Bloggiversary

I can hardly believe it, but our blog started one year ago today!  How the time has flown..

Our first post was about Brutus (who was 10 months old at the time) eating his way out of a brand-new travel crate.  It took him less than 5 minutes to escape.

The blog has come a long way since then, and so has Brutus!  I'm so proud of the progress both have made in the last 365 days!  

From uncertain beginnings and no clue what I was doing, the blog has taken on a life of its own.  We've managed to snag 134 followers here, and over 200 on Facebook!  Along the way we've made many great friends, hosted a contest, and "spawned" the monumentally popular Flat Brutus project.  I credit Brutus' inherent cuteness and bubbling personality for most of our success, with a little help along the way from my photography and writing.  I never thought blogging could be such an enjoyable pastime - not only has it given Brutus a voice, it has also given me a wonderful creative outlet!

Of course I have to give the subject of the blog, my Brutus, a big round of applause.  In the last year he has changed in so many ways right under your virtual noses.  He's grown physically, maturing into what most be one of the most athletic dogs the breed has seen.  Frenchies are known for being difficult to train, but Brutus has certainly proved that is not always the case; staring with his CGC last May he's collected 3 AKC titles and is currently working on 4 more in agility & obedience.  But as much as anything else, it's Brutus' personality and sense of humor that has enchanted so many.   The things he puts up with for the sake of blogging material!  Sure, he has his moments... but I can forget those in an instant when I wake up each morning and see his smiling face next to (and occasionally on top of) mine! 

I've said it before, but it bears repeating - the blog would be nothing without all our followers.  So thank you once again for your loyalty, comments, kind words, encouragement, and patience.  You've laughed with us often, cried with us a few times, and have made our lives better.  It's been an honor to have the opportunity share it all with you, and we look forward to many new adventures as we enter our second year of blogging! 

To celebrate our bloggiversary, I'll be making a few changes here, and am trying to decide on a new header photo (the existing one has been up since day one!).  Lots of other things going on in the background, including embarking on our Wild West Earlventure.  Don't worry, we won't forget to take you all along! Wouldn't have it any other way!

Have a great long weekend and holiday.  Hope you all have lots of sunshine, relaxing, and good times with friends & family.  As they say out west, happy trails!!

A Frenchie Invasion!

Hey.  Mason here.  Remember me?  The laid-back senior member of this pack?  I put up with a lot, especially all Brutus' antics.  That's in addition to being referred to as a labradork.  And I never get to post. 

Mom & Brutus are all wrapped up in getting Big Earl ready for our trip out west - good for them.  I'm happy to be inside, chilling on the couch in the A/C (it was 87F here today!!).  They're so busy that they haven't even noticed that snooped into the laptop and put together my own post.  Hehehehe.

So let me tell you about what happened earlier this week at my house - a French bulldog invasion!  No, seriously!!  I was just snoozing on the couch, a nice quiet morning with less harassment than usual from my pesky little brother, Brutus.  Out of the blue I heard a commotion & came out to see what all the ruckus was about.  When I saw the source, I couldn't believe my labra-eyes...  

There were six - yes dear friends - SIX Frenchies, breaching the threshold of my noble home!  That might not seem like much, but trust me - it seemed like a million of the little smushfaces!  Could this be some sort of cruel joke?  A daydream (more like a nightmare) of some kind?  Outnumbered 7-1 by funny-looking little beasts?

To make a long story short, it turns out that mom's friend Lori (who is also our V-E-T, but I like her anyways) came over with a bunch of her dogs.  These Frenchies are already finished Champions in the breed ring (click here to see more about their accolades), now looking to put another feather in their caps with a different kind of title.  Apparently mom must consider herself some kind of Frenchie-whisperer lately (so she trained Brutus to jump through hoops, big hairy deal...), as she's been helping Dr. Lori get a few of her dogs ready to take their Canine Good Citizen (CGC) test.  

Here is mom's favorite student, Doug (Ch. King of Queens d'Assisi).  I have to admit, he looks like a happy guy!

Mom worked with Doug and two of his Assisi Frenchie clan, Gena & Neill, for quite a while down in our basement (which I call the agility dungeon).  It was all old hat to me, just basic obedience stuff that I learned years ago - sit, down, stay, heel, come.  Simple enough, but mom was so ecstatic about having taught Doug "down",  that she took his picture to prove it.  Turns out Frenchies are a lot more trainable than people give them credit for.  Go figure.

