Bull Headed January 14, 2008

Bluto often sleeps most of day long without more noise than the occasional snort, proving he might be the laziest dog I have ever met.

However, lately when he is in his kennel at night he has been whining.  We got into the habit of letting him out before we went to bed, and if we ever forgot, we would find quite the mess in the kennel in the morning.  I always found this odd, since most dogs won’t go in the kennel, but read online Bulldogs will make a mess in their kennel when they are upset with their owners.

This was also confirmed by Melody of Lobopuppies.com who indicated she has a ‘diva dog’ who will relieve herself on the floor if Melody doesn’t throw her toy as soon as it is dropped at her feet!

However, cleaning the kennel and the dog is much easier since we now own a dog that is less than 7lbs, so I was happy to do it, blaming myself for not paying attention.

However, today, Travis let Bluto out for his morning duties and put him back into his kennel after since Monkey and I were not up yet.  I came downstairs less than 30 minutes later and found a urine soaked puppy and a very smelly living room.

I got everything cleaned up, the dog fed and medicated (the last of his second prescription of giardia meds) and started my morning routine.  I fed Monkey, cleaned the kitchen and living room and pulled out the vacuum.  I let Bluto outside to do his business again, and when I let him in he immediately hid under the couch because I started vacuuming the living room and he’s a big baby.

As I walked back from putting the vacuum away, I hear Monkey say “She peed on the carpet” (Monkey thinks everyone is a ’she’).  I came around the corner and sure enough – not one, not two, but three different pee spots on the carpet!

Why?  We had a good morning, he was pampered and brushed and fed and even had a piece of cheese with his pill.  We had played and he was curled up by the fire just prior to this whole incident.

Could he be so bull headed that he was mad that I actually vacuumed even though he doesn’t like it?  If that is the case, what everyone has said is right.  My second baby is my problem child.

Blury Vision December 21, 2007

I have been thinking a lot about perspective ever since Monkey decorated the Christmas tree and only decorated the bottom half. I offered several times to pick her up so she could reach higher, but really she wanted it decorated just for her line of sight.

Travis and I research most things. We are very internet savvy, and we don’t purchase anything without a lot of studying and prayer. Typically due to our personalities, Travis more does more of the research, and I more of the prayer, but both of us try to do what we feel God is leading us to do.

The same theory applied when we purchased a puppy from lobopuppies. However, this was something I had done most of the research on, and I felt like I convinced Travis to follow my lead. Then the dog was sick. Nothing life threatening, and nothing that makes us love him any less, but sick nonetheless. The following day I found the online articles about epuppypro and lobopuppies. I kept trying to tell myself there are always two sides to every story, and to focus on my situation. But, I was embarrassed since I pretty much told Travis ‘don’t worry, I’ve got this one’. I felt like I had let the family down, and I felt I trusted a stranger after just a few phone calls to do the right thing, and in my perspective that trust was misplaced.

After several conversations it occurred to me that Melody at lobopuppies was doing the right thing in her eyes. She had shipped the dog the day after we purchased him, and had followed the contract with regard to what she would and would not cover as far as the health guarantee. She has been running ragged due to the holiday season, and she has a family member who is very ill and in the hospital. Once she realized how I viewed the situation, she did offer to pay for our vet bills and she did order the pedigree with no charge to us. As I mentioned in a previous post, the money for the vet bills are not important to us. We just want the dog to be healthy, and care and upkeep of any pet is to be expected. We are not going to send her the bills, but it restored my faith that she offered, and it instantly changed my view of the situation.

Bluto Health Update December 20, 2007

We heard back from the vet today regarding Blutos fecal exam. He has giardia and worms in addition to the other problems mentioned previously (very dry skin and possibly no testicles). The giardia and worms are the cause of the loose stools (hopefully). The good news is these are very treatable things, but the fact that they were never treated is a reflection on the poor conditions it can be assumed he was living in. The vet said it was impossible he got these things while in our care since we have only had him since Monday night.

Therefore we have paid over $100 in vet care for a dog we have had less than 72 hours (and that was after the vet gave us a free sample of the first prescribed medication)… so it begins.

