Care and Housing
English Bulldogs are calm, even-tempered and good-natured dogs. They
are considered to be well suiting breed for housing in an apartment
or a country house. Thanks to the phlegmatic nature, they do not
cause trouble to their handlers with their behavior and are not
dangerous for small children, as well as they get along perfectly
with other pets.
Bulldogs do not require physical loads, as far as long walks or jogs
just harm your Bully. Remember, hard exercises are contraindicated
to this breed. Bulldogs are attached to their home, to their
favorite place in the house and to their handler. Sometimes they are
called "dogs for lazy people" or "guard dogs on the sofa". Caring
for hair and claws is not difficult, but it must be regular.
Wrinkles on the face and the area under the tail should be properly
cleaned and washed to avoid the development of infection.
Accumulation of secretions may lead to the bacteria appearance. In
some cases special ointment is used. You should feed your Bulldog
with high-energy and easily digestible food to prevent fatty
deposits – according to the standard the bulldog must be slender and
strong.
If the owner plans to exhibit his bulldog, and expects to win with
the pet at shows, the dog needs more attention. In this case it is
recommended to provide your dog with daily walks in the fresh air
(up to 2 km), careful grooming, care of nails, eyes, ears and
specially face skin folds.
The dog should be trained in a proper way, considering that this
breed learns commands not too fast, but thoroughly. It is necessary
to habituate a bulldog to the noise and crowds of people and dogs
for it to be able to keep his head during the show. For this purpose
you should walk the dog over the most brisk places.
Your Bully also needs to know how to walk nearby in a calm and
measured way with a leash on, no matter who holds the leash - the
owner, or outsider. At exhibitions Bulldogs compete in conformation
and obedience; the workload is not allowed. However, the housing of
bulldogs has certain characteristics and requires a great deal of
responsibility. The main difficulty of keeping and breeding bulldogs
is their vulnerability.
It happens that the puppies begin to suffer from overheating
an hour later after their birth. In this case, they are put on a cold wet
towel, provided that there are no drafts. You may put a bowl of ice
cubes into the box of a little grown up puppies (from two to three
weeks). And if necessary they will crawl to it or away from it. When
transporting this dog, especially in summer in a car, you need to
bring bags of ice to cover the pet with them at the first sign of
overheating. When the air temperature is above 30 ° C the dog must
be kept in a cool basement or in a room with air conditioning.
Having noticed the symptoms of overheating it is important to clean
or wash the dog's throat from accumulating secretions in time. If
signs of heat stroke (syncope, shock) appear, the handler should
promptly contact his veterinarian. It is extremely risky to conduct
antishock therapy alone, the dog may die!
Delivering puppies in females is quite a complex procedure because
of the anatomy of bulldogs. Thus vast majority of puppies often
appear with the help of planned cesarean section. Even if birth
complications are not expected, this operation is also applied not
to risk the puppies and their mother.
Only very experienced breeders can take delivery on their own,
provided that this is not the first delivery for female, and all the
features of the birth are well-known. But then, after a successful
delivery, the dog must immediately be shown to the vet. On the other
hand, the female who succeeded to give birth without an operation is
considered to be more attentive mother to its pups.
Feeding the puppies can be a serious problem if their mother will
not have enough milk. In such cases, the puppies can be fed by a
bottle, a syringe with a plastic nipple on or a tube (catheter or
probe).
In general, it should be noted that English Bulldogs depend on their
owner much more than other breeds. For example, because of their
body construction they cannot even scratch themselves and need
regular massage. Experts compare Bulldog's housing with having a
child who is totally dependent on their parents. To learn much more
interesting information about this amazing animals, read other
articles.