Who you calling homely?

Sourmug? Ok, I can see that. A face only a mother could love? Could be. So ugly they're cute? Nothing wrong with that. But homely?! Really?! I beg to differ!! I know to each their own, but still...maybe keep your comments to yourself...or say it behind my back, not to my face!! Sorry, just needed to vent & here's my rebuttal to the homely comment. I may be partial, but I think I win this argument....

Yay! Got Photos of Ozzie!

Finally got some photos of Vivi's brother Ozzie from the specialty show a few weeks ago. I've updated the Show page with some photos, but thought I'd give you a little glance at the handsome boy here too!

When my two passions collide!

Ok, so if you've been reading this blog you know that one of my passions is my bullies. I love everything about them, love writing about them, love taking their photos, love, love, love them! Some of you may know that my other passion is Disney...well Disney World to be more percise. Steve & I went there in 2004 & have been back every year! We have such a good time there & it's just such a magical place...heck, we even gave Vivi a Disney inspired name (see Vivi's page)!

While I do love my man mouse (Mickey of course), my very favorite Disney characters are any that are bulldogs! There are a few...remember the bulldog in Lady & the Tramp? Or the one in 101 Dalmations? There may even be a few others, but unfortunately it's very hard to find anything that is both Disney & Bulldog related....until now!

A good friend of mine sent me a photo from the NYC's World of Disney store this weekend. They were with a plush bulldog from the movie Up! I was soooo excited! I immediately went to the Disney site to find out more about him! His name is Gamma & guess what??!! There IS merchandise with his photo on it!! Yay!!

Color this Disney Bulldog girl HAPPY! Here is where I found where you can get personalized items with Gamma on it! Yeah...needless to say, I will be purchasing a Gamma t-shirt (of course in the ringer-t style) for our next Disney trip! Here is a picture of Gamma...sorry, can't get the photo any bigger, but here he is!

Here he is w/my friend's daughter. Aren't they cute?

Bulldogs Can Break Through (Screen) Doors!

No kidding! Tonight I saw it firsthand! While we don't live "in the country," we do have some that live in our area that apparently wish they did. On our street I've seen tractors, snowmobiles, electric scooters, mini motorcycles, & even this week (no lie) a horse & carriage!!

Well tonight, someone decided to take their 4 wheeler down our street, I'm sure it was absolutely NEEDED, as all they did was go fast down the street & then fast up the street... Anyway, this 4 wheeler made a high pitched noise...a noise Howie did NOT like.

So he started barking...then he started running...towards the front screen door....and he jumped...INTO THE SCREEN! Popped the screen out & bent the frame a bit. Aggghhh!!! 50 pounds of bullyforce I know can give you a bruise if you're in his way, the screen never stood a chance. Thankfully I was able to "MacGyver" the screen on the outside back into place...(I'll do a better job tomorrow) & the frame seems to work fine...it just has a slight dent in it now. Thank goodness we didn't go with the full screen door....he would have gone right through!

Lord only knows what he would have done to that noisy 4 wheeler!

Petal Watch 2009 is OVER!

My husband called me at work to tell me that Vivi left me a present. I said, "oooh a petal?" He said, "no, all 3 petals!" They were all connected by the green part of the headband! Seeing it (yes, again I was excited to see poop), I couldn't believe that was in her...along w/the other 3 petals!! My goodness...she must feel like she's got an empty tummy!

It was about a foot long & I just am so grateful she was able to pass it. I'm not going to pretend to know the inner workings of a bully, but I'm just glad it didn't get wrapped around anything...that wouldn't have been good at all! Somebully must have been looking over my little girl! (Thanks Ollie!)

So the ending tally was Howie: 1 petals, Vivi: 6 petals, plastic pieces, & a felt headband cover. This is what it looked like before...I won't post an after...(but know that I did take a photo for posterity & shock value of those that can handle it) you can almost see her plotting revenge in this photo!!


Petal Watch 2009 is officially over!

Who would have thunk I'd be excited for poop!!

I know I never thought I would be; but when that poop produces a petal....ALLELUIA!! That goldmine-like find happened this morning! Yay Vivi!! I couldn't have been happier, I basically skipped into the house after I found it...well, not before properly disposing of said find.

So Petal Watch 2009 is now up to 4 total...still need 3 more...but judging at the compact size of this morning's petal, it very well could be that Vivi has already passed them. I guess time will tell!

Petal Watch 2009 continues....

Petal Watch 2009 continues...

Apparently, Vivi wasn't the only one who thought the flower headband looked good enough to eat. Howie passed one this moring! I couldn't believe it...at first I thought it was a green been...but it was a petal...all rolled up to come out in one peice.

So now we have 3 of 7....lord knows if either of them passed any earlier in the week when we weren't looking for them...however, they're pretty hard to miss so I'm guessing we didn't.

Petal Watch continues...

Green Beans & Headbands

So far my weekend has consisted of two things...green beans & headbands. Odd combo right? I guess that's the life a bully owner leads sometimes. Since I was told Doc needs to lose weight earlier this week (see his page for more details), he has looked really sad when I give him his food; like he knows it's not going to be enough for him. My friend Mary suggested I give him some filler (like green beans) along with the food. Surprisingly, he LOVES them! When Howie saw that Doc was getting something else in his food, he wanted some too. So I gave all 3 bullies some green beans with their food & they ALL love it!!

So I went to the store & got 9 more cans of green beans. Hopefully that will last the week! I really hope the green beans will fill Doc up without the calories. I just don't want him looking sad when I give him his food anymore & of course I want him to lose weight.

