A puppy is never for Christmas

Bonjour mes amis It's been a long time since I updated my blog. But today on ze Twitter, I read a post by a very nice human bean @PeterEgan6 warning all you human beans about the dangers of buying Christmas puppies without seeing where they are bred and, most of all, seeing them with their maman. He showed an article from ze BBC about poor little puppies coming from Ireland where they 'ave been bred in conditions most terrible, and they are very sick, with many illnesses. So I wanted to tell you about ze dog ma maitresse got for me last Christmas. Those of you who have read my little blog will know that I came from the dog shelter, where I was ver' ver' frightened and ver' unhappy. People think that shelters are full only of ze difficult dogs zat nobody wants, but it is not true. Ma maitresse thought I might be happy to have another dog for company, to help me be less frightened all the time. So she looked on her computer and one day she said we were going to Gerzat. Now Gerzat is the shelter I came from so of course I was worried that perhaps she had decided to take me back there. But when we got there, she left me in the van and went inside and a little while later, she came back with another dog! I could see at once that it was another bordaire collee, like me. But it was a fi-fille. And she was ver' pretty, with such a beautiful coloured coat. Maitresse asked if I would let her come and live with us. I wasn't too sure at first - I'm afraid of other dogs because I was so unhappy in the shelter where there were so many of them and I hated the noise all the time. And I never really learned to play. Maitresse said she was called Fleur, was only 18 months old and it was the second time in her short life she had been in the shelter. The first time she had been found straying, with no identification, so she was taken in and rehomed with a young couple. Then they split up and neither of them would take Fleur, so there she was again, back in the shelter. We brought her home and once we got into the garden and could run round together, Fleur asked me if I wanted to play, but I didn't know how. So she started to teach me, and very soon we were having a wonderful time, running round and round in circles. She was ver' fast, I had to run ver' fast to catch up. I was a leetle bit jealous to begin with, but she is now my ver' best friend, after ma maitresse. She was always clean in the house, she is ver' nice with people and helps me to understand they are not all bad. She loves to learn and is ver' clever - we both go to dog school together and are top of our classes. So you see, mes amis, the dogs homes are full of lovely dogs with no problems who are just there through no fault of their own. So please, please - don't buy these poor sick little puppies that are bred on these terrible puppy farms. You will only condemn more dogs to years of terrible suffering. Please consider adopting a dog instead, like me or Fleur. There are lots of young dogs like us who would be so very grateful for a new start in life. So here are

some pictures of Fleur teaching me to play. I hope they will encourage you to go and have a look in your nearest shelter.

Please try to understand us not choke us

I haven't updated my blog for a few weeks. Ma Maitresse has been busy writing her book. But she said I could borrow ze computer today to write with because I saw something on Twitter this morning which upset me very much.

It was re-posted by my friend @widgetty who is a very nice human bean who understands us animals, but it was about something very bad, so I couldn't stay quiet.

It's about someone who is selling collars which are designed to cut off a dog's air supply to stop them from being "dominant" and aggressive. You can read all about them for yourself here http://leerburg.com/746.htm

Now I am a dog who can be very aggressive, to people and dogs I don't know. And I can tell you quite simply why I am, and why almost every other dog which is called aggressive,is like that. I'm quite simply terrified.

Never mind any of this dominance nonsense. I don't want to be dominant, I want to be small and invisible so no-one notices me and leaves me alone. But when people come near me, I do the only thing I know to make them go away - I bark and growl and snarl. And it works, they usually go away. I don't chase after them and attack them because they've done what I wanted them to do - left me alone.

Now ma maitresse understands my fear and tries to help me. Sometimes she gets things wrong because she is only a human bean and she gets frustrated and even shouts at me. But I know she would never, ever deliberately do anything to cause me any pain or damage.

These collars, it says, are specifically designed to show the dog who is boss by cutting off its air supply. I'm only a leetle French dog, but I can't understand how that is even legal. It is so very dangerous, because it's not just the air to the lungs that can be cut off but the oxygen supply to the brain. Ma maitresse used to do judo and she was telling me about strangle holds, shime-waza, which can cause unconsciousness in a matter of seconds. And serious brain damage if maintained for too long.

I don't read heenglish all that well but I can't see anything in this article which stresses how very dangerous it can be to cut off oxygen supply to the brain, even for a few seconds. I can't see anything which shows people in detail how to avoid putting pressure on a dog's carotid artery, which would do just that. I can't see anything which tells people how long it is suggested that they deprive their dog of oxygen.

And I have to tell you, that in my humble dog opinion, the answer to that is never. Not at all. Ever.

If I bark because I am afraid, choking the air out of me is the last thing I need.

Please, anyone, no matter how desperate you are because of your dog's behaviour, I urge you, do not go down this root. There are lots and lots of nice human beans out there who can show you a different way. Ma maitresse has Grisha Stewart's BAT book, which has helped us both, and likes http://intellidogs.com/ for really simple, practical advice.

I am asking you all please, on behalf of my canine cousins everywhere, just to think hard about this. If your teenage son or daughter was shouting at you aggressively, would you think it acceptable to put them in a chokehold and cut off their air?

And if you answer no, please explain to me why you think it would be acceptable for your dog?