Just Call Me Haha

I know it’s already Wednesday, but I want to recap last weekend because I’m so proud of our little guy, Oscar.  But first, I need to rave about our dinner Saturday night.

Friday night we went out so Saturday night we decided to take it easy.  After spending a good portion of the day trying to organize and sitting on the couch, we decided to buy dinner instead of make at home.  After going through a slew of delivery places, we decided to head up to Lincoln Square neighborhood and go to Bad Apple.  It’s a bar/restaurant known for their burgers and HUGE beer selection.  Lucky for us, the bus runs straight there, so after a quick shower and clothes, we hopped on the bus and were there in 10 minutes.  Even though it was only 6:30, there was a 30 minute wait.  We snagged a seat at the bar and grabbed a beer before being called for our table (only 10 minutes). 

Unforunately, I don’t remember the names of the beer we tried (I got a 1oz sampler of a sour that Ben loved, and we also split a sampler flight); but I do remember the name of Ben’s burger; Elvis’ Last Meal.  What in the world would be on that?  Now remember, Ben is the pickiest eat (no ketchup, first time eating mashed potatoes was age 23, etc)….well it’s homemade peanut butter and bacon.  And he devoured it!  What a weird combo.  I on the other hand got bleu cheese and it was delish.

(Not our picture)

Okay, to back to Oscar…way back before we even had Oscar, the first summer I lived in Chicago, whenever I’d see a bulldog on the street, I’d run up and ask to pet them.  Eventually as we started getting curious about breeders, etc, we’d ask the owners where their bully was from.  One owner directed us to MeetUp.com.  It’s a social site that can network on consisting of groups formed around an interest.  There’s a message board, etc, but also get-togethers aka Meet Ups in person.  There’s a good sized Chicago English Bulldog MeetUp group which meets once a month for bulldog get-togethers.

Once we got Oscar, we ventured to a few of these when he was a pup and he LOVED them.  As in, he’d be sleeping at home and we’d say “MeetUp?” and he’d run to the door.  It’s so funny because even if we don’t say MeetUp, if we’re in the car and driving to one, as soon as we arrive and see other bulldogs walking in, he figures out what it is and gets so excited.  We went to numerous MeetUps in the past and they’re a riot.  It’s typically 20-40 bulldogs running around in a confined space.  Last Valentines, was the largest MeetUp we’d attended, 74 bulldogs!!! Isn’t that insane?

We love them, but haven’t gone to any in about a year because Oscar has developed some aggression towards other male bulldogs at the dog park. We decided to give the MeetUp last Sunday a try.  Oscar was really excited walking in and we saw other dogs on their leashes, so we decided to keep Osc on his.  There were probably about 20ish other bullies I’d guess?  He got into a few tiffs with other males, but surprisingly, if another dog snipped at him, Oscar would just walk away (improvement already). We took him off the leash near the end for 20 minutes or so and he just wandered around.  He may have been too tired to cause trouble, but either way, we’re really excited how well it went overall.  It looks like we’ll be attending more MeetUps this year.

Osc taking in the view

This beefy guy cracked us up; he slept the whole time!

Car-ride home: Pooped!

(If you have a dog and are interested in a breed-specific group, look on MeetUp.com.  I know they have groups for other breeds in tons of cities.  Not only is the in-person social aspect great, but the discussion board online has also been a wonderful research for us).