So that only accounts for 3 of the Frechies who invaded my home - you might be wondering if I had miscounted.  Turns out that Doug and Gena recently became proud parents, and three of their 11-week old pups had also come along for the ride & some socialization (at least that's the line mom is keeps trying to feed me...).   Here they are, a boy on the left and two girls on the right.  They represent half of a litter of six, Gena's first.

I finally got a good look at them when we all went outside, and I must admit they were kinda cute.  But being the wise & seasoned labradude that I am, I knew they would be nothing but trouble if I acknowledged them.  So I just went about my business - literally...

To Brutus, however, it was a totally different experience.  He was a pup himself not all that long ago, you'd think he would have figured out that these were some of his own kind!  I guess it eventually soaked into that big head of his that they were dogs, but he just stood and stared at them for the longest time.  

Then mom & Lori let the pups out out to roam free (and therefore piddle at will) in my backyard.  The grass was long, so they could stalk and pounce like little tigers.  Pretty amusing, actually!

When the puppies started moving around more, Brutus finally figured out that they were in fact some of his own (weird) kind and wanted to hang out with them.  

I have to give my little bratty brother credit, he was actually well-behaved for once.  Kind of watched over them and herded the pups around.  One of the little girls especially seemed to take a liking to Brutus, and even took him for a walk (mom had left his leash on, just in case she needed to grab him in a hurry).  Here she is running next to Brutus, carrying the handle of his leash in her mouth!

As for myself, I just sat back and took in the proceedings.  I have to admit, it was nice to see Brutus being the one chased, hung on, and generally harassed by something smaller & more energetic than he is for a change.  It's about time he gets a taste of his own medicine!!

Brutus was actually gentle with them, even when they rolled over submissively after a long game of keep-away with a piece of mulch.  Eventually the pups started to wind down.  It had been an exciting afternoon for the pups, and they piled up for a snooze. 

Soon thereafter the Assisi gang packed up to head back home.  In the end I was glad they came, since it gave Brutus a great alternative to his usual pastime - tormenting me!  Here's some photo evidence of how I typically spend a good part my day, a bulldog hanging from some part of my face.

Uh, oh - I hear mom & Brutus coming.  Better wrap it up before they see what I've been up to! After all, I have to put up with Brutus for the next few weeks in a much smaller space than usual inside Big Earl!

Thanks for listening, it was good to get a chance to sneak the blog away from Brutus for once.  Just between you & me, it might do that little ruffian good to learn what it's like to be the big brother...  Think I might be on to something there?

Later, Taters-

Mason

Wordless Wednesday: DaVinci Edition

Don't understand why Leonardo didn't use this as the final version of his famous painting...

After all, it's much more distinguished - don't you think??

Journeys

I start today's post on a somber note, as we just learned that a good blogging furiend has finished his journey in this world.  

MAX was freed to cross the Rainbow Bridge earlier today, and we have no doubt he bounded joyfully across it, whilst casting a reassuring smile back over his shoulder to thank his family for such a great life!  MAX was a wise dog who recently taught us all what it really meant to enjoy every moment.  Hugs & Frenchie kisses to his family, it's never easy to say goodby to a friend no matter how long you have to prepare.  Godspeed, dear MAX

So many furiends and bloggers seem to have lost members of their packs lately.  I'd like to share with you all a lovely quote by Irving Townsend, one that comforted me last fall when I had to let my old terrier Duncan slip away.  

We who choose to surround ourselves with lives even more temporary than our own live within a fragile circle, easily and often breached. Unable to accept its awful gaps, we still would live no other way. We cherish memory as the only certain immortality, never fully understanding the necessary plan.

So go out there and make as many memories as you can with your family, both human & furry! With that in mind, I turn the rest of the post over to Brutus, who is just bursting to tell more about the hints we left in our last post.

Hidey Ho there!  Mom was all leaky after reading about our furiend MAX, so I dried off the keyboard & offered to finish up the post on a lighter note.  I'm just that kinda guy...

Thanks to everyone who played along with the little game in our last post - there was everything from totally correct answers to totally off-the-wall ones.  We're too sly to let all the Frenchies (ahem) cats out of the bag at once, but here are most of the answers.

If you didn't guess it from the items surrounding my stunning, shiny self in the photo above, we are ready to head off on another Earlventure!  Big Earl is getting all gussied up and ready for his longest treck to date, and of course Mason & I get to go along for the ride!

