Obama Dog Bo

Well the votes are in and the Portuguese Water Dog won. I do think it's rather appropriate Bo came from President Kennedy's brother Teddy since Obama has been compared to JFK in so many ways. I think it's also neat that Portuguese Water Dogs are being used for genetic study. There are only about 1000 of these dogs in the world, the breed started from 30 core dogs and the breeders especially in the United States have always tried to breed out deformities and any disease that may crop up so the bloodlines are easily traced. PWD are also good genetic subjects because they are small and large and different colors. Geneticists studying these dogs have isolated a gene that may cause dogs to be small which I think is fascinating. The story on how the PWD helps genetics research is summarized here in the La Times.

Bo is also a rescue which is what President Obama wanted, it seems he had a previous family that just didn't quite mesh with him or something. So it all turned out good except Bo is supposedly banned from President Obama's bed. That is probably true for now, wonder if it will stick? I'm sure Bo will never know that he is probably one of the most famous dogs in the world, he will just think this is the way life should be like my little white rat (OK he's fluffy and looks more like a giant q tip than a rat but I call him my white rat) thinks, he doesn't think he's spoiled, this is just how life should be!

I wonder if the Obama's will stop @ one dog? Bo might get lonely? President Obama seems to be plenty smitten with this dog considering it was a present for his children? Bo is truly and animal that gives pause and probably one that will give paws too, pun intended.

Bestow Bichon Puppy Photos At Two Weeks

Here's new pictures of Champion Bestow's Gift of Grace's litter of prize Bichon Frise puppies, and I do mean prize, read a few posts below this one to get further details about the mother and the breeder. The mama is more commonly known as Ruthy and she is a PROUD mama as she should be. Notice the little black eyes starting to peep open. Soon they will be walking and barking and doing all those cute puppy things.

For the curious they didn't get too close to the Easter Eggs, the colors on the puppies is for identification purposes. The've gone from 1/2 a pound or so @ birth to over 1 lb. If you are interested email me @ moads4u@gmail.com and I will pass your email on to the breeder.

All I've got to say besides that is AWWWWWWWW, they are simply adorable. Thanks to Diane for letting me share her beautiful babies with the world, and of course thanks to Ruthy too!

We Would Die If Mama Leaves?

Mama was loading stuff in Daddies truck, this is me Dispatch talking, the white one. It worries us when she does that because sometime she could forget to get out of the truck and leave with Daddy. Well this time it did happen? They got in the pickup and left without us but they came back after about 10 minutes. When Daddy leaves it's for a long time, many sleeps, 5 or 6 sometimes. If mama left who would feed and water us? Not to mention pet us and be there @ night to sleep with and all the essential things she does like listen when we find something interesting like the gray cat is trying to eat the cat food again. It's our cat mama says but we don't believe her. Plus the cats would probably start ruling the world if we didn't get out once and awhile to remind them we are the true rulers and protectors of the lawn @ least. Just cuz they kill snakes and mice and moles and birds proves nothing, oh and rabbits, if they would hold still we would kill them too because we are DOGS! Anyway when they got back we were sitting by the door with our noses plastered against it making sure she didn't forget and leave with Daddy and if she did she remembered US!! She didn't leave with him in the big truck but you never know. Mama told Daddy oh look when she got back, she meant us looking so worried, I could hear her because I have supersonic hearing being a bichon ya know? She had to come back in the house to get the camera cuz Daddy told her she needed a picture of that, he pretends he's macho but he's more of a pushover than Mama. Daddy bet her she couldn't get out the door without us but she did, we listen when she gets that stern voice, it's better that we listen. Anyway all is fine now. We are full and have fresh water and mama is with us.
Daddy said there was a terrier someone dumped in a town not far from here, mama is going to email the animal shelter people down there and tell them about him. Daddy said he fed him and almost brought him home. Mama asked for another bichon, Daddy said NO. Oh well, I'm all the dog anyone could want but I miss Mugsey if he's outside?

Mugsey Marley and Me Look Alike

Hi, my name is Mugsey, my mama is typing this for me, my paws are much too big. This is my baby picture. Mama says I looked so much like Marley it wasn't even funny, they hadn't made the movie yet, this was in the spring of 2007. Now everyone says I'm a Marley lookalike or look alike however you want to say it. This picture was taken about 5 minutes after she brought me in the door. Daddy said something about a yellow puppy although he kept telling mama they couldn't have another dog, especially living in a camper cleaning up after Katrina. Somehow Daddy relaxed his rules for me? There's a commercial on about some of these mugs may have bugs but there aint no bugs on me. Mama said I looked like the dog on the commercial so that was my name, Mugsey. Makes me sound rather tough don't ya think?
I have a "big" brother, his name is Dispatch, here he is on the bed, I think he's just about the best thing besides bones. He started to play with me a couple weeks after I came to live with them. The first two weeks were rough though. See Dispatch still has all his tail hair?

