Our foster dogs’ stockings have a little more stuffing this year thanks to the generosity of the Portland, Oregon, French Bulldog Meetup and David Childs Photography!

For the fourth straight year, meet-up coordinator Nicole and her family teamed up with David Childs and Karin Cerenghino of David Child’s Photography to raise money for needy dogs.

The 2008 and 2009 sessions benefited FBRN, and this year the event raised $700 for our foster dogs while providing participants with beautiful, professional quality holiday photos. What a fantastic idea! Imagine if even 10% of the Frenchie meetups in the country hosted similar events? Think how far that money would go to helping Frenchies in need!

Check out more photos, details and how-to's on the blog. FBRN extends a huge holiday thank you to all those who participated in this year's event!

Poochinis & Pet-icures was a Success!

Last week I hosted Poochinis & Pet-icures at a local pet store in Austin, TX. With the help of Lia & Cooper, we collected $60 in donations for FBRN! We gave out lots of information to people about FBRN, and answered many questions about how the rescue operates. I was glad to have this opportunity to raise awareness for FBRN and of course to show off adorable Lia.

Erie, PA Fundraiser! FBRN volunteers Jenn and Chris hosted a rescue table at the Erie, Pa., Kennel Club Dog Show in January. They raised $380 for the cause by selling raffle tickets for a basket of wines, chocolates, and a gift certificate to a local Italian eatery using their best sales tools, brindle babes Truffles and Hannah.

Jenn and Chris "spoke French" for eight hours straight, educating show visitors about rescue and surprising many with the fact that yes, there are homeless Frenchies out there.

Many thanks to FBRN's vendor-neighbor: www.VincentStrangioStore.com, who donated $1 from each shirt sold on the first day of the show to FBRN, AND gave Chris and Jenn two Frenchie t-shirts to sell at the FBRN table.

LMS RAISED $200 for FBRN!! This donation is from the LMS Group (Last Man Standing), football pool that is now down to less than 50 people for the $250,000 prize money. They donate $250,000 to about 50 charities and the winner gets the other half. This is a wonderful group of "Animals" themselves and often go by this nickname. The Zookeeper is in charge all monies and maintains supervision over all animals involved in the group. So I would personally like to give special thanks to him for not forgetting FBRN and helping those frenchies in need.

Once again FBRN Volunteer Patty and her family pulled off another great Longaberger basket bingo!
Thanks so much to them for their fun idea to raise much needed money for the FBRN foster dogs!

AnKle Soup Book Signing

Several FBRN volunteers recently attended a booksigning event for the delightful children's picture book, Ankle Soup, held at Pylones in the Grand Central Terminal Shops/ New York City. Ankle Soup, written by Maureen Sullivan and illustrated by Alison Josephs, is about a French bulldog named Carlos and his journey through Grand Central Terminal in New York City on Thanksgiving Day. Those who attended the event had the pleasure of meeting Maureen, Alison and Carlos, the handsome subject of Ankle Soup. Carlos charmed the crowd, along with his friend Miss Dari, another frenchie owned by one of our FBRN volunteers. It was an exciting evening which drew quite a rush hour crowd. Our volunteers were quite busy throughout the evening answering questions about French bulldogs, educating the public about rescue and spreading the word about FBRN. Many FBRN flyers were handed out and one went home inside each copy of Ankle Soup that was purchased that evening.

Maureen and Alison, both frenchie lovers and FBRN supporters, generously donated ten signed copies of Ankle Soup which were sold on our website to raise funds for FBRN. If you'd like to view Maureen Sullivan reading Ankle Soup, you can go to www.anklesoup.com and look for the podcastGO link at the bottom of the page.

WALKTOBERFEST

On September 22nd, 2007 the Berks County Humane Society held their 30th annual Walktoberfest for the animals at Shearers Barbecue Ranch in Sinking Springs, PA. In addition to Walktoberfest, vendors showed a variety of clothing, and physical therapists, groomers and trainers demonstrated their trade. A beer and wine garden and musicians entertained the guests. Crista Tam and her Frenchie Secret, and Marilyn Traeger and her Frenchie Newman manned the FBRN booth and did a brisk business educating the public about FBRN! Newman and Secret lured the crowd with their ever-changing costumes and bag of tricks. They raised $132.00 and signed up new volunteers. Fun was had by all!

FBRN at Puppy Mill Awareness Day 2007

Several FBRN volunteers (both human and frenchie) recently made the trip to the Puppy Mill Awareness Day, 2007 in Intercourse, Pennsylvania. This was FBRN's second year participating in the event, which was created to raise public awareness of the cruel and deplorable conditions within puppy mills. FBRN has been working closely with the Puppy Mill Awareness Day Organization to spread the word that we will find a way to stop the practice of "manufacturing" dogs for profit. This was an exceptionally special year, with a candlelight vigil on the steps of the Capitol (in Harrisburg) and with the largest crowd ever. The march through the streets of Intercourse was both exciting and inspiring! Tourists were snapping pictures as the protestors marched through the busiest tourist sections. Hopefully when they got home they shared those vacation pictures with people who did not know about Pennsylvania's dirty secret!

