Surprise!!

I'm just going to cut to the chase since I already spilled the beans on Facebook today. Adam and I are getting a french bulldog!!! Yay!!! We pick her up next Saturday! Next week is going to go by veeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrryyyyy slowly.

I'm sure you're thinking that this is a little out of left field since I've had great dane puppy fever for quite a while now. Adam and I have actually been going back and forth on the subject of getting a french bulldog for a few months now. Technically he gave me his seal of approval to get one a while back. The catch, and the reason why I didn't say anything about it on the blog, is that he wanted to keep us as a strictly three dog maximum household. I wasn't willing to give up that final spot to a non-dane, so the discussion kind of ended there. But during that time I had mentioned to my obedience instructor that we were getting interested in a frenchie. She and her partner have two and I just LOVE them!! We would talk a little about it during lessons and at matches. When it finally came down to Adam holding fast on the idea of only three dogs, I had to let go of the idea of getting a frenchie.

Things have changed. Our time frame for getting a third dane has been extended a bit, which has opened the door for the potential of a frenchie. I brought up the topic with Adam last weekend. He mulled it over and I got the thumbs up to start looking. We were open to pretty much anything, though we were leaning more towards an older dog. Once I got the thumbs up from Adam, I immediately emailed my obedience instructor and told her that we were officially looking and if she heard anything, to let me know. Within 24 hours, I think, I got an email back from her saying that she found us our frenchie!! For this and many other reasons, I freaking love Jill!!

Adam wasn't thinking that we would find something so fast, but after a bit of mulling over again, I got the official thumbs up to go for it! So next Saturday we will be bringing home our very own frenchie!!!

Her name is Ruthie and she's a 4 year old finished AKC champion. And she's a fawn. Regardless of size, Heffner is slowly turning out to be like his name sake and surrounding himself with blond bitches.;0) Adam and I are both very excited to have her become part of our family.

And wouldn't you know it, but the French Bulldog Club of America just happens to be having their 2012 national specialty in our area next year (also got that little tid bit of information from Jill!). I'm planning on talking to Ruthie's breeder to see if she's okay with her staying intact until after the national specialty so that I can show her in the breed ring there. And we just might have to do some performance events as well.;0)

I will admit that Ruthie will "technically" be our non-competition dog. Part of the fabulousness of having a breed who was created with the intention of being a lap dog is that she can stay at home with Adam and keep him company while I'm out with the danes doing whatever. That's kind of the plan. I still plan on working with her and I think it would be fun to see what she thinks of some of the performance sports. So we'll see just exactly where this goes.

In the mean time, I've got some shopping to do! We have basically nothing that is small dog friendly. We do have a wire crate that should work, though it'll be a little on the big side. Otherwise, I need to buy dishes, bedding, collars (SWEET!!), and whatever other stuff I can think of. And since we're doing some camping this summer, I'll definitely need to find her a life vest. And probably a coat to keep her warm in case the nights get too cold. And a dog bed for in the office at home. It's a shame that we're getting into summer right now. That makes it a lot harder to justify buying dog clothes.;0)

I do believe that the title of the blog is going to have to change. I'm thinking something along the lines of Life With Big Dogs and a Midget. What do you think???? Oh yeah, and pictures will follow once we have her. You'll just have to wait until then.:0)