Dispatch liked to play pulley pulley with me, I soon learned to rip all the toys to shreds. Mama won't let me have any more except one expensive stuffed dog that I haven't destroyed because it's too well made. The face is gone though? I'll get it chewed up soon and then she will have to buy new ones. BTW there's a video of me howling with Dispatch about this age if you want to click on the videos on the right? You have to look through the other videos to get to it though.

Mama was cleaning out a camper they had in storage on a horse farm for one of my human brothers who worked for my Daddy. Dispatch told me he could make the horse eat me. It didn't but I wasn't taking any chances.
Soon after this we came back to Missouri, I was born in Mississippi under a storage container. Daddy said they rescued me. Mama reminds him I was in the air conditioned house with the kids when they "rescued" me. My doggie mama was a golden retriever and my doggie daddy was a huge black Labrador. I got my size more from my doggie mama but I'm still trying to grow! When we came back to Missouri we lived on something called a farm and I could go without a leash (what a relief) and there was another old grouchy dog named Skeeter. She's now one of my best friends but boy was she grouchy @ first. As you can see by the picture below I got most of Dispatches tail hair pulled out by early fall. It was such a fun handle, I'd grab him by it and he would growl and mama would yell, sometimes I even tried to pull him by it but Dispach is a fierce warrior under that fluffy white hair. We were playing here, Dispatch does something called a Bichon Blitz but I think he just goes nuts and thinks he's faster than me?

Mama said I was too big for Dispatch's bed and put it up on a table so I couldn't get it because I sort of liked to chew it too. Daddy came home and I had to show him I could still fit in the bed. I don't know what Mama is talking about sometimes?
All of this required I sleep. Mama doesn't like me sleeping in this chair much, I have a chair in the family room I can sleep in but she gets really loud when I take my naps in the living room?

I tried to shield Dispatch when Mama dressed him up in a tutu from Sara my human niece, she tastes good most of the time when I lick her. Anyway mama remembered the tutu she had made for Sara's first Halloween and dressed poor Dispatch in it. I was a little jealous but I really didn't want my own tutu.


Later I learned about ice and how it was wise just to lay down and not try to walk sometimes. I was tired after all this and had to sleep some more.



I learned to watch for Daddy when he was outside. See how I am camouflaged in the jungle tree? Mama says pay no attention to the unfinished window sill, she is just glad to have a wall and have sheet rock up, this used to be a garage door before I came around Dispatch said.I am guarding continuously, sometime I must hide if the danger gets too close though. Mama says I'm not nearly as dumb as she thought I was. I had an accident in the house when Mama was really tired and didn't let me outside in the middle of the night. She didn't find it till she had let me out the next morning but I knew she would be mad so I tried to go live with my best friend Fema who lives down the hill, Fema's mama is my mamas best friend and Fema is a miniature schnauzer, sometimes the schnauzer across the road comes to visit too and we all play in the front lawn. Nothing will attack then because of all 5 fierce dogs guarding the place huh?

All of this guarding and talking about it has made me tired, I have to sleep again.
I have found out that a warm human is the best thing to sleep by on a lazy Sunday morning, this is Jacob my human nephew, Jacob is good to me and feeds me human food too. We are watching a dog show on PBS, well Jacob and Dispatch are, I'm trying to catch a few zzzz's which doesn't sound like a bad idea. See Dispatch's tail hair did grow back!! I'm really not a bad dog.

Bichon Frise Puppies Pictures

Ok, folks here are the bichon puppy pictures I promised.


And here they are about a week old.



Aren't they adorable? The lady in the middle is their vet. Yes they've already been to the vet and pronounced beautiful healthy bichon puppies. The mother's name is Champion Bestow's Gift of Grace (doesn't she look like she's just so happy to have puppies?), yes champion, these are not your run of the mill bichon frise puppies. We prefer to call the mama Ruthy though or rather her "mama" does, I've not had the pleasure of meeting her or the puppies in person. The breeder is the breeder of many champion dogs, sire and dam are handpicked for the best qualities. The breeder also lectures and writes on many subjects ranging from canine care to nutrition, she also grooms and is knowledgeable about all canine subjects. But getting down to brass tacks her bichons are more spoiled than mine is basically. The dogs are raised in the breeders home and are well on their way to being socialized. Not all these puppies will be show dogs but some will.

If you are interested in one of these puppies email me @ moads4u@gmail.com and I will forward your email to her. Be forewarned though, she has the strictest policies as to where the bichon puppies go. They will go to non smoking homes and be kept inside, no ifs ands or buts. She keeps the puppies till they are 12 weeks of age and has a very detailed review of the potential owners, she is located in California. The mother dogs are only allowed to breed a limited number of times, I believe 3 but I may be wrong and the intervals are carefully spaced for optimum health of the mother and puppies.

