A to Z French Bulldogs

 No, I am not talking about the big headed clown who sells greasy burgers. I am thinking of that toy that scared the beegeebers out of me as a kid. You know the one, you wind the handle while the annoying little ditty plays in your head:

“Round and round the mulberry bush, the monkey chased the weasel, the monkey though it was so much fun, POP goes the weasel” 

I am not even sure, to this day, what horrific subliminal messages that song put into our tender innocent brains. The part that scared me the most was the anticipation and then the POP with the ugly clown head jumping out at me. It still gives me shivers to this day. Likely the deep rooted reason I detest clowns – and do not go to Jack for burgers.

Thankfully this Abby-in-the-Box is cute and friendly and gives kisses

We feed and bed the girls separately now (mostly due to size, but also to minimize the conflicts around food). Once the girls are zipped in, we open the top to put the food in. Here is another sign of how much they have grown. Now they can stand up and enjoy their own personal sun roof.

My grandmother used to complain about people who curse, saying they have a ‘potty mouth.’  I wish our challenge was as easy as threatening a mouth washing with a bar of soap. 

Heck, eating soap would be preferable to what Zoey (and Daisy the Shih Tzu) have taken to feasting on.

My mom calls them ‘tootsie rolls.’   I call it poo.

Apparently this phenomenon of eating the excrement is not uncommon for some breeds.  Guess we are doubly lucky since we have two of them.  To my surprise, there is a preference in this non-approved dining.  One never eats her own, or when it is too fresh.  Guess the steamy ones are better left for later.  Sometimes one tries to bring them in the house for future dining.  All the time this act is met with loud words and water bottle squirting, followed by a not-so-gentle mouth wiping and timeout in a crate.

We have tried the various recommendations from the vet, including mixing frozen spinach in the food or adding small pieces of carrot.  This is supposed to change the acidity of the end product.  We have spent money on a few of the different  coprophagy (poop eating) treatments.  Last night we tried to make it unpalatable (as if eating it is palatable in the first place!)

We started with red chili powder, hoping the smell alone would be a deterrent.  Nope.   Then we doused the chili covered nuggets with tobasco.  She still snatched it up as if it was a new treat.

So now what?  The salivating pup did spend some time at the water bowl and licking her muzzle, as if to get the bad taste out.  She didn’t seem too put out by it, so I doubt her spicy encounter will leave a lasting impression.

No Zoey smooches for me thank you very much!

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!