FBRN's participation in the Puppy Mill Awareness Day Organization was enhanced this year by two of FBRN's most committed members (Jan Frymyer and Shelby Carland) joining The Awareness Day Organization as official volunteers. Both Jan and Shelby have extensive experience with mill dogs and devote an enormous amount of time to rescue. As a rescue organization FBRN is incredibly fortunate to have the amazing volunteers that we have! French bulldogs are becoming more common in puppy mills due to their price tag. Millers will simply breed them to be larger so they can free-whelp, or cross-breed them with Boston terriers to create puppies that look like pied Frenchies. If we, as FBRN volunteers, could all commit to tell 5 people whom we are not acquainted with about puppy mills before the end of the year, our organization could reach over 1,500 people. There is strength in numbers and we have them! Maybe half of those people will tell someone else.....and half of those people will tell someone else...you get the picture. In our fight to protect the frogs, we are saving thousands of other dogs as well!

It was truly a wonderful experience to spend time with FBRN volunteers. Debbie Goodling visited with FBRN foster dog Samson (the handsome devil!) and Marilyn Traeger brought her frenchie Newman along. Yvonne Carbaugh came to help with her rat terrier Patsy. At one point we were all in a hotel suite with 7 frenchies having cocktails (the humans, not the frenchies!) They were all exhausted, and snoring could be heard from many different corners of the suite. There were frogs everywhere! Might I add that our booth was by far the best at the event, thanks to Jan! There was a steady crowd of visitors the entire day.

I would also like to point out that it was a frenchie that first "walked over the face" of Joyce Stoltzfus, the notorious Lancaster puppy-miller, at the candlelight vigil. I believe it was frenchie Philippe Frymyer (in all his brindle glory) who took the first steps. "Frogs are not going to take this anymore!", I heard him chant. For those of you who are not familiar with it, the face was created from digital footprints of the dogs that have been saved from the Stoltzfus mill. It was displayed at the "Puppies Are Biodegradable" art exhibit in Philadelphia, with a copy made for Awareness Day. We all signed the names of puppy mill dogs over Joyce's face, and displayed the final exhibit the next day as a backdrop for our guest speakers. I should also add that frenchies Newman Traeger, Luigi Frymyer and Willow Carland went along on the protest walk. It is a long walk for any frenchie, but the frogs stood strong for what they believed in (with a bit of help here and there.)

I will let the pictures tell the rest of story! -FBRN Volunteer Kim Alboum

Thank you to everyone who participated in Awareness Day 2007!

Pittsburgh Pet Adoption Fair!

Frenchie Fun and Games

FBRN was pleased and proud to learn that the inimitable Pig and Cow of Southern California were celebrating their second birthdays earlier this month, and FBRN was to receive the presents! Pig and Cow declared that in lieu of doggy presents and treats for themselves, they were asking their guests to break out their pokes and pony up some gold dust for the cause of poor but honest orphans in need: FBRN's Frenchies.

The theme was Western, the guests were beautiful, and Pig and Cow got all the attention and grub they could get. We are happy to learn that none of the neighbors called the Sheriff on our revelers, and all the bargirls, cowhands, farmers, rustlers, dudes and gamblers, along with a posse of pooches and a passel of half-pints, enjoyed the day.

"Why didn't *we* think of this?" we ask ourselves! This is a fabulous idea. We hereby sanction and encourage those in the French bulldog community who sponsor birthday parties for their pups to do as Pig and Cow did and make our froggy friends in FBRN the recipients of their generous guests' gifting! Perhaps you have you been holding back and resisting the idea of throwing a fete for your favorite Frenchie, fearful that your friends would think you'd been in the sun without a Stetson too durned long? Well, hesitate no more! Invite everyone you know and have a blast. We'd love to see your photos and celebrate your celebration on the website! And you *know* your Frenchie would love it!"

2007 Frenchie Social

FBRN Out and About

Awareness Day was awesome! 200 hundred people Marched through the tourist section of Intercourse, PA, yelling "NO MORE PUPPY MILLS!!" People were driving by beeping and waving. There was a good deal of support.

At one point a guy drove by in an SUV with a big lab hanging out the window that started barking as we were yelling. It was funny...as if he knew what we were there for. I encourage anyone who has the opportunity to do a protest for the animals to grab the experience! You meet the most dedicated and kind people.

This event made me want to work harder in rescue. It made me realize each and every one of us can make a difference. There were times that I found myself overwhelmed with the cruelty of puppy mills...a bit hopeless if you will. After experiencing the support of Awareness Day participants and hearing the stories of all the mill dogs that attended with their families, I have come to understand that there are so many people out there that support rescue. People just like us that want to make life better for animals. Sometimes I get lost in the anger and forget to see the good. I hope that this is a reminder for all of you.

What we do is amazing! FBRN placed 10 dogs last month and took in 8 last weekend! Talk about making a difference......

The speakers were fabulous. Tammy Grimes is such an inspiration. For those of you that have not heard of her she is the one that has been arrested for saving a dying dog from someone's back yard. Her story and the footage is on the Awareness Day site.

It is hard to watch but you should. I walked next to her for a while during the march. She really inspired me. Everyone is always telling me "One dog at a time, you can only save one at a time." She is the first person that said what I have felt all along, we can't just take it one at a time. We have to change laws, take down the mills and shoot for the big stuff. One dog at time does not cut it when the millers have 400 stuffed in a barn ranging from poodles to labs. We have to make it simply not acceptable.

Anyway, I am attaching pictures of Hudson and Greer at their very first protest. They were taken at the vigil the night before. I joke and say that it is the start of Hudson's FBI file. He was very serious....more because he smelled the Waffle House across the street but let's pretend it is because he wanted to shut down puppy mills.