Chicago French Bulldog Rescue

Chicago French Bulldog Rescue Chicago French Bulldog Rescue (CFBR) was launched to protect French Bulldogs from neglect, abuse, loss of family and theft.

We rescue them from animal shelters and puppy mills. We help families and individuals that can no longer care for their Frenchies. A rescue that helps French Bulldogs in need- all of our foster dogs stay in foster homes and not in a shelter.

At Chicago French Bulldog Rescue, our mission has always been simple: to help French Bulldogs in need. That mission cont...
07/09/2026

At Chicago French Bulldog Rescue, our mission has always been simple: to help French Bulldogs in need. That mission continues to guide every decision made by The CFBR Board.
Rescue has never been about one organization—it’s about coming together to help dogs in need.
In the weeks ahead, The CFBR Board will be sharing adoptable French Bulldogs from other reputable rescues and shelters. While these dogs may not be part of CFBR, they are just as deserving of loving homes, second chances, and families who will cherish them.
Every adoption changes a life. Every share helps a dog reach more potential adopters. Every comment and every act of support helps shine a light on a Frenchie waiting for their forever home.
We believe that supporting the rescue community means supporting all French Bulldogs in need, no matter which rescue is caring for them. By working together, we can help more dogs find the happy endings they deserve.
Thank you for continuing to support Chicago French Bulldog Rescue and The CFBR Board as we remain committed to advocating for French Bulldogs everywhere.
❤️ The CFBR Board

❤️🤍💙 Happy Fourth of July from Chicago French Bulldog Rescue! 🇺🇸We hope you, your family, and your furry companions have...
07/04/2026

❤️🤍💙 Happy Fourth of July from Chicago French Bulldog Rescue! 🇺🇸

We hope you, your family, and your furry companions have a wonderful day filled with fun, celebration, and plenty of snuggles.

As you celebrate today, please keep your pets’ safety in mind:

🎆 Keep pets safely indoors during fireworks.
🏷️ Make sure collars, ID tags, and microchip information are up to date.
🚶 Exercise and potty early before fireworks begin.
🦴 Offer enrichment like frozen Kongs, lick mats, puzzle toys, or favorite chews.
📺 Use the TV, calming music, or a white noise machine to help mask the sound of fireworks.
🚪 Be extra careful when guests are coming and going—an open door is all it takes for a frightened dog to slip away.
☀️ Keep French Bulldogs cool, hydrated, and out of the heat, as they are especially susceptible to overheating.

Tonight is one of the busiest nights of the year for lost pets, but a few extra precautions can make all the difference.

Thank you for being part of the Chicago French Bulldog Rescue family and for helping us keep Frenchies safe every day. Wishing you and your pups a safe, peaceful, and memorable Fourth of July!

— The Chicago French Bulldog Rescue Board ❤️🤍💙🐾

More pets go missing this weekend due to fireworks, please keep them safe!
07/03/2026

More pets go missing this weekend due to fireworks, please keep them safe!

A Note from the CFBR Board ❤️You may notice that some of the heat safety posts we’re sharing this week are ones we’ve sh...
06/29/2026

A Note from the CFBR Board ❤️

You may notice that some of the heat safety posts we’re sharing this week are ones we’ve shared before. That’s intentional. Good information doesn’t expire, and unfortunately, neither does the risk that extreme heat poses to our beloved flat-faced friends.

The weather this week simply isn’t Frenchie weather. High temperatures and humidity can quickly become life-threatening for brachycephalic breeds, even during what seems like a short walk or potty break.

Please remember:
☀️ Keep outdoor time brief.
💧 Make sure fresh water is always available.
❄️ Stay in the air conditioning whenever possible.
🐾 Watch closely for signs of heat stress or heat stroke.

While we may be closed to new intakes at the moment, the CFBR board will never stop caring about the well-being of French Bulldogs. If re-sharing this information helps even one Frenchie stay safe during this heat wave, it’s worth posting again.

