Saturday, February 2, 2008
What to do when your English Bulldog thinks he's a people person
Slade noticed this morning that the dog, because he gets upset to be left alone (he has clearly been traumatized by how he was kept in the past), shows that he knows people are leaving him by doing a 'protest whiz.'
The first morning the boys were leaving back to school this year he went on a pile of their books. Yesterday when we were getting ready for church it was in our room. I know his methods of communicating are limited, I just wish he knew we have gotten the message.One thing that is hard is that he has to constantly be underfoot, which sometimes has the advantage that I have to be watching him anyway so he doesn't do any of the above, but it is hard when I am going down the stairs or cooking.
And the most amazing thing of all is how he shows that he knows Slade is the master. I remember Bo did this with my dad. My mom and us kids would fawn all over him all day but my dad would come home and he would plant himself by dad for the rest of the night. His favorite time of the week was jumping up to lick him when he slept in on Saturdays. Good times.And Slade is the brutal disciplinarian with Harry, but he is the owner, so he gets all the Kudos. Slade bought this training collar for walks and doesn't put up with anything (I was going to say he doesn't put up with something particularly crude, and that would be true, also).
But Harry definitely prefers him.Saturday was movie night and we watched (unfortunately) Karate Kid II. Afterward Sadie got up to show she had learned some moves and was doing karate chops on her dad. Harry was visibly upset and got in between Sadie and Slade and paced around. Great, he is protecting Slade from a six year old girl. Slade didn't appreciate when I joked that maybe he looks like he wouldn't win the fight.I am pretty sure it has something to do with the history of the breed. No matter how vicious they were to bulls and bears in the pit they had to also be fiercely loyal to their owners especially because as they were lower class city dwellers (the big bull baiting pits were in London) they probably lived all in close quarters.It is very endearing and why I chose him and wouldn't have a substitute, but I am starting to at least see the advantages some dogs and particularly cats that are willing to have their own lives.
We sure love this dog. Hope there is some improvement with his behavior and health issues so we can keep him. That will to a great extent depend on whether the woman I bought him from decides to compensate me for some of the health and behavioral problems. It was Christmas, so we went fast and didn't think contracts, but morally she told a sick woman she was getting a housetrained healthy, behaved older dog.
And she cared nothing for his future home! Mainly she was maximizing profit on this sale at all ends. The dog has clearly lost already, and we are joining him. Some will some other family if we decide we can't have a dog going to the bathroom everywhere and ruining our house, not to mention the likely constant vet bills. Oh, Harry...
The first morning the boys were leaving back to school this year he went on a pile of their books. Yesterday when we were getting ready for church it was in our room. I know his methods of communicating are limited, I just wish he knew we have gotten the message.One thing that is hard is that he has to constantly be underfoot, which sometimes has the advantage that I have to be watching him anyway so he doesn't do any of the above, but it is hard when I am going down the stairs or cooking.
And the most amazing thing of all is how he shows that he knows Slade is the master. I remember Bo did this with my dad. My mom and us kids would fawn all over him all day but my dad would come home and he would plant himself by dad for the rest of the night. His favorite time of the week was jumping up to lick him when he slept in on Saturdays. Good times.And Slade is the brutal disciplinarian with Harry, but he is the owner, so he gets all the Kudos. Slade bought this training collar for walks and doesn't put up with anything (I was going to say he doesn't put up with something particularly crude, and that would be true, also).
But Harry definitely prefers him.Saturday was movie night and we watched (unfortunately) Karate Kid II. Afterward Sadie got up to show she had learned some moves and was doing karate chops on her dad. Harry was visibly upset and got in between Sadie and Slade and paced around. Great, he is protecting Slade from a six year old girl. Slade didn't appreciate when I joked that maybe he looks like he wouldn't win the fight.I am pretty sure it has something to do with the history of the breed. No matter how vicious they were to bulls and bears in the pit they had to also be fiercely loyal to their owners especially because as they were lower class city dwellers (the big bull baiting pits were in London) they probably lived all in close quarters.It is very endearing and why I chose him and wouldn't have a substitute, but I am starting to at least see the advantages some dogs and particularly cats that are willing to have their own lives.
We sure love this dog. Hope there is some improvement with his behavior and health issues so we can keep him. That will to a great extent depend on whether the woman I bought him from decides to compensate me for some of the health and behavioral problems. It was Christmas, so we went fast and didn't think contracts, but morally she told a sick woman she was getting a housetrained healthy, behaved older dog.
And she cared nothing for his future home! Mainly she was maximizing profit on this sale at all ends. The dog has clearly lost already, and we are joining him. Some will some other family if we decide we can't have a dog going to the bathroom everywhere and ruining our house, not to mention the likely constant vet bills. Oh, Harry...
Puddles in Oregon
I don't want to be all my posts complaining about the puppy mill situation that I ended up buying him from, we are actually getting attached to the guy and figuring him out a bit.
Oregon has a bad rap about all the puddles. Well it used to. The rain is actually not bad and OR has some of the mildest weather anywhere all things considered. I went out with no coat on today. There were a few raindrops but I didn't have to worry about loosing fingers or toes, slip to my death, or need to scrape anything off my car, or worse. This is coming from someone who would rather be living in Arizona and so nothing about winter will be perfect, I have all the snow I want within an hour's drive and the appropriately maximum twice a year in my yard.
