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Bullistik K9's, LLC is home of the BEST in BLUES!! contact Dave & Trudy at
903-568-8051 to COLOUR YOUR WORLD! |
If
BLUE is your favorite color, and FRENCHIES are your passion,
then why not COLOUR YOUR WORLD!
WHY?
WHY, BLUE? WHY THE OBSESSION WITH THAT COLOR?
Well, I was born the BLUE-EYE'D BLONDE of a father with
jet black hair and brown eyes so dark as they almost
matched the color of his hair and a mother with auburn
hair and the most beautiful green eyes you'd ever seen.
My eldest sister (12 years my senior) had my mother's
flaming ember hair and my father's deep dark eyes, and my
eldest brother (9 years my senior) had my father's wavy
black hair and sullen dark brown eyes, and my baby brother
(17 months younger) had a much darker shade (dishwater
blonde) of my sun bleached hair color but DARK BROWN eyes,
so where in the hell did I come from? The milk man?
Was I adopted?
Well, back in those days (I was born in 1956), we did have
'milk men', but my mother swears on her mother's grave
that I am the natural born daughter of she and my father,
so how on God's green earth did I wind up with hair the
color of sun drenched pure silk and eyes as crystal blue
as the sea off Sanibel Island?
GENETICS! pure and simple..........
As a
kid, I never did really understand how I wound up with
that straight as an arrow (my family had naturally curly
hair), platinum blonde hair or those
beautiful BABY BLUES (from all appearances, not in my gene
pool), and frankly, really didn't care why
I was blessed with those treasures, but was extremely grateful
all the same and some how I believe those
baby blues were
responsible for determining that my FAVORITE COLOUR in the
whole wide world would forever be "BLUE".
I loved being 'different' and 'set apart' as a little kid
and still do to this day.
I
always wore BLUE, always delighted in everything BLUE, and
when I grew up and found the world of purebred dogs; you
guessed it, BLUE, BLUE, and more BLUE.........
I am
proud to say that I bred one of the first BLUE CHINESE
SHAR-PEI in the USA, "Tea-D's Nortex Blue Baggins",
and he was followed by my "Cobalt", Tea-D's Midnight Blue. Then, one year at a rare
breed show, I met the ultimate blue dog, a gorgeous
and scary monstrous Neopolitan Mastiff with outrageous
BLUE HAIR and eyes that were blue, hazel, and amber all at
once and I simply had to have one. Well, needless to
say it wasn't long before 'Armani' (blue Neo) became part
of our family and was soon followed by 'Georgio' (blue
Neo) and the 'blue obsession' did not subside there, but
rather never ended.
It
doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out that I
LOVE BLUE, and that is the colour I will always gravitate
toward; flower, cat, bird, butterfly, or FRENCHIE; if it
can be BLUE , it will and it must be BLUE!
Why
on Earth wouldn't it be?
An
interview about our involvement with Blue French
Bulldogs....
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Question |
Tell me a bit about your background in
French Bulldogs; pre Blues. How long have you been breeding? Do you show
French Bulldogs?
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Answer |
I have owned French Bulldogs since 1990,
and have owner/handled numerous Frenchies to their AKC championships,
and have BRED more than 50 French Bulldog champions including GROUP
PLACING and BEST IN SPECIALTY WINNERS, the majority finishing their
championships in the USA, but some garnering their Canadian
Championships as well!
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Question: |
When did you get your first blue, and
did you breed him/her?
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Answer: |
I bought my first blue French Bulldogs in
2002 and yes, I bred them, but sparingly!
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Question: |
What do you like about them? |
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Answer: |
Silly question; they are French
Bulldogs. What is not to like? Although some colors in this breed
appeal to me more than others, I do not hate any color, and simply love
the breed no matter what color or size they come in. But, I have always
been a fan of the color BLUE and have actually bred and/or owned BLUE
shar-pei and BLUE neapolitan mastiffs, so would have no valid reason to
dislike the color in French Bulldogs. I am more concerned about breed
type and health issues than what color the Frenchie’s hair happens to
be.
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Question: |
Some people seem to be worried that blue
is linked to health issues - have you experienced that with your Blues?
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Answer: |
Blue French Bulldogs are FRENCH BULLDOGS
that happen to have blue hair. They come from the same gene pool as
brindle, cream, fawn, etc. and because there are so few BLUES in
existence, I would love to meet anyone who can produce factual data
linking specific health issues affecting the French Bulldog breed to
blue coat color.
As stated, Blue French Bulldogs don't
have their own separate and distinct gene pool, so they can be affected
by any health issue that occurs in our breed, but I am very
conscientious about all of the Frenchies that are in my breeding program
(no matter the color), so routinely screen my dogs for known health
issues affecting French Bulldogs.
