My Merry Little Christmas

Hey, all -

Check out my latest vid! I recently celebrated my first christmas in my forever home here in new york. It was snowy and amazing!!!! Thanks to all for all your good wishes and support! And thanks to John Denver and the Muppets for a great song! It certainly is a very merry little christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy 2009! This is gonna be our year, pibbles!!!

jhumpa

Do I Look Like a Cookie?

I've noticed a funny trend in my life - everyone is always biting and pulling on my cheeks. One of the first things my favorite friend Tim did to me when I got to California was to nibble on my cheek. I wasn't sure how much I liked it, but I like him, so it was OK. Now he does it every time I see him, which is FUN!

Then I moved in with my family, and my dad starting doing the same thing. Sometimes he pulls on both of my cheeks and we both make funny faces.

Even my newest girlfriend Sydney nibbles on my face. I love Sydney - she is so pretty and fun. She came to California and Bad Rap from New Orleans because someone called Katrina flooded her house.

I'm starting to think my face must look like a yummy cookie or something. I think its a good thing to have cookie cheeks because it makes everyone wants to play with me, and that means lots of FUN and I can bounce and zoom around and its ok to be crazy.

Happy New Year!
Uba

Mama Mia

She's only been a Riviera Dog for about 15 hours, but she is one! This is one of the two just-adopted dogs now living at Pension Milou - for EVER. Exhausted and in terrible condition she sleeps in her new home.

For an update on Mistral and Mama Mia, the Hell Hole dogs who arrived at Pension Milou yesterday - please click on the link.

Meet Mistral and Mama Mia

Meet Mia and Mistral. They were called Maya and Miss but for their new lives here, they have new names - but names that sound similar.

When they were taken out of their Hell Hole yesterday, the owner had to sign papers and apparently he shed a tear when they left! Oh really! As my best friend, Candy, in America wrote:

"I truly think the guy who kept them in that condition should bloody well be put in a pen and forced to live on top of his own shit for 8 years. Punishment fits the crime. Asshole." Too right!

Within about 15 minutes of their arrival, they seemed to know it is 'OK' here and since then have followed me everywhere. A miracle! Their temperaments are absolutely superb. Mistral (the blacker one in last pic below) is confident with everyone. My neighbour came to visit them yesterday evening and she went right up to her. Mia on the other hand is terrified of people, but as I said, now trusts me. They freely wander the garden, even tho, they wobble a bit. They have absolutely no muscle and when they wake up, they have some difficulty in getting up. Hardly surprising as they've been confined to a 2 metre square area of excrement for 8 years.

Both are in bad physical condition, particularly Mia who continually scratches and bites herself, poor dog. Her skin as you'll see in the lower photograph is very bad. Both are on antibiotics, have had special baths after the flea infestation was removed and tomorrow, they get more baths. It will take time. They have a bacterial skin infection caused by the conditions under which they have lived for so long. They have both had loads of litters too, as is obvious by their large nipples - particularly Mistral.


Feeding time is crazy - both are frantic for food, even tho Mistral is actually quite fat - fat with bad quality food tho. They are used to eating out of the same bowl but I've learned I have to separate them - and then encourage Mia to eat. She is the timid one and it is Mistral who has eaten most of her food in the past.

I woke to two enormous puddles this morning - tonight I'll let them out in the middle of the night, which is no big deal for me as I wake up anyway. And Mistral is in full heat today. Wot fun! Once they are in condition, they will be sterilised, of course.

Tomorrow, pictures from the garden and more progress - and a big thank you to everyone for their encouragement. It will take time but really the main thing I worried about was their temperament with other dogs and it's perfect. They totally accept and interact normally with other dogs. Just people are a problem for Mia. As for letting them out free in the garden - they love it, wander about and come back in when they are ready.

Who are you?

My neighbour has a Berger Pyrénées (Labrit) so maybe that is what this dog is - although I think the legs are too short. Perhaps she's a Tibetan Terrier? Perhaps SHE is a HE? I wish now I'd asked but it was just a quick shot and on we went. Snapped in a Menton square.

Today is a BIG DAY at Pension Milou as we are adopting two dogs rescued from a Hell Hole. Shut in a roughly 2 metre square run for 8 years, never let out and never cleaned out. Yes, living on 8 years of excrement. They were lifted out of there yesterday and are currently en route to me from the Languedoc - should be here in a few hours! Obviously, I've not met them - the first dogs given a home by email! If you want to follow the excitement please read more on Postcards from 'Pension Milou.'

