A to Z French Bulldogs

We have known from the beginning that Zoey loves her food.  This is evidenced on the scale and by the tubby little belly she has compared to her sister.  The sound of the refridgerator door is enough to wake her from a semi-sound sleep.  Any noise that even remotely resembles the clink clink of kibble into a bowl will bring her running.  This includes the pouring of  breakfast cereal and the sound of rice grains hitting the bottom of the cooker.  Zoey even woke from a sound sleep and charged the television when a “kibbles ‘n bits” commercial was on.

There is one clink clink sound that she reacts to above all others – cat food.  When we pour the kibbles into the container both dogs are like sharks circling. 

So imagine what happens when you cross this:

With this:

You get Zoey looking pathetic like this:

"ok mom, I have licked the inside clean - now get this off of me!"

When you walk into our home most days, it is very evident that we have animals – lots of them.  There is a puppy “toy box” in the front office area which holds a ton of stuffed animals, rubber squeekers and synthetic bones. At night I toss everything in the box, only to have the dumplings pull it all out by the time I come home at noon for lunch. 

Rounding the corner to the living room you will see two round beds and fleece snuggly blankets in front of the fire place, steps leading up to a chair, and a blanket protecting the couch from dog hair.

The set of key hooks on the wall is over run by leashes and harnesses, with a few keys off to the side for good measure.  There are two canvass cubes on top of my computer armoire which hold their clothes, brushes, clippers, and spare toys (as if they don’t have enough).

There are very few spaces that are “puppy proof” in the house.  These spaces are where I would put my purse or my bag of knitting.  One of these safe spots was my desk chair. As long as there was nothing hanging down that they could pull, my aubergine coach pebbled leather was safe.

Until now…

It seems the little dumpling, even dainty Abby, can now jump in our desk chairs.  Jen’s is lower to the ground so it was the first they mastered.  Now they can get on my taller chair too.  This means that I have not only lost my safe spot on the chair, but it opens up a whole new world of delights to them as they try to eat everything on my desk!  Binder clips, pens, gum wrappers, etc.  I am lucky that my desk will close.  Jen is not so lucky.

Just because I like seeing how much bigger they are in similar photo ops, I have merged a picture of each dumpling in the same desk chair at both 4 and 8 months.

Look at where their heads are relative to the arms of the chair…

What a big girl...!

Aww back when she had cute floppy ears

The dumplings went in today for a nail trim and weight check.  We have been told that Zoey, especially,  is at a good weight now.  They have put on almost 4lbs in 2 months.  Time to taper back some of their food.

Here is a reminder of where we started:

Here they are 3 weeks old, weighing under 2lbs each

Here they are about 3 months and under 10 lbs

Today Zoey tipped the scales at 21.5 lbs!

Dainty Abby came in at a little over 20lbs…

Bulldog snuggles are so fun, but now they are an armfull!

The girls have discovered another way to maximize their lounging time during the dark winter months.  Behold the magic of the fireplace… 

At first they were not so sure about the light and crackling emitting form this previously dark and fenced off area of their living room.  Zoey got really close to the screen and tried to lick it a few times (which has left us with the “clean” areas on the dusty mesh).  Abby once had a memorable run-in with the fireplace tools which resulted in a lot of barking and a general avoidance of the area by both dogs for a few weeks.  I believe Abby (or maybe the cat?) knocked over the holder and all the wrought iron tools made an incredibly loud clatter on the hard floor.  I have never seen the girls so freaked out.  After they ran like hell, they came back really irritated.  We left the tools tipped over so the girls could investigate on their own terms and realize the poker and brush were not coming after them.  The tools have been standing quietly on the corner of the hearth for months now. 

Given our previous tool drama, I was hesitant to poke at the log the first time.  I did not want to trigger something in them now, while they are already in a fear/aggressive stage.  Lucky for me they seemed oblivious. 

Eventually they settled down on a towel and had a snooze.  It was really cute to see them snuggled together, chin on hearth, with Zoey’s snoring in the background.  One thing I have learned about Frenchies, they play hard for moderate spurts of time – and then rest quite deeply until it is time to do it all again.

Living with bulldogs is not all fun and games.  Yes they are cute as hell, with their big sad eyes and tubby tummies.  There are sides of them that not so cute though…

Take Abby for today’s example.  She is going through her frantic fear period.  It seems the most innocent objects scare her and cause a barking fit.  Many times these are objects that have been part of her daily life since 9 weeks old.  For example, she decided the plastic insert for the doggy-door  was the devil incarnate last week. 

She had a faceoff with the gray plastic rectangle that consisted of her barking at it (at a range of about 2 inches away) until Jen pulled her off after a 20 minute assault.  During this scolding, the plastic quietly stood there and took it.  What could it do after all, it is plastic.  Abby barked and pawed at it, not sure why, until she was shaking and exhausted.  Today that same offending gray plastic is in the same place yet causes no issue.  Just for kicks and giggles, I moved the plastic and it caused no distraction.  Perhaps the naughty plastic learned its lesson.

 Score:  Abby – 1, Plastic – 0