Melody at lobopuppies did email me back after the prior post and indicated she has been very busy. She agreed to accept our vet records even though they were not faxed within 24 hours since we were waiting for a complete set of tests. So, that is good news.

However, as most of you know my spiritual gift of discernment is sometimes a gift, and sometimes a curse. In this case I really have started to feel as though all of the information available was not provided to us. I really want things to work out, but in my heart I still feel as though something is not right.

Big ol’ Puppy Dog Tears December 20, 2007

After we purchased Bluto, I looked online and discovered Melody’s sister is the owner of epuppypro.com She sells French and English Bulldogs and is also based in TX. I had looked at her website prior to purchasing Bluto, therefore I was not surprised to learn they were related since there are links to each others pages from their home pages. However, I was surprised to learn epuppypro.com has claims against them from unhappy customers. People commented the dogs were sick upon arrival, and one had even died, however according to the claimant, the dog was not replaced.

There was also a claim against lobopuppies.com, indicating the claimant was upset the dog was tattooed (which was a surprise for us too when he arrived) and the dog had worms and parvo. Since these are not life threatening, no guarantee was honored.

As I said pretty clearly, these are claims made online, therefore I have no way of knowing how valid the claims are, nor do I know what both sides of the story is. The owner of epuppypro.com was questioned by the local news and said she had no way of knowing the dog was sick, and the guarantee was not honored because the family did not have a vet complete the paperwork indicating the dog was sick within 72 hours, as stated in the contract.

I do know that we were surprised to see the tattoo upon arrival, as that was not disclosed to us prior to purchasing. But what is more disturbing is the vet told us yesterday he cannot feel his testicles. The vet said it could be an indication the dog is younger than listed on his paperwork, or he may not have any. Additionally, his paperwork claims he had shots at six weeks, which our vet stated is too young for shots therefore they are not effective and will need to be repeated in about a month. This is now a cost I have to incur. The dog also has loose stools, which could be a result of the changes he has gone through – or it may not be.

Prior to going to the vet, I emailed Melody at lobopuppies and requested the vet contact information (name, address, phone) in case our vet had questions. We had also been emailing about his registration, however she charges $200 to register the dog to us and stated the paperwork can take a very long time to come in. I asked her to forward me the paperwork since we are still undecided about registration and if we decide to do it, we can send in the papers and fees.

I have had no response from the email.

Puppy Love December 17, 2007

We did it.

For Christmas, Travis bought me a puppy online from Lobo Puppies and we received our little baby today. We just purchased him yesterday, so we were very happy with the quick turn around. As I was standing in line at the airport behind all of the grumpy people who had lost luggage, I noticed a small kennel with his name on it, but the door was open and there was no puppy inside.

I pointed the kennel out to Travis, and the lady behind the counter heard me and asked if I was there to pick up a puppy. I said I was, and she said she could help me so I wouldn’t have to stand in line. She asked who I was there for, and I told her Stewart – a bulldog. She said ‘ahhh… the little whining baby… we have him back here.’ I followed her to a small room where the tables had been pushed together to make a little pen. She picked him up and said ‘here’s your mommy!’ and I almost cried. He is so perfect.

I have to admit we were skeptical buying something like this online (you wouldn’t believe what I have seen Travis do in Photoshop) but Melody at LoBo Puppies was a pleasure to work with and the photos of the dogs are very accurate.

We decided to name him Bluto. For those of you who aren’t sure where that name came from, Bluto is Popeye’s original nemesis. In 1957 Blutos name was changed to Brutus because the studio thought there was a copywright issue with the name Bluto. However in 1960 the studio realized there was no issue, and changed his name back to Bluto.

Bluto slept all of the way to PetSmart and awoke to a store full of cooing employees. Everyone thought he was so cute and the groomer said he was one of the most beautiful bullies she has ever seen, and even commented that he had a very nicely cropped tail.

He came home and was a ball of energy… for about ten minutes. He rolled around on the floor, climbed all over Monkey and threw his bone to show how tough he was. He snarfed some food, then he fell asleep – standing up! I moved him to his bed, in which he slept for a little while. He then rolled out of his bed, scooted up to the fire place and fell back asleep.

Yep, he’s a Chillemi already.