If we’ve ever communicated in anyway over the last five years, you’ve probably had to listen to me weave a French Bulldog puppy into conversation.

I’ve likely showed you a picture or video of one of my favorite internet dogs. I’ve probably told you about the time I went to Petcon; yes, that was a thing that Doug spent $300 on so I could pet Instagram dogs. And got to meet all my favorites! Maybe you had to listen to me talk about Pancake, prior to her being born, and all the adventures she would have. I may have shown you one of the many cosmetic bags I have with the dog on it…

You get the picture. I’ve been certifiably obsessed.

This post is about a month overdue, but things have been flipped upside down at our house with the arrival of our new Frenchie puppy: Pancake. I’ve gotten a lot of questions about where we got her, why we chose to use a breeder, why we choose the name… so I figured her welcome post would be the perfect place to answer all those questions!

Why Did You Get A French Bulldog Puppy?

Doug and I both grew up with dogs: my family has a pug named Teddy and his family has a ShizTu named Missy. While we were dating and engaged, we talked a lot about getting a dog eventually, so once we both settled into our new routines, we felt it was the right time to have the conversation.

Due to my obsession, there was literally no doubt in the breed we would get 🙂

Originally, we were planning on beginning the puppy search in May, but at the beginning of February (after a few glasses of wine) we talked about possibly starting sooner. I scoured the internet to see if any of the breeders on my list had had any litters around December (meaning they’d be old enough to send the puppies out in February) and that’s when I first saw Pancake’s picture. Her name was “Nelly” at the time and when I showed Doug his heart melted.

We worked with Woodland Frenchies and Ronnie, the breeder, was so accommodating and answered all our questions. Literally 24 hours after seeing her picture, we had placed the deposit and she was ours!

Why Didn’t You Adopt a French Bulldog Puppy?

Truthfully, Doug and I started the process by exploring adoption and had multiple interviews with various rescue groups about a number of adoptable French Bulldogs, over the span of the fall and winter months.

Adopting a dog is serious business guys, there are a number of interviews and the people who are speaking to you are literally the kindest people on the planet! The reason there are so many rounds is because the rescue organization wants to perfectly place each pet with the correct family. They want every placement to be successful, which is why it’s important to be completely honest with every answer you give.

A number of our applications were passed on, which always was sad, but the two most common reasons for us not moving on for a particular pup played into the fact we may want a family one day, and the adult dog in question wasn’t the best with small children, or that we would need to socialize our dog with other dogs frequently, and the dog in question was best suited in a one pup family.

Ultimately, we decided the best decision for us was to begin looking at breeders and raise a puppy ourselves. Adoption is so important and even though we ended up going a different route, we made donations to each shelter we sent in an application to, as a way to continue supporting their work 🙂

Why The Name Pancake?

We love pancakes for breakfast, but no, that was not the reason why.

My sophomore year of college, I was visiting the Christmas tree in Bryant Park and chatting with a friend about how we both wanted to get French Bulldogs when we got out of school. We were talking about possible names for the dogs and the name “Pancake” came up in conversation. Not sure why of all those names it stuck, but I’m so glad it did!

For the next few years, I spoke about Pancake like she was real and always used her name. When the time came to actually get a dog, there was no doubt in our minds about what we would name her (and thankfully Doug liked the name too!)

Pancake is so loved and we’re so glad she’s here to stay!

Stay tuned for more puppy posts as we share all our stories here. If there’s any puppy related content you’d like to see, feel free to drop it in the comments!