Meet Larccán - Our Newest Blissful Buddy

As you know, we recently lost our Frenchie, Dude, and it was a BIG blow to us here at The Blissful Dog. I titled the post telling of his passing Things Don't Always Work Out As We Planned and that is even more true now. I was so broken hearted over losing Dude I knew I had to have a new dog in my life. Some people need more time, others less. There is no right or wrong, just what is right for each of us.

So, I contacted an old Frenchie friend, Shauna Ann MacCauley, of Shann's Griffs and Frenchies, told her what had happened and asked her to put me on her list for a smooth Brussels Griffon boy. I knew she rarely bred her girls, so I expected waiting months if not longer. She said, "Book your flight, I've got your boy." She had a red boy who she had literally the day before decided she was not going to keep for herself. 

Shauna and I had chatted about the smooth Griffs in years past and I told her I wanted one "someday." We had known each other for decades, but I was not prepared for this kindness! 

After going through the normal stuff of her sharing pictures and me fan-girling over them, I booked a down and back to fly from Bemidji, MN to Kansas City the same day. 

Of course, I had to leave home at 3:30 am to catch the 6 am only flight out of Bemidji and had enough time to really enjoy myself in both the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport and the Kansas City one, but the moment Shauna pulled up and handed him to me, I was head over heels. As we sat in the lobby of a nearby hotel Shauna gave me the skinny on Griffs. Over and over she told me "They are not like Frenchies, be prepared. They are really smart, quick and bond to their ONE person like velcro." I nodded and agreed with everything she said, she could have had me sign over the keys to the farm, my business and my liver if she had asked. "How smart could they be?" I thought, "He weighs six pounds, there isn't much of that for brain." 

After a month of being indoctrinated into Griff-ness as compared to Frenchie-land, I would describe it like this. Brussels Griffons are like the really smart Goth theater major who can't be bothered with silly social fluff, as compared to French Bulldogs who are the football captains/cheerleaders that are friends with everyone and everybody wants to hang out with them. Like Loki and Thor.

One of the first days Larccán was here he was bringing a treasured piece of cardboard from the production offices to my office through the dog gate. Larccán can easily slip through the rails, but the cardboard was too wide. We've all seen the memes where the dog with the ginormous stick keeps banging into the door frame as they try to force the big stick through. Not this Griff. He dropped his cardboard, slipped through the gates, turned around and with his paws flipped the cardboard until he could pull it through the slats of the gate. He had a problem, he pondered it, came up with a solution and executed it in about 15 seconds. Was I impressed? You bet I was!

More to come!