Out of the Hell Hole

Today is going to be a big day at Pension Milou. Two new dogs are coming to live - forever - at Pension Milou. And no, that's not Pension Milou in the photograph - that's the hell they've been rescued from. (Thanks to Michele for the photos)

The dogs - two female hunting dogs around 8 or 10 years of age - have been living (if you can call it that) in the Languedoc - around Beziers (about 4 or 5 hours from here) - in a roughly 2 metre square run for about 8 years. Never let out of this small area, never cleaned out and living on top of 8 years of their excrement, estimated at about 2 or more feet of it. Can you imagine?! Their food and water bowls filthy with poop too. The food was simply thrown over the top of the fencing and was mostly stale bread and I suppose some dog food, else they'd be dead. Look at the photos and look away - happily they were taken out of here yesterday morning.

Let me explain how it is they are coming to live, for the rest of their lives, at Pension Milou.

Two nights ago I got an email with the photos you see here. I nearly didn't open the email. I can't bear to look at suffering animals and we all get dreadful emails, don't we? This was addressed to me though (not spam) by a great lady called Michele, who runs an animal rescue organisation (Comite de Soutien a la Cause Animale) in this part of south -western France. She'd been told to write to me by another organisation, Sans Collier Provence, who knew I already had a rescue hound.

Well life is good or bad timing, isn't it? First of all, I had several trips away this year and even though I had a good time, for the first time in my life, I found myself missing home. Old age? Anyway I'd made the decision I don't want to travel again. To say never, is a long time, but that's how I feel at the moment. In addition to this, I missed out on saving an Old English Sheepdog last Christmas. I still think about that and regret it dreadfully. With hindsight she could have been saved, although at the time circumstances didn't allow it. Hindsight is a fine thing! She was put to sleep. One day I'll write about but it's still painful to think about and caused me sleepless nights for months. 'My breed' too, as I used to show and breed Old English, which made it even worse somehow.

So when the email arrived, with photos of these poor dogs, I had to do something. Not just for them but for me.

After one phone call, Michele said she'd arrange to get the dogs out the following day - that was yesterday. I had one proviso tho - they must be tested for mange. There is no way I could take a dog with mange, particularly sarcoptic mange, as it is highly contagious and difficult, if not impossible, to eradicate properly.

Getting the dogs out and into a car was not easy. The dogs were traumatised. Imagine living in such a tiny space for 8 years, never let out. They were taken to the vet immediately. Just think of the smell in the car? The vet treated them for their massive infestation of fleas. He took skin scrapings and after checking under a microscope, confirmed there is no mange. Thank goodness. They do have a dreadful bacterial skin infection tho. Later they were taken to a dog grooming salon where they were bathed in an anti-bacterial veterinary shampoo and again in a special gel to help rid the skin of bacteria. This must be done twice a week for a month. They are on antibiotics for their terrible skin and also they've been wormed and this morning, apparently, they passed loads of tapeworms (hardly surprising with all the fleas on them as the flea, of course, is the host for the tapeworm). Thankyou so much to the ladies who coped with getting these two dogs out of this hell and into the vet and later to the grooming salon and then back to one of their homes.


The story of these two dogs is that they used to belong to a hunter who gave or sold them to a woman in the area. She wasn't cruel as such (meaning they weren't beaten and they were fed) - although I would definitely consider these conditions to be cruel. NO question. She recently died and her son wanted the dogs OUT. Either he would kill them or send them to another hunter, who apparently keeps his dogs in even worse condition. The mind boggles. There are four other dogs left behind but living inside the house. Apparently in dreadful conditions too but at the moment, he won't allow them to be removed. I've been involved in these situations before and whilst there are veterinary authorities, too often the attitude is, 'Oh they are country dogs' and so it's OK. It's NOT.

The brown and white hound is an Ariégeois and is called Maya. The black one is called Miss and I'm told is a Basset Bleu de Gascogne but I think her legs look too long to be truly that breed? I may change their names just slightly - so they recognise the sound but so they have a new name for their new lives here.

