Oh la la, eight French bulldogs partied pantingly hard at a joint celebration for three of their birthdays last Friday.
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Joyeux anniversaire, indeed.
Brothers Wilfred and Winston and their friend Leonardo, who all turned two, welcomed friends of their breed into the party at Shepparton’s Unleashed Dog Training and Daycare, where the squishy-faced pack partook in painting, sports and cake-scoffing below the bright canopy of helium balloons and streamers.
Business owner Jenni Cleave said her dog Wilfred was different from any other French bulldog, and she often referred to him as a ‘circus dog’.
“He’s the love of my life,” she said.
When Mrs Cleave puts him in his pram and takes him shopping, she says he is better behaved than any child; once his harness goes on, he’s all business.
Winston, or Winnie as he’s been nicknamed, was described by Mrs Cleave and daycare supervisor-dog trainer Kayla Rustem as a fun-loving little dog, who is a bit of a loner.
“He loves to interact with other dogs, but loves his own company too,” Mrs Cleave said.
The third birthday boy, Leonardo, aka Leo, was saved from a puppy farm.
He’s also known as ‘The Happy Dancer’ because he’s reportedly always happy.
Leo can’t put his tongue in his mouth. It hangs out permanently, even when he’s sleeping.
Mrs Cleave says while she purchased the business, Wilfred was the boss.
“I’m just the assistant,” she said.
While some may struggle to believe a love for an animal runs, so deep anyone would go to the extreme Mrs Cleave has for her Wilfred, she is adamant it’s no exaggeration when she says she bought the business for him.
“I was retired; I’d been retired for two years,” Mrs Cleave, who took over the training and daycare centre in April, said.
“I couldn’t bear for him not to have friends around him any more.”
Wilfred was a regular daycare attendee at the centre, which was at risk of closing down.
So she came out of retirement to ensure Wilfred’s daycare days would continue indefinitely.
“He’s my child, I don’t have kids, so I’m lucky that my hubby supports me in anything I want to do for him,” Mrs Cleave said.
She said Frenchies needed a lot of socialisation and the 30-odd dogs — of varying breeds — a day who came to the daycare got it in abundance.
Wilfred and his brother Winston, whose owner is Mrs Cleave’s best friend, have hung out together since the beginning, both in and out of daycare.
There was once a third musketeer in their troupe, another Frenchie called Baz, who was born a day before them, but sadly, he died earlier this year in an unfortunate drowning accident.
A decorated table Friday’s party paid tribute to the much-missed pooch and the trio’s friendship with photos and memorabilia.
Another table was loaded with gift bags for the three birthday boys and loot bags for their Frenchie friends — Bruno, Frankie, Maisey, Oreo and Zeus — to take home at the end of the day, loaded with toys, accessories, treats and waste bags, among other goodies.
There were treats from Nitro Treats, which included dog-friendly snacks, cookies and cakes either side of the beautiful artworks the dogs had already created by licking peanut-buttered glad wrap that covered blobs of paint on canvases.
In the mayhem of dogs running through obstacle courses, dipping in pools, chasing balls, chewing on toys, performing for treats, traversing tunnels, stopping for the occasional squat or exertion spew, you could see so much glee among all the excited wee.
There was no doubt the dogs would have gone home content and exhausted.
It truly is a dog’s life.
Senior journalist