Hello!! It's Carmen!! Can you believe it?? Almost 9 months old and I finally get to do my own post - come on, my name is Drama Queen - a girl like me needs center stage, you know?
I was sooo excited when mom told me yesterday that I was posting, I could barely sleep last night - made sure to lick her in the face at 5:30AM on a rainy Thanksgiving morning so she could fire up the laptop and let me do my post. Didn't want Brutus to barge in like he usually does and try to steal the show!! We're playing along with Minna Krebs this year and telling our adoption stories.
Brutus got to do it last year with Frankie, click HERE to see what his story is, better grab a fresh cup of coffee first, you know how long-winded my brother can be!!
So this year it's MY turn! Step aside big brother, Drama Queen comin' through!! Let's see, where do I begin???
As you well know, there are two other dogs here, Brutus and Mason. Mom had been thinking that since Brutus is such a clingy, needy kinda guy that he should always have some canine company. Mason was getting up there in age (he'll be 13 in April), and so there should be a new pup in the mix so that Brutus never had to be alone. Dad was hoping for a "normal" dog (like a lab or standard poodle), but mom was determined to have another Frenchie (we're like potato chips, you know - can't have just one!!).
You may not know this, but we Frenchies are pretty hard to come by, especially when getting one from a reputable breeder is important. Many litters only have one or two pups, and we tend to have pretty low survival rates early on. Mom knows of people who have waited months or even years for the right pup to come along. Lucky for us, one of mom's friends just happens to be a highly respected Frenchie breeder! Dr. Lori (who happens to be our vet too) called mom one day last fall and told her that she was planning on doing a few breedings soon and wondered if she'd be interested in a pup if one became available. Ha! That was like asking if the pope is Catholic.... Here's Dr. Lori with my cousin, Pax:
So mom was on pins and needles waiting to hear news from French Bulldogs d'Assisi (Lori's kennel). Early in January 2010, she got the call she'd been waiting for. Gena and Doug were expecting! Here's my beautiful mom and handsome dad. Dad had many girls call on him before (can you blame them?), but this was my mom's first litter.
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| I think dad is whispering sweet nothings into mom's ear, hehehe! |
Turns out that Gena was expecting LOTS of puppies, at least 4 or 5. Mom even got to see one of the radiographs Dr. Lori took to count us before we were born! Wonder if Gena was nervous? I would sure would be if my belly got this huge!
So after about 60 days, on a cold, snowy Monday in March I was born. Turns out there were SIX of us, all brindles, four boys and two girls. A "six pack" of Frenchie pups! Well, we look more like brindle blobs here, but the potential for greatness was certainly there already! My dad's fancy name is CH King of Queens, and my litter quickly became known as "The Royal Six Pack"!! All of our names have "king" or "queen" in them in honor of our dad. As you can see below, Frenchies are born without tails, that's just the way we come standard from the factory (no cropping needed).
Here's some close-ups of me & my sister Vera, just minutes after coming into the world.
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| I'm the one on the right. |
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| As you can see, we have always been very close! That's me on the right again, we're about 3 hours old here. |
Thankfully all went well during those precarious first weeks of life for all of us. Gena was the perfect mom, and Dr. Lori was there 24/7 to make sure everyone was OK. She sent regular photo updates to mom, so we have lots of pictures of me from the very beginning. Here's all of us at just under 3 weeks old.
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In case you are wondering - Frenchie ears come up on their own after 5 or 6 weeks. I'm the second dog in from the right end, with my mouth open.
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When we were about 5 weeks old, Dr. Lori invited mom to come and meet us. Mom didn't know which of us girls she'd be able to take home yet, but oddly enough she took lots more pictures of me than of my sister. Funny how things like that happen! Here's a little montage mom did after visiting us all for the first time.
Being a puppy is hard work! In case you can't see the video above, here's a photo of me hard at play...
.... and then passed out from all the excitement.
We were all growing up so fast, and at around 8 weeks were finally starting to look like little versions of ourselves. As you can see, I learned to strike a pose pretty early on!!
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| Hooray - my ears are finally up!! |
Time flew and before I had any idea what was going on, it was the summertime. Dr. Lori said we were ready to go to our forever homes, and soon a few of my brothers disappeared.
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| All of us enjoying a one of our last group snuggles with Dr. Lori |
I was the last puppy from the litter to leave Assisi, except for my sister Vera who still lives there as one of Dr. Lori's own dogs. I could have come home sooner, but mom thought I was too little to go on an Earlventure right off the bat, so I got to play with my sister, cousins, ect. for an extra few weeks while they traveled our West in our motorcoach. Mom couldn't wait to get home, & she came to pick me up as soon as she could. Here's the first picture of me as "her" dog.
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| Whoa! Can you believe my ears were that big! |
Mom was a little worried about how Brutus would take to a new dog in the house, someone who might usurp some of his precious attention from mom. Thankfully he rose to the challenge, and Brute & I hit it off from the get-go. He even let me curl up and take a nap with him when I was feeling a little homesick.
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| All tuckered out from our first time playing together. |
After a few days it was like I'd always been here, and we've never looked back. I learned that Brutus is more talk than he is substance, and could put him in his place within the first week. He says he was just letting me win - whatever....
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| Nothing like a good came of Frenchie bitey-face!! |
Once and a while ol' Mason will even entertain me a little (although I found out early on that biting his tail was NOT the way to his heart...).
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| Come on Mason... Just for a little bit??? |
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| That's more like it!! |
I try to spread the love around here, and certainly don't mind playing daddy's girl. When mom takes Brutus to a show that I'm not allowed to tag along to, I'm perfectly content to curl up with dad. I love to wake him up in the morning by smothering him in puppy kisses!
Luckily Dr. Lori lives close by, so I get to see her and my sister Vera and play with her pretty often. In fact we had a sort of "reunion" recently and got four of us from the litter back together!
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| That's me in the middle, brother Bruce on the left and sister Vera on the right. |
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| Bruce playing king of the mountain (ottoman). That's my other brother Steve on the floor, me & Vera wrestling on bed at left. |
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So that's pretty much the story of how I got here. I'm a pretty lucky girl, think I found the perfect kingdom to rule I mean home to live in! I have great brothers, a wonderful mom & dad, and i even still get to keep in touch with my fur family! Not to mention that I get to go to all kinds of shows and fun places, play agility, and even have my own Facebook page! Now if I could just talk mom into letting me have me own blog...
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| One of the many perches from which I keep order in my territory! |
I have so many blessing to count on my first Thanksgiving - a wonderful home, great brothers and super peeps who make sure I'm always safe & happy. Hope you enjoyed my adoption story. Looks like I have the gift of gab just like my brother!
Oh, and Pee Ess - since I talked so much today, we'll have to do another post for Frankie's game about what we want to get our humans for Chirstmas! Mom's not looking, so I'll re-post this super-embarrassing picture mom took of Brutus last year in a pilgrim hat. Heehee - he's gonna be so mad!!
Have a happy Thanksgiving evefurrybody, see you soon!
Mwuuuaaaahh!
Carmen (Drama Queen d'Assisi)