Of course I'm a little worried. I've been told to walk them in the garden on lead as they don't understand the concept of space and would freak out. I'm also told they are very strong and I have an arthritic neck and shoulder (caused by an untreated whiplash injury forever ago) - so I worry I can cope with strong dogs on a lead - but then someone sensible said 'Worry is interest paid on trouble before it becomes due.' Try telling that to a worrier... In fact, I plan on walking the dogs around the whole garden tomorrow and hopefully it won't be long before they can go out off-lead and be FREE.

I had a call about an hour ago and they are en route. Should be here mid-afternoon. Come back tomorrow and I'll show you photographs of them living in a bit more comfort than before... I've been cleaning for them all morning although this place at its worst would be the Hôtel de Paris in Monte Carlo for these poor dogs.

Davinci, the Dogue de Bordeaux

This is the first Dogue de Bordeaux we've seen on Riviera Dogs. Davinci is a 3 and a half month old puppy having fun at the Christmas Fair in Monaco. He lives in Beausoleil, which is the French town adjoining the north of Monaco.

The Dogue de Bordeaux, a Mastiff type of dog, is apparently one of the oldest breeds in France. You can read more by clicking on the link.

Shiny wet nose

Hot on the heels of a long-haired dachshund (see last post) we now have a wire-haired. I know nothing about him tho. His owner was busy shopping at the Menton Christmas Fair but he seemed happy to smile at the camera with his beautiful wet nose, shining in the sunshine.

Ouch! My knees hurt!

What is going on around here! I finally get comfortable around this place and then she hauls me off to the vet and next thing I know, they hack off and move part of my two knee bones and now they're full of pins and staples. So, here's what I know. I had medially luxating patellas, grade 3, and they hurt all the time. Now, they still hurt all the time and my legs and butt are bald! Well, I have to be honest, the pain is starting to go away and I'm being treated like a little prince. So, it's really not all that bad.

She snapped a photo of me when I got home last Thursday. It's the most pathetic look I could scroung up at the time.



Then a couple of days ago, my staples started itching really bad and I needed to lick them. A lot. I got really scared when she put on the plastic cone, so I decided to stand in one place without moving for a couple of hours. Well, I guess my pouting worked. She got concerned, called my vet, and went out and got me some toddler pants. It's humiliating wearing these toddler stretch pants, but at least the cone is gone. I've figured out how to take off my pants a couple of times, but she just puts them back on.




I suppose I'm complaining a little too much about the pain and my pants. I am starting to realize that there are people out there who really do mean well, people I've never even met, and I think they are actually looking out for my happiness. So perhaps I'll make everybody happy and leave the pants on (for now).

Tatu

You can see this dog is old by his lovely white face, yet look how bright his eyes are and how his coat gleams. He's a very young 13 year old.

Tatu lives in Perinaldo, a village just across the border in Italy but I met him in Menton at the Christmas market.

Merry Christmas everyone and thank you for your support and visits to Riviera Dogs. Woof woof!

Tequila

The larger photo looks as if it's simply a cropped version of the small one, doesn't it? But it's not. This adorable 7 year old American cocker spaniel didn't move - she was a scaredy cat as you see. Her owner, who lives in Menton, told me she's a very nervous dog.

The love of my life was an American cocker spaniel - Milou - so I've a very soft spot for this breed.

In Europe, we call English cocker spaniels simply 'cocker spaniels.' And so, in Europe, Tequila is called an 'American cocker spaniel.'

In America, it's the other way around. Tequila would be called a 'cocker spaniel' and the others are called English cocker spaniels. Confused?

Texan - the dog with half a blue eye

This gorgeous dog has the look of a German Shepherd but in fact she is half Wolf and half Alaskan Malamute. You can really see the Malamute part when you look at her right eye - clearer probably in the smaller photograph.

Texan is 4 years old and lives in Roquebrune Cap Martin. You see her here posing in front of the book stall in Carnoles market.

Boncy

Boncy didn't want to keep still and even more, he didn't want to look at the camera. Still, at 16 years of age, I think he's got the right to do what he wants!

He's such a pretty dog, don't you think - and very active for his age.

Ophelia

This little bundle of joy is only 5 months old. Unfortunately she is half blind but she seemed to be doing very well.

Don't you just love her little winter coat. She's posing here in Menton's Christmas market.

I Think I Might be a Movie Star...