Stay cool, stay safe, and give your pups an extra cuddle from all of us at CFBR. ❤️🐾

We are writing this on behalf of our client Mary Scheffke, the founder of Chicago French Bulldog Rescue, because she is ...
06/26/2026

We are writing this on behalf of our client Mary Scheffke, the founder of Chicago French Bulldog Rescue, because she is too heartbroken today to find the words herself.
Tulip has passed peacefully with Mary Scheffke by her side.
Tulip was found outside. She came to this rescue, as so many of CFBR's dogs do, because there was nowhere else for her to go. She was diagnosed with an aggressive thyroid cancer. Her surgeon told Mary that she had never seen tumors of that size, in that location, in a dog as small as Tulip.
On June 11, Tulip was scheduled for surgery to remove that cancer. The night before, the Board of Directors of Chicago French Bulldog Rescue cancelled it. Mary went to court and filed an emergency motion asking the court to allow the surgery and to restore her access to the rescue's funds to pay for it. The court granted that motion. Within the hour of receiving the court's order, Mary called to schedule the surgery. That is who she is.
When asked, all three of Tulip's doctors, her surgeon, her radiologist oncologist, and her treating physician, said that if Tulip were their own dog, they would have done the surgery. So should we.
The surgery went beautifully. In the twenty-four hours that followed, Tulip was s***ky and happy. She ate. She bit at clipboards and pens after her surgery. She had the zoomies at home with Mary and played her favorite games. She was, by every measure, full of life and full of fight.
Then, more than twenty-four hours after surgery, she took a sudden and unexpected turn. Despite everything her doctors did, Tulip had suffered nerve damage and could no longer swallow or breathe properly. Her body could not recover.
Mary made the most difficult decision a person can make for an animal they love, and helped Tulip pass peacefully. She was not alone. Her doctors and techs asked to be in the room with her. In just a few days, this little dog had made that kind of impression on the people who cared for her.
The alternative to surgery would have been certain death, after palliative care that would have allowed those tumors to continue to grow, to choke her, or to spread. Mary chose to fight. The team at VCA Aurora fought alongside her. Tulip fought too, with every bit of the s***k and personality that made the doctors and staff fall in love with her.
We are as proud of Mary Scheffke as we are of every doctor and tech at VCA Aurora who gave this dog every possible chance at life. This is what this rescue was founded to do. It is not always easy. Some days it is the hardest thing in the world.
Rest easy now, Tulip. The girl who played games with Mary, who had the zoomies, who bit every pen and clipboard she could find in the hospital, and who was so full of life that even the people who met her for the first time could not help but love her.
Please give Mary some time. She loved this dog dearly, and today is a very hard day.
R Tamara de Silva and Jonathan Lubin
Counsel for Mary Catherine Scheffke

It is with the deepest sadness that we share that, despite every hope for a different outcome, Tulip will be crossing th...
06/25/2026

It is with the deepest sadness that we share that, despite every hope for a different outcome, Tulip will be crossing the Rainbow Bridge this evening.

Following her surgery, Tulip faced too many complications, and the kindest, most compassionate decision is to let her go peacefully rather than ask her to endure any more pain.

Mary will be by Tulip’s side, surrounding her with love and comfort until the very end.

Please keep everyone who loved Tulip in your thoughts, and hug your own pups a little tighter tonight in her memory.
Run free, sweet Tulip. You were deeply loved and will never be forgotten. 🌈🐾💔