But the puddles I am having a hard time with lately, even in January, are coming from inside my own house. After having spent our last red cent on this dog and purposefully bypassing the adorable puppy stage so he wouldn't ruin our house, we may have to end up buying all new carpets anyway. And it isn't that he doesn't prefer to go outside. He loves the weather, now that we got his foot condition fixed after vet visits and many medications.
He just likes to go inside, too.Apparently that is one of the disadvantages of getting a nearly adult male dog. They don't like to move into a house that they don't feel is fully their territory. My luck.Right now he and I are having to be very lonely for each other because he is being punished in the downstairs bathroom, as usual. He developed the absolute necessity to keep a bag of new curtains peed on. Other than this, he is a delight. Seriously, the amount of love and adorableness that he has brought to us and the absolute giddy happiness of our kids has been hard to overstate.
Seeing Drake take absolute responsibility that has come with being one of the main people to take care of him has been precious. So if the puddles were really so bad that if I would have known I wouldn't have gotten him, I probably wouldn't have gotten myself any kids, either. Because they are much messier, much more work, and much more frustrating. So I guess we will survive.
Monday, January 28, 2008
The English Bulldog: Perfect for any President's day
Except today. We are really struggling. I am beginning to think that the operation we bought him from was some kind of puppy mill--the kind they always warn you about. I think I just wrote a huge check to finance one.
The thing is, if she had just been honest with me, and said look, we have kept this dog kennel style until he is a giant neglected puppy that will be a disaster for any future owner, I might have actually bought into it, or someone would have, for some price.
But she made me specifically think that this was a family dog that slept in her boyfriend's bed! This dog has not seen anything besides a kennel and a yard, and he is obviously traumatized. Anyone who buys a bulldog needs to think twice before they buy from this operation, that I have named previously, in older posts when I wasn't as decidedly concerned. I don't want it to sound like a negative commercial here, I just want it to be a warning for anyone interested in this breed for themselves: you are in for a handful.
And coming from me, who has touted only this breed for thirty years now, that is saying a lot. You will be buying more than another child if that is what you decide to get. And NEVER make the mistake I did by bypassing the puppy stage to save your carpets. What you will get is a problem dog, and that is what you should ask to pay for.
The saddest thing is that now my children are so attached to him that we will be devastated if ultimately I decide I can't handle it. I can't wind up in the hospital just because we have fallen in love with a dog. My children will probably never get over it, and the dog DEFINITELY never will.
Who will want an ageing problem bulldog? And we won't have the nerve to lie to disguize his past, we would know that we would just be devastating another family for a few hundred dollars. We will have to take a total loss just to make sure he goes to a good home.
The thing is, if she had just been honest with me, and said look, we have kept this dog kennel style until he is a giant neglected puppy that will be a disaster for any future owner, I might have actually bought into it, or someone would have, for some price.
But she made me specifically think that this was a family dog that slept in her boyfriend's bed! This dog has not seen anything besides a kennel and a yard, and he is obviously traumatized. Anyone who buys a bulldog needs to think twice before they buy from this operation, that I have named previously, in older posts when I wasn't as decidedly concerned. I don't want it to sound like a negative commercial here, I just want it to be a warning for anyone interested in this breed for themselves: you are in for a handful.
And coming from me, who has touted only this breed for thirty years now, that is saying a lot. You will be buying more than another child if that is what you decide to get. And NEVER make the mistake I did by bypassing the puppy stage to save your carpets. What you will get is a problem dog, and that is what you should ask to pay for.
The saddest thing is that now my children are so attached to him that we will be devastated if ultimately I decide I can't handle it. I can't wind up in the hospital just because we have fallen in love with a dog. My children will probably never get over it, and the dog DEFINITELY never will.
Who will want an ageing problem bulldog? And we won't have the nerve to lie to disguize his past, we would know that we would just be devastating another family for a few hundred dollars. We will have to take a total loss just to make sure he goes to a good home.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
A new year and new concerns for a bulldog owner
1/5/07 We have been having a good time with our new English Bulldog, Harry. The housebreaking really hasn't improved much, and I am kind of concerned that the people I bought him from, Luv-A-Bulldog, aren't answering my emails about his housebreaking.
I am not exactly pointing fingers at them or anything, I just would like some information about how they dealt with what is obviously a problem.
Unfortunately, I am getting the picture that he may have been somewhat neglected and perhaps he lived outside. This is absolutely a tragedy for a bulldog. They mentioned they have acerage and that is great for a dog to have access to a yard, but bulldogs are people dogs. If they aren't absolutely under your feet, they will not thrive.
And it ocurrs to me thinking back on what he was like when we got him that he was a bit well 'wilted.' I wondered if he had been debarked because he absolutely never made a sound. I was thrilled, because my nerves can't exactly handle dogs barking much, but it actually seems like he might have been a bit DEPRESSED. He would never play, he slept pretty much round the clock, and we even had a hard time getting him to eat.