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Question: |
Do you think "blue"
and the color "mouse", as referred to in the standard, are the same
thing!
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Answer: |
I think
that those people that are against the color BLUE want to claim that
BLUE and MOUSE are interchangeable. BUT, I have researched numerous AKC
recognized breeds and their standards, and whether it be Australian
Shepherd, Australian Cattle Dog, Italian Greyhound, Chow Chow, Chinese
Shar-pei, Neapolitan Mastiff, etc. the correct description for said coat
color(s)is BLUE……no mention of ‘mouse’.
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Question: |
One of the main
complaints I've heard about Blues is their 'light'eye. Do you think this
can be bred away from?
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Answer: |
I certainly do think it is possible to
breed away from the very pale yellowy eyes. In fact, the eyes in Blue
Frenchies, whether they be blue fawn or blue brindle (including pieds),
range from a light yellow/blue/green/grey to dark brown. If you look at
BLUE Italian Greyhound’s, for example, their eye color is dark, and very
light eyes in that breed are to be ‘faulted’ but not Disqualified.
There is NO DISQUALIFICATION in the
French Bulldog breed standard for EYE COLOR, so what is the beef?????
Our creams, fawns, brindles, and black
mask fawns are already plagued with yellow, orange, pale brown eyes, so
to blame BLUES for that issue is absurd, and AGAIN, there is no DQ
related to eye color.
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Question: |
Do you want to be
able to show your Blues?
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Answer: |
I
would be ecstatic if I could show my blues in AKC conformation events and
would be really thrilled to have the first BLUE AKC CHAMPION!! How cool
would that be? |
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Question: |
Do you think the FBDCA should address the
issue of Blues, and if so,what would you like them to do?
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Answer |
The
FBDCA should be addressing our ambiguous breed standard in general, not
just this particular color issue.
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Our standard says ALL BRINDLES are ACCEPTED, but blues and blue pieds
are BRINDLE, so that should mean noone has anything to bitch about.
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Our standard says Nose black. Nose other than black is a disqualifying
fault, except in the case of the lighter colored dogs, where a lighter
colored nose is acceptable but not desirable. WELL, blues are ‘dilute’
so their noses will not be black, but lighter in color just like their
hair. The vast majority of creams don’t have BLACK noses; most of them
have brown noses, except for those that get their little noses painted
by their handlers before they jet into the show ring.
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And what exactly is a TRACE OF BRINDLE??? Brindle is a PATTERN. How
can 3 little light hairs on a black dog constitute a ‘pattern'?
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Question; |
Why do you think
Blues are so controversial? |
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Answer: |
Hahaha…….I bred one of the very first
BLUE SHAR-PEI in the USA many, many moons ago and although the color was
not addressed in the standard (meaning no DQ or fault), you would have
thought the world was coming to an end. Those that didn’t have them,
wanted to buy them, and then got irate if they couldn’t get one so they
trashed them from here to kingdom come.
In reality, there is no valid reason for
anyone to go into such a tirade over something so ridiculous as the coat
color of a dog in a breed that comes in a variety of colors and
markings. BLUE is a ‘naturally occurring’ color in our breed, and a
multitude of other AKC recognized breeds.
Furthermore, there is no factual data to
support any claim that there are mystery diseases associated with the
blue coat color in our breed, and French Bulldogs regardless of their
hair color should be adored by all. If you don’t like the color blue,
then don’t buy one, don’t own one, and if one pops up in your next
litter, just sell the baby to someone who does love the color.
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Question: |
Does jealousy play
any part in people's decision to BASH BLUES? |
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Answer: |
Undeniably! I wish that I could
answer no to this question, but I am afraid that the reality is that many
people seem to want what they can't obtain or afford, and those people
will go out of their way to bad mouth these beautiful French
Bulldogs simply because if they can't have one, they don't want anyone
else to have one either.
This is evidenced by all the chatter
on the yahoo lists about the price that the 'blues' are commanding.
Why bring up price? The only people that would be concerned about
price are those that don't have the blue gene in their bloodlines, and
wish they did, but aren't willing or able to pay for the privilege.
If you are party to these chat
lists you know who everyone is, and those people complaining loudest about
the price of blues are the BREEDERS that don't have them.
Those of us that have
sacrificed and gone to the end's of the Earth (okay down-under
qualifies as the end's of the Earth) to get our beautiful Blue French
Bulldogs and that 'precious' blue gene, will be forever grateful that we
made the commitment and are the proud owners of French Bulldogs that are
both incredibully magnificent and treasured...... |
Blues
By Bullistik
903-568-8051
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