06/19/2026

new update from pro bono counsel:
Update June 19, 2026

Today the board of Chicago French Bulldog Rescue sent a message to its volunteers about what happened in court on June 17. The message tells two stories that are not true. The first is that the board won. The second, which the board has repeated for weeks, is that Mary Scheffke started this lawsuit, and that her lawsuit is why donated money is going to lawyers. Both stories collapse against the record. Start with the second one, because the dates tell it for you.
The Timeline the Board Left Out-
Who started this, and when the money started leaving:
The board began spending the rescue's money on lawyers to remove Mary before any lawsuit existed. Here is the order in which things actually happened.
Late April 2026. Two board members send Mary profanity-laced text messages. Around the same time, the board pays its law firm about $5,000. There is no lawsuit. There is no court case. There is no demand for Mary to answer anything. There is only a decision to spend donated money to remove the founder.
May 1, 2026. The law firm sends a letter announcing an "investigation" into Mary's compensation, housing, and role. The board acts before the investigation is ever finished.
May 7, 2026. The board votes to strip Mary of the presidency, installs a new president, and sets a vote for May 27 to remove her as a director.
May 11, 2026. The board cuts off Mary's debit card, the card she uses to buy food and medicine for four medically fragile dogs. The same day, the board confirms the May 27 vote to remove her.
May 14, 2026. The board and its newly installed president authorize another payment to the law firm, again about $5,000. By the board's own earlier accounting, the legal fees now sit around $10,000. Every dollar of it has been spent before Mary has filed anything anywhere.
May 15, 2026. Only now does Mary go to court. She files for a temporary restraining order to stop the removal vote and to restore her access to the funds the dogs depend on. This is the first time anyone files anything in any court.
By the time Mary filed, the board had already sent the texts, paid the firm, opened its "investigation," removed her as president, cut off the dogs' debit card, scheduled her removal, and paid the firm a second time. Mary did not start this. She answered it. The board decided to spend donor money on a removal campaign weeks before a single page was filed in court. The lawsuit the board now blames for its legal bills is the lawsuit Mary was forced to file to stop what the board had already put in motion.
A board that did not want to spend money on lawyers had the same option at every step: stop, talk, mediate. The board chose litigation paid for with donations instead, and it made that choice first.
What the court actually ruled on June 17:
The board's message points to one thing that the court denied the rule to show cause. What it omits: Judge Reilly granted the preliminary injunction in Mary's favor in full. Mary keeps her employment, her home, and her position as director. The court ordered full restoration of her co-signatory status and access to all rescue funds. The court confirmed that Mary makes all medical decisions for the dogs in her care. The court noted that no one disputes Tulip will not survive without surgery, and ordered that her surgery proceed.
As for the rule to show cause, Judge Reilly denied it on the narrow ground that the original TRO language did not explicitly require co-signatory status or viewing access to financial records. The preliminary injunction entered June 17 corrects that directly. It now explicitly requires both. The board's message describes all of this as the court ruling in their favor. The order speaks for itself.
The property is a reason, not a justification
The board wants to sell the rescue's property. That is part of why it wants Mary out, and it is not irrelevant to this case. But it is no justification for what the board has done. What to do with the property, whether to sell it, put the proceeds toward caring for dogs in need, and rent a facility for the rescue's most medically vulnerable animals, is a governance decision. An impartial board can make it through honest deliberation. It does not require throwing the founder out of her home, ending her employment, freezing her bank access, and cancelling a cancer surgery the night before the operation. It took a court order to stop those things. The property question can wait for a board acting in the rescue's interest.
Where the money goes
People give to this rescue to save and treat French Bulldogs. That money is not a litigation fund. In open court, the board acknowledged that the rescue holds at least $100,000. Its own earlier messages put the legal fees at about $10,000, and that was weeks ago, BEFORE a contested injunction hearing, an emergency motion, a rule to show cause, and a stretch of non-compliance with a court order. Those fees have almost certainly grown, and they will keep growing with every filing, every hearing, and every day the board does not comply. Every dollar the board's law firm bills is a dollar that someone gave to help dogs. It is paying for a campaign to remove the founder.

06/19/2026

Community Statement
June 16 Court Ruling
June 19, 2026

Dear Chicago French Bulldog Rescue Members, Supporters and Friends:

Thank you for being a part of this wonderful organization and for helping so many hurt and neglected French Bulldogs. We want you to know that the CFBR’s board is 100 percent focused on our mission and funding the care for French Bulldogs long into the future. We also want toupdate you about recent actions and how we have gotten here.

Court Ruling
As you may know, Mary Scheffke filed a lawsuit against CFBR. In addition, she requested a temporary restraining order (TRO) against CFBR and filed a Petition for Rule to Show Cause for CFBR allegedly violating the TRO. On the June 16, 2026, CFBR appeared in court to respond to the TRO and the petition. The judge ordered the following:
• Until Mary Scheffke’s lawsuit against CFBR is resolved, CFBR is prevented from:
o Terminating her employment as CFBR’s only employee
o Removing her from living on CFBR’s property
o Removing her from her position as a director on the CFBR’s board
• In addition, Mary Scheffke will have:
o The authority to make decisions about the threedogs in her care
o Access to CFBR’s funds including being a co-signatory on the CFBR’s checking account
• Mary Scheffke is required to provide receipts to the CFBR’s board for bills or payments she has made with CFBR funds within 30 days of payment.
• Mary Scheffke’s Petition for Rule to Show Cause was denied.

