans and it goes without saying how people feel about Americans ...

Martina