Can you see that book right in front of my nose?  Its full of all kinds of cool places mom says we'll get to see out West - Yellowstone National Park, Jackson Hole, Badlands National Park, even Mount Rushmore!  How many Frenchies have gotten to see all that??  I am gonna be one well-traveled frog, this should be quite the journey!

The other thing we hinted at that falls into the "journey" category included a photo of one of my Flat selves in front of a nifty sign.  Here's a clearer version:

I was so excited to hear that I get to go with mom to Wisconsin this fall for the National Specialty!  There will be (as Frankie would say) like 87 million Frenchies there!  And as our pal Mayzie so astutely pointed out, hopefully lots of CHEESE too!!  

Actually this sort of goes along with the photo of Flat Brutus jumping through a tire, because I get to compete in the first agility event ever offered at the specialty!  Do you think the French Bulldog Club heard I was good at agility & decided they just must include an event that can showcase my brilliance? Mom says I'm also getting entered in Rally and (gasp!) obedience, so there'd better be a whole lot of cheese like the sign says!!

So that's all I'm tellin' for now.  Sorry to leave ya hanging on the last item from the quiz, but mom won't let me tell just yet.  Frankly, I'm still a bit confused about it myself, so when I figure out what else mom is up to, I'll slip you some more hints!  For now, I'm off to make sure mom packs all my favorite toys and collars for the trip.  I wonder if they'll let me drive this time...

10-4, Good buddies!  Brutus over & out!

Busy, busy!

Wow, where has the week gone?  As seems to be the case for many of our friends out there in blog-land, it's been tough to post because life's been so busy for us here.  Work, agility trials, and keeping track of the Flat Bruti are the most common themes, but some exciting new things coming up for us this summer. But instead of subjecting you to a novel-esque post about our plans, we're going to make it a little more fun.

I've enlisted the help of Flat Brutus today (with thanks to recent hosts Robin, Lori & Courtney for the photos) to give you some hints about the things that will be keeping us busy this summer. Feel free to guess away in your comments, it'll be fun to hear what you think we're up to!  Two of them are easy, two are going to take a little more speculating!

OK, here we go!

A. This should be a gimme.

B.  You've seen this photo before, let's see who can remember & take it a step further.

C.  This one shouldn't surprise anyone.

D. This won't happen until the end of the summer, but we're really excited about it.

Hope you all have a great weekend.  Next week is the calm before the storm for us, ao hopefully I can get caught up yet again!

(almost) Wordless Wednesday: Chess Edition

If you ever get to feeling like you are just a pawn....

 

... don't forget that checkmate is still possible!

Entitled!!!

Hello everyone!  Hope you all had a great weekend.  I was chasing around my little goblin again at an AKC agility trial the past few days.  This time the little goblin (AKA Brutus) really was a star!

We had 6 runs over the course of two days.  Four of those were fanstastic, earning us qualifying scores and winning the 12" Novice division.  We got two "legs" (qualifying scores) towards our FAST title, and eared our 3rd leg in JWW, which gives Brutus his very first AKC agility title: Novice Agility Jumpers (NAJ)!!  Hooray Team Frenchie!!

We've still got a LONG way to go, but seeing Brutus improve so much recently really makes me feel like we're on the right track.  I think that our runs will either be great (like the four I mentioned) or we'll go down in flames - no in-between!  Brutus showed me that he is still not above running out of the ring (which he did during our last run of the weekend, ugh), but it's just a stress reaction that I hope will fade over time.  He's not even 2 years old yet, and everyone reassures me he'll mature into a really strong competitor once his brain catches up to his body. 

For those of you with the capability to watch movies, I'm including two here.  They are both Jumpers runs, the two final legs towards our title

So that's it for agility for a while.  We ended our string of trials on a really strong note, getting that first titled. Will still be training, but lots of other things in store for us in the next month.  We'll be back in the ring in July, but until it's back to our more mundane (yet still interesting) everday life.  Sorry if I bore anyone with all the agility talk, but this time I think we were really "entitiled" (LOL) to brag!

Flat Brutus: Fame & New Frontiers

I'm so excited to share with you the most interesting person Flat Brutus has met to date.  Do you recognize her?  Think Animal Planet.  Dog training.  British accent.  Getting any warmer??

 

If you don't recognize her, that's Victoria Stilwell!  She's the dog behaviorist in the hit APL show "It's Me or the Dog"!!  