How did we get to this point?
Two drivers have led CFBR here – the need for financial responsibility, including our fiduciary duties as directors, and the need to focus on the CFBR mission and needs versus those of Mary Scheffke, its founder.

The need for financial responsibility: In November 2025, a financial report provided by our accounting firmshowed that CFBR is on the verge of overspending its resources. Major expenses other than the care for French Bulldogs included maintaining our small complex (the property) and the costs associated with our soleemployee, Mary Scheffke.
1. The property: In 2021, just before we purchased the property, Ms. Scheffke expressed her vision for it,which included having a place where fosters could be trained, where volunteers could come to help with Rescue operations, where Frenchie owners could get trained on physical therapy and spend a weekend to receive assistance in caring for their dogs, and a place to conduct fundraisers for CFBR. Unfortunately, none of these activities ever transpired. In fact, Mary Scheffke later opposed many of them. As a result, our facility has been greatly underutilized since its purchase in 2021 and has exposed CFBR to potential liability for improper use of charitable assets. Meanwhile, increasing maintenance costs create a financial strain on the organization.
2. CFBR’s employee: While Mary Scheffke is paid a modest salary for taking care of the animals at CFBR’s property, it is an expense. Furthermore, Mary Scheffke has a long history over several Boards of Directors of not providing receipts for her spending which she bills to the Rescue. This has made the process of financial checks and balances impossible.

Given the financial drain of the property, the board’s desire is to sell it. We want to allocate funds solely to the dogs' medical expenses, caring for additional dogs CFBR may foster or adopt, and other CFBR activities in support of CFBR’s charitable mission.

In April of this year, the Board requested that Mary Scheffke account for her expenses by providing receipts to the Board. She objected, became belligerent toward the Board members and ceased communication. At that point, we believed that it was in CFBR’s best interest to terminate her employment. Mary sought legal action to prevent this and sued CFBR.

Unfortunately, many non-profit founders cannot separate themselves from their organizations and act in ways that are not in the best interest of the organization. This is called founder’s syndrome and is reflected in the situationCFBR is witnessing today. By being president of the board of CFBR, being its only paid employee, and maintaining residence in CFBR’s only facility, Mary Scheffke has come to considered herself as CFBR and accountable to no one. This is not true and is the foundation for this current dispute.

Mary Sheffke’s inability to separate herself from the organization has led to a very dangerous and expensive situation. In addition to Mary Scheffke's lack of financial transparency, her abrasive treatment of volunteers and fosters has caused many to leave the organization.

The Board’s actions with respect to Mary Scheffke are justified as well as legal. We are optimistic that the Court will rule in CFBR’s favor.

The choice before CFBR is clear.
a) Do we continue to fund a small complex that is woefully underutilized and continue to bear the cost of providing affordable housing for a paid employee who does the same good work as many of our volunteers?
b) Or, do we choose to be financially responsible and focus on the true mission of the organization—the rescue, care and safety of French Bulldogs–and ensure we are financially healthy and strong long term.

The Board is committed to the latter and also committed to always acting in the best interests of the organization, as it is its duty to do.

It’s National Rescue Dog Day, a holiday in our world!!♥️🐾 All of us volunteers at CFBR are so passionate about helping o...
05/20/2026

It’s National Rescue Dog Day, a holiday in our world!!♥️🐾 All of us volunteers at CFBR are so passionate about helping our flat-faced friends in need!! We are so thankful to our community who has supported us in this mission through donations, sharing our information, attending our events, etc. We couldn’t help these dogs without you!! Give all of your rescued pups an extra hug & treat today, and if you have a rescue frenchie from us - let us know how they are doing in the comments!!!!🫶🏻🫶🏻

🍔 BIG news, Chicago Frenchie fam 🍔The B!G MAX is BACK this Saturday, May 23rd at noon at Vaca’s Creamery in Lincoln Squa...
05/19/2026

🍔 BIG news, Chicago Frenchie fam 🍔

The B!G MAX is BACK this Saturday, May 23rd at noon at Vaca’s Creamery in Lincoln Square — and $1 from every sandwich sold this month is being donated to Chicago French Bulldog Rescue 🐾

Come hungry. Come early. They’ve been selling out FAST.

📍Vaca’s Creamery
2324 W. Giddings
⏰ Saturday, May 23 | 12PM until sell out

Huge thank you to Herbivore + Vaca’s for supporting CFBR 💛

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