“We rushed him to the Blue Pearl Animal Hospital.
It turned out that he had eaten rat poison.
We got there just in time, because he was hemorrhaging internally.
I thought I was going to lose him because he had bled out too much.
The vets said he had a 50/50 chance of surviving.
I prayed and prayed.
He made it..”
She wants to play 24/7.
I started doing research into rescuing a Frenchie but I realized pretty quickly that the ones available to rescue usually had either health or behavioral issues.
I realized that I wasn’t the best owner for that situation.”
“I was living in Los Angeles and bought a beautiful old gem of a house that had a doggy door leading to a backyard.
As soon as I saw the doggy door I started thinking it was time to get a dog.
Before I could act on it, a stray cat had a litter of eight kittens in my backyard.
I called the local rescue shelter and they told me people don’t adopt feral kittens, so I should trap them, get them neutered and re-release them into the neighborhood.
As a result, I was going to the shelter once a week, and looking at dogs up for adoption.”
“Ginkgo is mutt from the Kent Animal Shelter in Riverhead, Long Island.
I am going to circumnavigate on a sailboat and I will need protection, as well as a companion.
She will be more of an alert dog, than a protector.
I knew I needed a small dog because I will be on a small boat and Ginkgo was the only small dog at the shelter.
I’ve had her for four years.”
“One of my friends researched French Bulldog breeders online and found one up in the Bronx in an area called, Country Club, near the water.
My friend, my sister’s boyfriend and I went to the breeder’s house and she had two left in a litter up for adoption.
There was a little cream puppy and a little blue puppy.
The blue ones can go for up to $15,000, so I didn’t think she was in my price range and I didn’t ask about her.
After hearing my personal story (because I had to fill out a form explaining why I wanted a Frenchie on her website before even being eligible for one of her pups), she offered to sell me the Ellie, for the price of the cream puppy.”
“I’d been wanting a Frenchie for a few years.
They are like clowns; they have funny temperaments.
I was a college student so I couldn’t afford to get a dog, and I didn’t have the time to care for one either.
I graduated from college last May and then a few weeks after that, my sister died in a car accident.
She was 20 years old.
My parents thought it was time for me to get a dog.
I wasn’t working yet, so I had a lot of free time.”
“That has definitely happened with Ancho.
Growing up, I’ve had large dogs, Mastiffs, Pit Bulls and other big dogs.
I think the terms of endearment are a little different for a smaller dog.
It might just be appearance, but they are more dependent on you in that they need to be looked after.
As a puppy, he needs more attention than I have given to a dog that age.”
“I also, really liked the spot on the top of his head, which I later found out is a desirable trait.
It’s called the Blenheim Spot.
It took literally 24 hours to get him.
We left at 12:00 A.M. on Saturday by Greyhound and returned Sunday, at 1 A.M. by Amtrak.
Ancho was afraid of the crate at first, but after I took my sweatshirt off and put it in the crate, he nestled up and was right at home.
That’s when I knew that I made a good choice.
I am away from family, living in another state, and got a little lonely.
He is the steadfast companion in my life and one of the few constants.”
“I hired Bark Busters.
They really taught me about behavior.
There are no treats or punishment, it’s about speaking their language.
Establishing dominance through sounds really helped.
I would growl at her and she learned that I was alpha.
I also learned to crate train her with a calming sheet covering the crate and she is much less anxious now.”
“The best part about having Bongo is how he has brought our focus inward.
In a career (performing), where it’s very easy to get distracted by the quick pace and being pulled in different directions, caring for Bongo has helped ground us.
We’ve only had Bongo for ten months and three to six of those months my wife and I were working in different cities.
Even thought logistically he made things more difficult because the responsibility was all on one person, he was still something that brought us together.”
