Vimello Is
My name is Vivianne Mello. I am from Brazil and I’m currently 20-something years old. My immediate family is: Sylvia, her husband Fabio, my 7-year-old sister Fabianne and my dogs. They are Sayid, an adult male French Bulldog, and Yaza a.k.a. Yaya, a female French Bulldog puppy. There is also Mirabela, who’s an adult French Bulldog female.
I am a college student who’s just figured out what to do with her life. I started Computer Science a few years ago and realized I didn’t fit into it even if I tried really hard. And believe me, all I did the past few years was to try and try. In 2008, though, I got into Advertising school and found out how it suits me perfectly. Now that I do know what my calling is, I am trying to get into an Advertising top school in another city.
I was born on July 29th, in a small city called Aimorés, MG. I grew up in Rio de Janeiro. I was brought up by my mother, since my father Paulo passed away when I was 5 years old. I was an only child for most of my childhood, until my half sister was born when I was already a teenager. I feel like I am somewhat her mother too, since I helped and still help bringing her up, not to mention the numerous poopy diapers I have changed. I finished High School and almost finished college at a place called Fortaleza, on the northeast part of the country. Now I’m living at this great house in a neighborhood I have always loved ever since I was a kid, in this awesome city.
Back in 2004, I purchased my first French Bulldog. Her name is Ninna, she’s a lovely tiger brindle frenchie who lives now with one of my best friends, Camilli. I started studying and learning everything I could about the breed, and I still do so, everyday. They are fascinating dogs, the frenchies, and I might come off slightly crazy and obsessed when I talk about them, but they’re the Joy of my life. Ninna was the doggie who originated what is now known as Chantilly Exclusive, our “Kennel” name. It is the #1 French Bulldog Kennel in Brazil, 2007, on the CBKC (our “Brazilian Kennel Club”) Ranking (although I’m much more concerned about my frenchies’ well being than dog shows and titles, but a little bragging is fun sometimes too).
Sayid is a puppy from Ninna’s first litter in 2006. He has finished many championships and I am completely crazy about him. He was named after the LOST character. Yaza is our new baby Frenchie who got here in 2008. She was a gift from Camilli, who is also a Frenchie breeder under the kennel name Ville Chamonix. Yaza means Luck.
“Quick, pretend we’re angels so the internet thinks mom is crazy!”
The French Bulldog breed and breeding situation in Brazil is unbelievable. There are many breeders around who will breed their dogs without taking into account the Standard, the temperament and most importantly, the health. Some coat colors are even trendy these days and people will only breed to get certain colors or avoid others, completely oblivious to what breeding is all about and raising prices of their “rare-color” pups. In some litters, there is a huge price difference as large as twice the price from a puppie with a “regular and unwanted coat color” to his brother who has a “rare color”. This is one of the things that just get on my nerves so bad.
Apart from seeing all sorts of dogs around which vaguely resemble French Bulldogs, we also see a lot of health issues. We rarely see a Breeder who will scan their dogs for the most common problems. It is not of the nature of Brazilian people to spay/neuture their dogs, even if only kept as companion dogs. But there are also some of us Breeders who strive to improve the breed, study its genetics and standard, as well as maintain contact with many Breeders and Enthusiasts around the world. It is very hard and an uphill struggle, since Brazilians in general are not seen very well by most responsible Breeders out there, and the minority of us are affected by this. But I count on my Breeder friends that we can turn this around someday, one Frenchie and one conscious owner at a time.
I started this blog in March 2008. I try to talk about my day-to-day life, the joys and turn-downs of breeding dogs, my love life, my friends and everything that involves me. I used to have an old WordPress Blog, so just for kicks, I imported those old entries into this blog as well. You can see how I already was a retard what I was like many years ago.
I love watching TV Shows, listening to music, anything related to graphic design / webdesign and sushi. Gotta love sushi!
Any emails should be directed to vivianne.mello [at] gmail [dot] com
Vivianne Mello
April 2008 - Updated on December 2008