Bad Bloggers

We're here to level with you all today.  We've been bad bloggers.  Really bad.  Haven't posted in a week, and have only been around to a few of your blogs to see what you are up to. Blogging has really become a hobby, and I have missed it as the last few months have become increasingly busy.  I feel like I owe Brutus' fans a little explanation, as well as get some feedback from the very folks without whom the blog would be pointless.

There are three things that have resulted in our decreased post frequency.  First of all, my work schedule has gotten quite a bit busier.   Many of you know that I'm a dentist, but in case you don't - here's a picture of me in my element.

I had been a co-ower of an extremely busy dental practice, which I left in September of 2008.  I have since started my own practice, very small by comparison.  I found myself with lots of free time, some of which I filled with Brutus-related activities, including blogging.  Recently my clinical responsibilities have gotten much more demanding, so that I find myself back in the working world for a good part of the week.  I'm thankful to be busy and it feels great to be productive, but it makes sitting down at the computer or following Brutus around with the camera much more difficult!

The other two things that have made blogging opportunities more difficult to come by are the dogs themselves.  Carmen has been the perfect addition, I couldn't ask for a better companion for Brutus.  But having a young puppy around again makes it difficult to sit still.  Ever.  Carmen is ALWAYS into something.  For some reason Frenchies have the tendency to explore the world by trying to eat it.  Brutus went through this phase too (one of his most dubious accomplishments was swallowing an entire pair of my underwear in one piece), but for the next few months anything smaller than Carmen is fair game for ingestion.  Part of me wants to slow down time so Carmen could be a puppy forever - but the other part wants to fast forward though all the more trying aspects of puppyhood (like housebreaking, teething) and restore some order to my home!

Then there is Brutus.  I think for the most part he is finally growing up.  Not that he still doesn't have his moments (OK, lots of moments), but he is actually somewhat trustworthy.  I started agility and obedience to help drain Brute's boundless energy and get him properly socialized, never expecting to compete.  But not only has Brutus proved that bulldogs can be performance dogs, he has shown they can be good!  Our show schedule has gotten busier, now encompassing a few weekends a month and lots of training in between.  You may have noticed that more and more of my posts are performance-related, because that's how we spend the majority of our free time.  It's good for Brutus (he's the kind of dog that needs a job) and good for me too (I need the exercise!) - and I truly think we both enjoy it!

That all being said, here is my question to you all.  

Where does that put our blog?  Is posting about competitions getting boring?  Carmen will be making more appearances here (it's difficult to keep her out of the photos, actually) as well as some occasional words from Mason (our 12-yr old Chocolate Lab).  I'll get around to comment as I can, but I feel sort of guilty about having people commenting here and not being able to get over to their sites to do the same - just being honest there.  And what about Flat Brutus - he's still bumping around out there (lots of summer vacations for him), is that getting old and do people still want to hear about him or host him?  Should the blog go on hiatus and come back we things settle down, or do we just do occasional posts?

I appreciate any feedback and input you all can muster, so tell it like it is!  In the mean time, let me close with a photo of the Frenchies to show you all how we feel about our blogger friends:

Do you see it? Here's some help in case you don't:

Thanks for sticking with us, hope you can understand!

Love-

Michelle, Brutus, Carmen and Mason