And now here is a picture of one of the breeders other dogs, doesn't he look happy? He should he just won best of breed. But he's happy anyway just to be a bichon. His name is Champion Bestows Pillar of Strength or Rocky. He's a real looker isn't he?

So far the worst thing I've found about bichons is they make for difficult typing. The left arm is almost useless as it is the support for my dog, he is allowing me partial use of it now but if it's serious cuddle time he must be supported so he is held sitting on my lap but upright with his head resting on my shoulder. This makes for optimum viewing of the window where the cats might appear or a dog and perhaps a car may go by, if things get dull the head gets lower till it's nap time.

When the puppies are a little older I will post more pictures.

Bichon Breeds

This is a picture of my bichon puppy when he was like 6 or 8 weeks old. I know I have more, have a feeling they are on the computer I gave my stepdaughter. Anyway he was a cute little thing, if you want a dog to be a companion I can heartliy recommend bichons. In fact I'm on a bichon board which is a good place to go for information. The name is bichon.ca.

There are also a couple more web pages to tell you about bichons.

Here's a link.

And here is another.

If you want to look further. Right now I have to quit writing because my own little puffball is demanding to be let out AGAIN to play with the cats. He calls it play, they call it being attacked.

I will soon have a bichon frise breeder highlighted on this webpage, she's just had a litter of the most amazing little white Bichon frise puppies you could ever want to see.

Back to the bichon breeds. First of all my bichon may not be a pure bichon frise although he looks it, he may be a bichon poo or another cross, he was supposed to be a poodle. Long story. I've had poodles, in my estimation bichons are more human oriented although my poodles were more farm poodles than typical poodles, romped with the big dogs etc. There are 5 or 6 bichon breeds depending on if you count the Lowchen. There is also the Maltese, the Bolognese, the Coton de Teulear, the Havanese, and of course the Bichon Frise.

Actually you would think from looking at a bichon they are sturdy cute cute poodles with black rims around their eyes that make them highly expessive. Poodles aren't even that closely related and I'm sure everyone is familiar with the Maltese breed which is a close relative.

I'll expand on all of this later. Just let it be said if you are looking for a companion dog a bichon can't be beat. For more stories of my bichon look through my blog, or go to bichon.ca, you will see what demands they make on your time and wallet. As far as I'm concerned it's all well worth it.

Labradoodle or Portuguese Water Dog for the Obama's?

OK, I admit I posted this in January the first time but since the Obama's haven't gotten a dog yet ( OK, he's been sort of busy with GM and those conferences in London and Iran and all and she's been busy hugging the Queen and denying pregnancy rumors, I LIKE Michelle OK! ) but I'm dying to find out what they do choose, I still think the labradoodle looks like a lanky bichon? But there are those who say labradoodle isn't a breed so they should stick to the Portuguese Water Dog? What's your opinion?

Link to the white Labradoodle puppy breeder Copper Canyon Labradoodles.

To me the labradoodle looks like a lanky bichon but maybe I am just a little touched about bichons?

The other choice is a Portuguese Water Dog, I think this is Teddy Kennedy's choice? The picture above is from the American Kennel Club, don't want to get into trouble.

They both seem like nice dogs. Good rambunctious dogs. Not foo foo dogs like Obama said he didn't want.

OK, we have a foo foo dog but he's just really cute and cuddly, let him think something is attacking mama and he turns into the tazmanian devil. One night I heard Skeeter the terrier fussing out by the bar-b-que grill. Seems a possum had made it's way under the grill, opossums are not known for their speed or being particulary ferocious so I decided I either had to get it out of there or kill it to make Skeeter shut up. I got a shovel and managed to get le possum on it and drag it out from under the grill. Dispatch wasn't very old, less than a year but when the possum came out and snarled he threw himself on it teeth barred and growling because le possum was coming toward beloved mama. Well duh, if I have a shovel and am pulling le possum toward me it's going to get closer. Opossum left the shovel and the yard with a bouncy white butt in close pursuit and a black slow butt behind that (Skeeter).
Foo foo dog also shows no mercy when confronted with strange dogs in his yard. I've seen him chase huge hounds off and a blue heeler. I'm standing there actually calling the blue heeler and Dispatch catches sight of him and it's bar the door Katie. A little white cotton fluff ball heading down the hill in hot pursuit of a VERY scared blue heeler. Just didn't make sense to me, maybe the blue heeler thought the q-tips had gone mad or it was a ghost?

Anyway all the best of luck to the Obama's with their puppy.

And if you are considering adopting go here for a list of dogs just waiting to be glad to see you when you walk in the door. There was an article in People I believe that said pets turned into shelters are on the rise but adoptions are also on the rise. Think about it. You could have a dog beside you whining to go out to his cat friends so he can chase them like I do?