This might be as crazy for all of you to believe as it is for me, but here's the skinny: I am a movie star! Or at least that's what my person says. You will not find me in the latest Batman movie (it was a really cool movie, though, and I would have been really good in it!) or in any Disney animated flick. But as proof of my small-screen stardom, my person helped me put the movie here, so you can see my big premiere for yourself...

Cool, huh? I love being in the movies!

And the rest of my life is, well, great. My person actually brought a real tree inside a few weeks ago and it made me so excited that I ran around the house, smashing into stuff and grabbing toys like a total maniac. I didn't knock the tree over onto the floor yet and my person says that makes me a really, really good girl. The weatherpeople say we're going to get a big snowfall here in New York today (a "foot" of snow - funny, cause I have four feet and they seem really normal. So what's the big deal about one foot?!?!?) Anyway, maybe we will get some pics of this big snowy deal and show them to you.

Wannie - the book dog

If Wannie can't read, then it's not for lack of inspiration. Her owner, Lily, has a large bookstall in Menton market.

Wannie is a refuge dog (a Border Collie/German Shepherd mix) - she came from the SPA and is 13 years old. In the photo, Lily is giving her a drink in a little tin - the water comes from the fountain in the Place des Herbes, in Menton.

Lily loves dogs and so does her twin sister, who used to be a veterinary nurse but now runs a collection and delivery service for dogs in this area.

Melhu - amongst the paintings

Melhu lives in Sospel, which is a mountain village about 20 ks above Menton. Her owner sells antiques in the Friday market in Menton which is where she is in these pics.

In the first photograph, she's quite natural - then in the small one, her owner was trying to get her to keep still and of course he had her attention, so she didn't look at the camera. I often have to tell owners, 'Please don't talk to the dog' else he or she won't look at the camera. In the last one, she is sitting, doing what she is told but I prefer her expression in the first one, before she was being posed for the photograph.

Melhu is a mixture of a Border Collie, a Newfoundland and a Labrador. She's 4 years old and adorable - a dog who adores her owner.

Alpi - all wrapped up for Christmas!

Alpi, 3 years old, and all wrapped up for cold and rain - and today it's cold and it's raining. He's sitting at his owner's feet - she is running one of the food stalls at the Menton Christmas Fair. Alpi is well used to this - when he's not here, he'll be found in Menton at his owner's restaurant.

Skippy

Wet feet, beautiful dark eyes - this is Skippy, an 8-year old bichon from Belgium. On holiday in Menton - I told Skippy's owner how sorry I was the weather is so awful but apparently they'd been here a while and had had lots of good weather too. So that's good.

Fifi and Cilla

These two little dogs didn't want to keep still for a photograph. Often it's better to leave dogs alone, let them settle, be patient. The owners were an enthusiastic Italian couple from Cuneo and perhaps overwhelmed the dogs somewhat. They were walking along the beachfront just where Menton joins Roquebrune-Cap-Martin.

Fifi is ohe right, she is just over one year. On the left is Cilla who is 4 years old.

My Friend Grace

Hi Everyone,

Me and my friend Grace have been hanging out a bunch the last few weeks. We get to go on walks together, run, play, and tear up my dad's lawn. I don't think he likes that too much, so we try to do it when he is not looking.




My dad says we are two peas in a pod. What's a pod ? I still don't get half of what people say. But they are nice, so Grace and I just go along with it. Besides......they have all the cookies.
















Jonny-

The Spectator

Like everyone else, this little Jack Russell is waiting for the Prince to arrive outside the cathedral in Monaco on the occasion of the Fête Nationale. I didn't like to interrupt his owner's enjoyment of the parades and ask his name. So intense, isn't he? Just moved his head as I snapped so his face isn't quite in focus. We can learn a lot from dogs on the subject of patience!

Oscar - the winner

Most of the dogs we meet on Riviera Dogs aren't show dogs - except at the time of the Monaco Dog Show, of course - when we see lots!

I met Oscar in Roquebrune village where his owner was selling garlic (the best variety in the world), chestnuts and walnuts. In fact you can see one of the walnuts in his bed. His owner breeds French bulldogs. Oscar, now 13 years old, was used as her main stud dog and foundation of her kennel. He's a beauty too - and look at him at 13 - how wonderfully strong and fit he is. Breeders need to think of the health and longevity of their dogs. This lady obviously does.

You can see the garlic by clicking on the link.