How cool is that??  He met her in North Carolina at a PMAD (Puppy Mill Awareness Day) event.  A new friend from Facebook asked to host Flat Brutus during the event, so he and Graycen (the other Frenchie in the photo) did their part to help free Frenchies bred under horrible conditions & pass legislation to curtail puppy mill activity in North Carolina.  

Gosh, it's a good thing the real Brutus wasn't there, Victoria would have had to talk some sense into him I think!  Thanks to Dannee for inviting Flat Brutus & introducing him to his first celebrity!  This makes me wonder what other big things might be in store for Flat Brutus...  Meeting Caesar Milan?  Ellen Degeneres??  Bo (the First Dog)??  I guess only time will tell!

Ok, back to reality.  *Ahem*

I know some of you out there have been waiting what seems like forever for Flat Brutus to visit.  If you've checked the "Where in the World is Flat Brutus" page lately, you'll see that the host list is still growing. Whoever would have thought my "little" project would only be gaining steam 2 months after the Flat Brutus World Tour began??

I do feel for those of you waaaaaaay down the blogging host list, so thought it was time to breed a few more Bruti (I even bought my own laminater)!  One will be taking on some of the duties of International Flat Brutus, who I fear is permanently lost in Singapore (this one is heading to England, where the postal system is hopefully a little more predictable).  As far as the other one, I proudly introduce "Western" Flat Brutus!

For all you west of the mighty Mississippi, this flattie is all yours!  No, he really won't be wearing a Stetson & bandana when he comes to visit - I just couldn't resist using a few props :)

I'll updating the host list to show the new Bruti in circulation, so you might want to check there in a few days to see how the new additions affect the itinerary.  This seems to be a busy time for many folk, and so it might be that you'd like your visit later as opposed to sooner.  Feel free to give me a shout in the comments if you are ready, since I still need to decide exactly where to send him first!  I know Fiona, Mayzie, Rocket Dog and Hootie, and a few others have asked recently...   So speak up y'all!!  

Stay away from the prickly pears this time, OK lil' buddy?  Remember what happened when you tried to play in one when mom went to Arizona!

And it's still not too late to join the Tour if you are just finding out about it.  Drop me a line at brutusthefrenchieATyahooDOTcom if you have any questions or just want to say "hi".  Flat Brutus has raised over $300 for FBRN to date, so thanks to all of you who have done matching (or more!) donations.

You probably won't hear from us again until at least Monday night - got a busy weekend in store.  A few days of dentistry, followed by a few days of agility (our 2nd AKC trial).  As I've said before, ya gotta work hard to play hard!  So I'll leave you with a different kind of Flat Brutus - this one courtesy of our new iPhone app (ToonPaint) - it turns any photo to a black & white drawing - pretty neat, eh? 

(almost) Wordless Wednesday: Disgusted Bulldog edition

Beam me up, Scotty.  

There's no intelligent life down here...

 

The things I put up with for sake of blogging material....

Flexing our green thumbs (paws)

Today I finally got outside to do some much-overdue yardwork.  It was a cool but sunny day, perfect for me & Brutus to get our hands (paws) dirty!

 

First I had to do a bit of weeding - that's a gross understatement, actually.  Notice I'm not showing a "before" picture!  Then the more enjoyable task of getting some baby hostas into the gound.  Hostas are the perfect way to green up my flowerbeds - easy to plant, nice to look at all summer, and hard to kill!  I stared with about a dozen, and now have a yard full of them, thanks to being able to "split" them every spring.

Brutus was a happy to be outside with me, but was sort of luke-warm about the whole procedure.  Guess he doesn't have much of a green paw.

Wonder what this thing is for.  Looks like a back-scratcher.

Whatcha digging holes for mom?  Seems kinda silly...  Hey wait - look at that nice piece of bark!

 

 Now THIS part of gardening I can get into!

Brutus took a break from his mulching to inspect the planted hostas.  Naturally, he wanted to eat them.  And no, I didn't let him "water" them!

 

Here is Brutus proudly modeling the job he "snoopervised".  Just a little TLC and these little guys will be huge in no time and fill in as a nice ring around the tree. 

Gotta love a plant can double it's size and produce a clone every year.  Gee, good thing the same isn't true for Frenchies...

Happy Mothers' Day!