Headbands...I have bought a few different "holiday" ones to take photos of my bullies. You know really cute antlers, bunny ears & even a flower. The bullies looked really cute in them when they wore them...not so cute when one eats them! That's right...EATS them. Vivi apparently thought the flower one looked good enough to eat...so she did! At first we couldn't figure out what the plastic that she threw up was from..just some small white pieces. Then this morning it all came together when I found two of the petals in her kennel that weren't there when she went to bed.

We have 5 more petals to go...Spoke to the vet & they said if she's acting fine & having no issues going to the bathroom, she should be ok....She will just eventually pass them. We did give her some hydrogen peroxide (to induce vomiting) last night after the plastic pieces came up, but nothing else did in 30 mins...so that means that she didn't JUST eat it. **Side note: this does work very well if it's something recently eaten....like diaper wipes...yep, she's eaten those too.**

So say some prayers that the other 5 petals make an appearance sooner rather than later! And if you think you need that headband for a cute photo...make sure you don't store it anywhere near where the bullies could get to it. Yes, I've learned my lesson....

New Page on Site

I have updated the website with a page that I think I will use to post info on recent shows. I'm not loving how the buttons are now on two lines, but I can't figure out how to change it for anything.

I decided to do a separate page rather than a blog post simply to have more photos. Not sure if I will continue with it or not, so I guess take a look & let me know what you think.

This first installment is regarding Vivi's 1st specialty show! She did great!! It was a really fun weekend & a very successful one for Vivi's dad...I can't tell you why, you'll have to look at the site! Ha! :0)

National Police Week

You may have looked at the home page & the bullies’ pages & wondered why I'm honoring National Police Week. There is only one reason. My husband is a police officer. In fact, next week marks his 11 year anniversary as being a sworn police officer. Crazy how fast time flies.

One year, he stood guard at the local Police Memorial and it was quite moving. A few years later, one of his former Sergeants was killed while on duty. My husband was working that night & when he called to tell me he was ok & that a cop had been shot, all I could think about was the wife/family that wasn't getting this call, but instead getting the "other" call. I tried to put myself in her shoes & it was at this point I realized no matter how much I tried, I could only begin to imagine how much her life changed in a matter of a phone call. This really hit me that what happened to this officer could happen to any one of them...at any time.

I'm choosing to remember National Police Week, not only for those officers who were killed in the line of duty, but also for their families & co-workers; as their deaths were never in vain and impact many.

Thank you!

Love them while you can...

Two weeks ago, 3 different friends in my life had 3 different dog situations that made me so sad & so grateful for my bullies & kitties (yes, I don't talk about them much on here, but my kitties are just as important to me...they just don't like the camera as much). I went home & just squeezed them a little harder, gave them a little extra food/treat, let them sit in my lap a little longer even if I was uncomfortable....it didn't matter, they were here & I loved them!

One friend had adopted a rescue dog in January....sadly, two weeks ago he had to return the dog to the rescue group because it wasn't working out. My friend was heart-broken because he really loved the dog, but the dog was hurting himself (i.e. running into windows/doors to chase cars) & my friend did try to make things better, but nothing worked. He did have a family lined up to take him, but the rescue group needed to take him back...their rules. I can only imagine how sad it must have been for my friend to say good-bye to this dog through a kennel door.

Another friend's St Bernard, Bailey, had a hard time breathing while going for a walk one Saturday afternoon. She rushed her to the emergency vet, only to have the dog collapse as soon as they arrived. Originally Bailey was diagnosed with congestive heart failure, but later it was diagnosed as larynx paralysis & she had to have surgery. Thankfully, the surgery went well, but recovery will take time.

Lastly, another friend brought her 7 year old Westie, Ava, to the vet because she just didn't seem herself over the weekend. At first the vet thought she hurt her back, but did some blood work just to be sure...turns out she had lymphoma...stage 6 (the highest stage). What a shock! She had weekly chemo sessions for the last two weeks & had some good days, but more bad days. Unfortunately, Ava just couldn't fight it anymore & is now on the Rainbow Bridge playing with my Ollie.

Three different situations, three different dogs, all in one week's time. You just never know what will happen & when. So again, love them while you can.

Shows...they are a comin'!

Last week a friend of mine asked me if I had any shows coming up...I started counting...2 in May, 2 in June & 2 in July. YIKES!! That's a lot of shows!! And a lot of outfits to think about! :0) Of course I could choose not to go to all of them, but since most are close to home (less than a 90 min drive one-way), I feel like I should do them??

The first one in May is this coming weekend. It will be Vivi's first specialty show. (Specialty shows are those that are only one breed.) There will be almost 80 bulldogs there Friday, Saturday & Sunday! How fun to see that many bullies in one place!! Vivi's dad Hemi & uncle Otto will be shown too...as will her littermate Ozzie! I'm excited to see Ozzie because he & Vivi were the two all white bullies in the litter. I'm looking forward to see how much bigger Ozzie is than Vivi because usually boys are bigger than girls. Another fun fact about Ozzie is that his family has another bully named Izzie...Izzie is Howie's littermate! So it's like we're a total bully family!! LOL!!

Here are photos of Ozzie & Vivi around the same age:

The show this weekend should be a very good time! I'm very much looking forward to it & will be practicing with Vivi all week to get her ready! Gotta get that whole up the ramp thing to work!! Hahahaha

The Bully Effect

It's the phenomenon that occurs in at least once a day in my house. It doesn't take much to start this phenomenon & it can happen at any time of day. I call it the Bully Effect.

It's when one bully will hear something (car door slam, rustle of a bag, cat jumping off the bed) & that one bully (usually Howie) will start barking & running towards the noise. Then the other two will join in the barking & all 3 will be running around, usually towards the back door, looking to bark the noise back to where it belongs.

One time, Vivi was barking in her sleep....that bark prompted Howie to start barking & of course Doc joined in & then Vivi woke up to help out! Ha!