Frenchie Tink

And We Don’t Know Why

It was 730am on Tuesday morning. James and I were scrambling to get ready for work just like every other morning. Tinkerbelle went outside to use the restroom and when James went over to her to praise and reward her with her favorite treats he noticed something was wrong. He immediately called to my attention these huge welts all over our little french bulldog’s body. On her chest where her hair is white you could see the red bumps that were the size of quarters and on her back where her hair is black the welts were so high that her coat was noticeably raised in all areas.

I immediately called the Vet and told them about this strange rash our puppy had suddenly contracted overnight. Turquoise animal hospital told me to come in as soon as possible and they squeezed me into a 10:30 appointment. She was in so much pain. Her ears were still straight back like they get when she is excited but she just looked miserable. We walked to the Vet since it is down the block and I had to carry Tink the whole way because it was obvious she did not feel like walking one bit.

Once we entered the doctor’s office Tink was instantly diagnosed with hives and they took her to the back immediately to give her a shot of benadryl. The Doctor informed me that the hives could have been from any number of things but judging by the severity and suddenness they probably derived from an allergic reaction to a bug bite or bee sting. Five minutes and about $100 later Tink was in my arms and back to the happy fun loving dog she always is and it was worth every penny to see her happy again. James ended up coming home at noon to stay with her and monitor her hives the rest of the day. The Vet told us to get Benadryl over the counter and give tink a half tablet if the hives ever come back.

I wanted to take a picture of the hives on Tink but it was too sad to look at so here is a picture of Tink after the Vet eating some string cheese.

Not too long ago I read an article titled ‘Cute Puppy or Demon Spawn?’. I didn’t know a puppy could be so bad.., until I met Chubs. Now I understand how that lady felt.

YES, chubs is a cute dog. BUT, he might be a bat (eared-dog) out of hell.

It seems like he chooses not listen to us. He’s very Frenchie. He rolls his eyes, turns his head up to the sky, barks, pisses everywhere and hates the crate. He even tries to kick me off of my own bed. He never lets Tink rest. He bites, hate the leash and provokes Tink in the weirdest ways. Don’t get me wrong. I love Pound Cake. He’s just a little more than I expected. He makes raising Tink seem so easy. Comparatively speaking, a girl dog (so far) is much more easier to raise.

I remember asking a couple breeders why female French Bulldog puppies cost more than males (even if it has nothing to do with breeding or involving a spay/neuter contract.) One breeder told me she feels girls are easier to raise and potty train than male dogs. But a couple other breeders explained to me how that’s not true.

Well, I’m here to reinforce that opinion that girl dogs are easier to raise than boys.

Tink looks for places to potty before just going anywhere. Chubs wakes up stretches, potties in place then moves to another spot to sleep or wakes up Tink by biting her ears. If we leave them home alone, when we return Tink runs to get a toy or bone and brings her smile and happiness to see us with her. Chubs just barks his lungs off.

He makes the craziest dog sounds. We’ve heard that he sounds like a monkey, cat, possum, raccoon and a sick baby. I have to admit his howl is too cute though. (Podcast coming soon)

We’ve tried crating him. We put him in there after he falls asleep. But, he wakes up yelling at us. Once we take him out, he finds a ‘better’ place to sleep and gets right back to dreaming. He doesn’t recognize his crate as his home or sleeping den, so he has no problem going potty in there. He’ll just bark, cry and yell until we take him out. We’ve stuffed the crate with his favorite treats and toys, still no luck. We even tried feeding him his meals in there. Nope, that doesn’t work either. Oh, and I can’t forget that he has finished chewing up everything Tink has chewed on and found more spots (furniture, books, rugs, remotes) to get started on.

To top it off, Lisa starts to feel sorry for him because he is so expressive about how much he hates the crate or being locked outside on the patio. Sometimes when I tell him ‘no’, he gives us the cutest puppy dog face. Lisa can’t resist and picks him up, smothers him with her love and goes ‘awww, it’s ok Chubba Wubbs, you’re so cute, I love you! I love you! I love you!‘. After that, he’s ready to get down out of her arms and start some getting into some new trouble.

If I had a dime for every time he has pottied in the house or screamed at the top of his lungs, I’d be on my way to the mall and would be able to shop all day long.

I can’t blame him though. He’s just not trained. But, until then he’s a bat-eared ‘demon spawn’.

Yesterday we met up with some friends and their new Miniature Schnauzer named Kaiser. Tink and Chubs (our French Bulldogs) both wanted to bombard the new puppy with all their love and playfulness and were quite scary to Kaiser the new little puppy who was only 10 weeks old and brand new to other dogs besides his litter mates. Chubs would stand in front of Kaiser and just bark at him continuously like he barks at us when he wants to play, poor little Kaiser was so scared that he would back into corners or run up to the nearest person to pick him up. Tink was just as playful as Chubs and darted towards Kaiser and started wrestle with him, Kaiser was so cute and had this high pitched scream that just pronounced “get away from me you crazy dogs” We decided to take the dogs to a field so they could run around and get to know each other in a bigger setting where Kaiser could run away from the two crazy dogs if need be.

We had such a great time and by the end of the day Kaiser was warming up quite well to Tink and Chubs and they all became such great friends. They were chasing us around and running in perfect lines, each dog trying so hard to beat the other one. Pretty soon Kaiser was comfortable he just sat back and starred at Chubs barking at him instead of trying to run away. Here are some pictures from our day at the park as you can see everyone seems to be getting along just fine.

Pictures of Puppies - Kaiser, Tink and Chubs

Our French Bulldog loves taking baths, every time she hears the water in the kitchen or the shower running she rushes over hoping it’s her bath time. Once she is soaking in the warm water she never wants to get out. We scrub her body with Avoderm shampoo and she smells so fresh and clean when she gets out. Once we take her out of the bath she runs around like a little princess shaking off all the excess water we missed with the towel.

Tinkerbelle at 13 Weeks

Look at that side profile have you ever seen a cuter face? Tink is lounging on the couch watching TV, one of her favorite things to do. We have seen videos of French Bulldogs watching TV before and it is one of the coolest things to watch its amazing how curious these little creatures are.

This past Saturday, we took Pound Cake in for his first Vet visit at the Turquoise Pet Hospital for his 3rd round of shots. I can’t believe how much we put him through in one day. Besides getting the vaccinations, we got him micro-chipped and some medicine for a parasite called coccidea that was found in his stool. Our vet bill was $267 dollars.

Here’s the breakdown.

Albon Oral Suspension 5% per Oz. (Medicine for Parasite) - $19.74

Examination/Office Visit - $53.00

Intestinal Parasite Exam (Float & Smear) - $42.00

Corona Vaccine #2 - $16.90

DA2LPP #3 - $26.00

Bordetella (NASAL) - $27.00

Strongid T Administration #1 - $23.50

Micro Chip - $59.00

Grand Total $267.14

Did we over pay for anything or pay for anything we didn’t need? Are these prices fair? Should we be prepared for more bills like this in the future? Does anybody have dog insurance or a cheap medical plan?