Our new little bundle of JOY!

Well...our little family increased by ONE over the weekend. We are the happy and proud parents of a 23lb four-legged bundle of joy! Her name is Sophie Anne, and she is a 3 1/2 month old Victorian Bulldog.What is a Victorian Bulldog you ask? Funny you should ask that...as I asked the SAME thing when I saw her...I had to google that. Turns out a Victorian Bulldog is a recently (1980's) resurrected old breed of bulldogs (before they got all messed up and tons of health problems). They have an actual snout, albiet a short one...so they aren't prone to the respiratory problems of the English bulls. Also their legs are longer, and they are bigger. Sophie is supposedly going to be between 55 and 60lbs fully grown. The males are even bigger. They are the in-between size of the English and American bulldogs.



We had no real plans to get a new dog (yet)...the other 3 (PG, Sweet Pea and Sydney) are all still hanging in there, even though they are all OLD. PG just turned 13, and she's the only one we know for sure. Sweet Pea we got not long after we moved here from the local pound (it was a "kill" facility, and the ladies working there had saved her for over 4 months by using their "veto" each week when they are forced to go thru the list of who's still there...typically after a few weeks it's bye-bye if you haven't been adopted...but they kept saving her just for us). 

And Sydney...well, she's not doing great, but she's hanging in there. 4 years ago she was totally paralyzed when a disc burst in her neck, shutting her off like a light-switch mid-stride. We had surgery done to remove the debris and dremel out a pocket for the swollen/damaged disc...and over the next few months we re-hab'd her as she learned to stand/walk/run all over again. ANYWAY...sometime earlier this year suddenly she started having problems...neurological ones. She still has strength, but has been losing coordination/control of the left side. She walks albeit very slowly/gingerly...and very easily gets going sideways as the left rear just can't keep up, and then falls down on her left him. She does this dozens of times a day. But she's not in any pain as far as we can tell...just not much control. But the decline seems to have leveled off, and she's hanging in there wonderfully! She's SO happy, it really breaks our hearts to see her like this...but as long as she can get around, we will do our best for her.

And now...the puppy. OH so very cute! I guess there's just not much on the planet as cute as a puppy, and that goes double for a bulldog puppy.

  Here's Jeannie holding her as we are getting ready to take her home. You can see the tip of her tongue sticking out...she does that a LOT and I don't even think she knows it.

 And here she is lying on the living room floor with her rawhide bone. 

She's getting tired at this point (FINALLY).

I can't stay too long (need SLEEP) but wanted to get a quick post in with our happy (or sad, depending on how long house-training takes us). I will say that I had forgotten how much WORK a puppy is...I can only imagine it's a lot like having a baby...your life changes drastically overnight. OK...must get Sophie outside, see if she will potty and/or poo before we put her in the kennel for the night (she will NOT have free run of the house until she has earned it by learning to use the doggie-doors and do her business OUTSIDE!) I"m hoping the other babies will 'mentor' her and show her the ropes quick.

OK..have a GREAT week!

CHEERS!