He evefurrybody, Brutus here! Coming to you today with little PSA to remind you to give your human moms some extra lovin' today, it's their special day!  They are pretty much everything to us, after all - feed us, take us for walkies, play with us, take care of us when we are sick, buy us cool things....  We might not always like to admit it, but we'd all be lost without their TLC!

One of my Mothers' day gifts was to work up a nice post.  Mom's been so busy lately, she's had a really hard time keeping up with the bloggy.  The least I could so was to help out here a little.

Here's an idea for something nice you can do for your mom person - pose for some pictures with her!  Since our moms are usually the ones behind the camera, we don't often get to show them off on the bloggy.  I guess you all see my mom in the agility videos, but she's usually moving so fast that she's just a blur with a blond ponytail!  You might not believe your eyes, but here's proof that we can both actually sit still!

 

 

I like that first photo the best, 'cuz it shows who is really on top around here our playful side.  Here's another pose that's more traditional.  Don't we make a nice couple?

During the shoot I even let the photographer guy pose me a little by myself.  You can't tell in the picture, but he had me sitting on an itty-bitty stool way up high!  Good thing he was fast with the trigger, I wasn't too crazy about being up there!  But he did capture my handsome-ness quite nicely, I must say...

And finally, one more fun shot with mom:

So to all the moms out there, Happy Mothers' Day!  And to my own super-terrific mom, you know that my world would stop turning if it weren't for you!  I know I'm one lucky Frenchie to have you as my human! 

Love - Brutus (can we go for a walkie now??)

Flat Brutus Update

Happy Friday!  We've been such bad bloggers, this is only our second post this week!  Brutus was resting up after his big agility debut (thanks for all the lovely comments!), and I was up to my elbows in teeth.  Things should settle down for a bit, so I promise to get caught up on everyone elses' blogs!

Speaking of catching up, it's time to check in on Flat Brutus!  The good news: so far he has raised almost $250 for French Bulldog Rescue Network!  The bad news: a few of the Flat Bruti are MIA.  One of them is stranded in Singapore (last seen with The Musketeers), another is the victim of some bad timing; he must have arrived just after The Feisty Three left for vacation.  Luckily there are a few others still successfully roaming, so I have some fun things to post about.

Flat Brutus had the honor to meet some really special Frenchies up in Willington, CT, as he was the guest of honor at the New England Frenchie Social.  There were lots of FBRN dogs attending, both current fosters and graduates.  In addition to getting his picture taken at the social, he was also the prize of a raffle, so one lucky attendee got to take him home for the week.  Not only was it great visibility, but the raffle raised more money for FBRN.  They had this really huge sign made, and sent it to me as a thank you gift.  It's a life-sized Flat Brutus!! Isn't it fun?

Here's Flat Brutus at the social, doing what he does best - making new friends.  Everyone wanted their picture taken with him it seems!  This is also a great example of all the shapes and sizes that Frenchies come in :)

The lucky winner of the Flat Brutus raffle was Joan, an FBRN volunteer.  Flat Brutus went to work with her at an endoscopy center.  Yikes, there's a place no one likes to have an appointment - let's hope that Flat Brutus was able to bring a smile to the face to some of the patients who were in for their procedures.  As usual, FB was just happy to be out and about (plus since he has no insides to scope, no need to worry), even had his vitals checked.

Back at Joan's house Flat Brutus was in good company.  Here he is with Pache, Dulcie & Kaspar

He merrily accompanied Tanner, a new foster who needed treatment for cherry eye, to the vet for his procedure.  

Here he is getting a lift from Kaspar, a Frenchie who has lost the use of his back legs.  This has to be my favorite photo of Flat Brutus to date!

Not all the animals at Joan's house are Frenchies.  It seems that Flat Brutus found himself in Fowl territory!

Finally, as a special treat, Joan took Flat Brutus along to Foxwoods Casino for a little relaxation. 

 

I got a kick out of this, since the real Brutus had been there last fall, during our New England Earlventure:

 

More news on Flat Brutus to come.  I did receive news that TN Bull Terrors had a nice visit with him, so we look forward to their post.  It must be off-season for blogging right now, since it seems that many blogs are on hiatus right now.  Certainly understandable, since we ourselves haven't been the best bloggers lately!  But if anyone has any information on the missing Bruti or the hosts where they were last seen, please drop me a line.  Hopefully all is well and they will resurface soon.   Otherwise you might see Flat Brutus on the side of a milk carton!