In the past few days he has picked up his spirits a bit and gotten very friendly with us. But one of the strange things was that he didn't like going on walks. We almost couldn't drag him out of the house. Again I emailed Luv-A-Bulldog and she said that she had NEVER TAKEN HIM ON A WALK, that she just let him run around on their property.
And the very sad thing is that maybe his whole life was just spent out in the yard. No wonder he didn't want to go outside, he probably thought he was back at his other owners.
And one of the things that we noticed lately was that he was constantly licking a few of his feet. Dogs do that stuff sometimes and we didn't notice at first that they also looked very sore. And he was even favoring those paws when he walked. It looked like this 11 month old dog was actually in pain.
That was the last straw. The dandruff was one thing, but I couldn't handle the poor gentle soul being uncomfortable so I took him to the vet. The owner discouraged this, saying 'oh don't spend money on a vet' but I am sorry he was sick.
The vet confirmed my worst fears, that he had probably just been kept out in a kennel his whole life on wet concrete. He had multiple bacterial and fungal infections all over his body, in his fur, in his skin wrinkles, on his neck (probably with some sort of really cruel collar because the fur was actually wearing away) and especially between his toes. He hadn't let us look before, but when the vet opened up his toes there were VERY angry sores between them.
We spent about 200 dollars on all of the lab work, shampoos and treatments, and medications, and he will probably need another round of treatments soon.
Did they LUV-A-Bulldog? Not this one. It is SO sad.
I am not exactly pointing fingers at them or anything, I just would like some information about how they dealt with what is obviously a problem.
Unfortunately, I am getting the picture that he may have been somewhat neglected and perhaps he lived outside. This is absolutely a tragedy for a bulldog. They mentioned they have acerage and that is great for a dog to have access to a yard, but bulldogs are people dogs. If they aren't absolutely under your feet, they will not thrive.
And it ocurrs to me thinking back on what he was like when we got him that he was a bit well 'wilted.' I wondered if he had been debarked because he absolutely never made a sound. I was thrilled, because my nerves can't exactly handle dogs barking much, but it actually seems like he might have been a bit DEPRESSED. He would never play, he slept pretty much round the clock, and we even had a hard time getting him to eat.
In the past few days he has picked up his spirits a bit and gotten very friendly with us. But one of the strange things was that he didn't like going on walks. We almost couldn't drag him out of the house. Again I emailed Luv-A-Bulldog and she said that she had NEVER TAKEN HIM ON A WALK, that she just let him run around on their property.
And the very sad thing is that maybe his whole life was just spent out in the yard. No wonder he didn't want to go outside, he probably thought he was back at his other owners.
And one of the things that we noticed lately was that he was constantly licking a few of his feet. Dogs do that stuff sometimes and we didn't notice at first that they also looked very sore. And he was even favoring those paws when he walked. It looked like this 11 month old dog was actually in pain.
That was the last straw. The dandruff was one thing, but I couldn't handle the poor gentle soul being uncomfortable so I took him to the vet. The owner discouraged this, saying 'oh don't spend money on a vet' but I am sorry he was sick.
The vet confirmed my worst fears, that he had probably just been kept out in a kennel his whole life on wet concrete. He had multiple bacterial and fungal infections all over his body, in his fur, in his skin wrinkles, on his neck (probably with some sort of really cruel collar because the fur was actually wearing away) and especially between his toes. He hadn't let us look before, but when the vet opened up his toes there were VERY angry sores between them.
We spent about 200 dollars on all of the lab work, shampoos and treatments, and medications, and he will probably need another round of treatments soon.
Did they LUV-A-Bulldog? Not this one. It is SO sad.
Link to article on the history of English Bulldogs
I am obviously an avid fan of the breed. Here is an article I wrote on the history of how the breed resulted in some of its quirky features:
http://www.helium.com/tm/792501/boxers-boxerbulldog-mixes-better
http://www.helium.com/tm/792501/boxers-boxerbulldog-mixes-better
Luv-A-Bulldog? You kind of have to
January 1, 2007
We have been having quite a challenge with our new dog. I was told he was housebroken, but he pretty much just goes freely anywhere he happens to be.
We love him to death and he has the run of the house (sleeping with the boys, etc.) but I got an older dog, missing out on the puppy experience that I really wanted to have, because I wasn't sure I could handle the thought of dog accidents.
The people we got him from, Luv-A-Bulldog, said that he was housebroken but they were a bit vague about it, only saying 'he has the idea.'
I am beginning to be a bit concerned that this is why they got rid of him. We aren't regretting our decision yet, just perhaps who we got him from.
We have been having quite a challenge with our new dog. I was told he was housebroken, but he pretty much just goes freely anywhere he happens to be.
We love him to death and he has the run of the house (sleeping with the boys, etc.) but I got an older dog, missing out on the puppy experience that I really wanted to have, because I wasn't sure I could handle the thought of dog accidents.
The people we got him from, Luv-A-Bulldog, said that he was housebroken but they were a bit vague about it, only saying 'he has the idea.'
I am beginning to be a bit concerned that this is why they got rid of him. We aren't regretting our decision yet, just perhaps who we got him from.
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