Ready for your new Bulldog puppy?

So, you are ready for your new Bulldog puppy? here are some things to be aware of and helpful tips.

First is the hunt. Searching for reputable Olde English Bulldog breeders can be a tedious and so risky. Let’s face it, most breeders aren’t on the up and up like One of a Kind Bulldogs. First off, do NOT buy from a breeder/person you can not talk to on the phone at minimum. You have to be able to ask many questions like parents temperament, health, bloodlines, quality of care, what type of guarantee they give, are they open to public, what type of health testing do they do, etc… Buying dogs from breeders in another state is NOT a bad idea, but buying from breeders in other states sight unseen can be risky. Make sure you buy from a breeder who is generally open to the public. Event though distance is an issue, a breeder open to public shows they have nothing to hide typically and it gives you an opportunity to see the quality of care and temperament of the dogs. Again, if buying from another state, at least make sure they are open to their local customers and have had people on their property to make sure they are doing a good job.

Now that you have found your breeder, hopefully One of a Kind Bulldogs, make sure you are well informed about the breed, its common health concerns, training requirements and so forth. The more educated you are the less road bumps you will hit. At One of a Kind Bulldogges we make sure we educate all of our buyers on the breed and the requirements of raising Olde English Bulldogge puppies.

When bringing home your new Bulldog pup make sure to have all your basic necessities ready and pre-bought. This includes harness, crate, collar, name tag, leashes, food bowls, food and toys. We prefer our new owners avoid pet stores and contact with other dogs for the first couple months while the pup is getting it’s vaccine regiment. Bringing home distemper, parvo or an upper respiratory infection is no good 😦 and these things are more likely at high traffic pet area like dog parks and pet stores. 

Now, for starters we HIGHLY recommend crate training!!! Crate training can be the best friend of a new dog owner. Crate training a dog is meant to mimic their natural instinct to den. Many times you will notice your new puppy run under the bed or couch, somewhere small, enclosed and safe for them, this is what the crate is for. Crate training your dog will help with potty training tremendously! Please crate train your dog, it is best for him/her and the fur parents. here is a site with some useful tips on Crate training your dog. One of the best reasons for crate training besides potty training is that you can rest assure your pet is safe in a crate while you are gone avoiding the dog getting into electrical cords, toxins or anything else that is dangerous. Obviously crate training is not your only tool. make sure you walk he dog regularly. I typically recommend letting pups out every hour or two to be safe. By 12 weeks old the pups should be able to hol their pee in for a solid 4-5 hours and typically by this age they are going potty 4-5 times a day, sometimes less depending on how many daily feedings. We feed our pups twice a day, morning and evening, but we know some people like to split up their dog meals into 3 or 4. If feeding 3 or 4 times a day is feasible with your schedule then go right ahead, but if not, two times is sufficient. By 9-14 months old many of the Bulldogges food drive slows down and I start eliminating the morning meal. By over a year or so they are only getting one meal a day at 5pm.

Now, often I am asked what if i work during the day? Well, Bulldogge puppies at 8 weeks old can be a handful, they will pee and poo every hour, sometimes less. They key is to stay patient and have a plan of action for the first few months. If you are gone most the day, be prepared to come home to a mess every day. If you cannot hire a sitter, friend or neighbor to come every few hours and stimulate your pup and let it go to the bathroom then you will need to push a lot more training after 12 weeks to catch up. If you are in this situation you can always close off your kitchen, leave a crate in there and tape potty pads to the floor. This will give your pup a little room and freedom while keeping your house in one piece. We do not recommend using potty pads for more than a month or so, it can become a habit and the pups can start peeing on floor mates and throw rugs. make sure your pup obviously has adequate water when you are gone and of course all its favorite toys. We also do NOT recommend ANY bedding for the first few months. Our pups are raised on old sheets and towels til 5 weeks, so sometimes they will pee on them as a reminder of their childhood, haha. Avoid any soft or absorbent bedding for a while until your puppy can be trusted to not pee on them or chew them into pieces.

Some other things that are handy for your new puppy, make sure you have treats, natures miracle stain remover, a bitter apple or bitter yuck chew deterrent spray, a lot of toys and of course some type of training manual. We highly recommend the book “How to be your Dogs best Friend” by the Monks of New Skete. It is a great book that teaches owners how to be the alpha/pack leader and truly give a great understanding of how dogs think and work.

Now, if your dog is flying in you might need a little more to prepare. This is what I recommend for my customers who are picking up a pup at the airport. Our pups come crate conditioned, so they are fairly used to the crate when flying, BUT it doesn’t mean they won’t leave a mess. Bring a 2 liter of tap water and some towels just in case their is a mess in the crate. The puppies are typically underfed their morning meal, so once at home and settled feed your pup a normal meal size, no need to over feed to make up for short breakfast. The first night or two might be rough, especially if crating, but stay consistent and do not give in. We recommend the crate be placed somewhere far enough from you to where the pup cannot see you but close enough to where you can here the pup and get up to let him/her out for potty.

Just remember, owning a puppy is not easy, they will have many accidents, chew up a lot of your favorite stuff, jump on your friends and family and so forth, but with consistent training, socialization and a healthy relationship your pup can turn into the best Olde English Bulldogge puppy fur-baby ever! We highly recommend consistent training for the first 2-3 years of life as this breed is still learning and developing til then. The more time, training, research and love you put into your dog, the less likely you are to have problems.

Hope this was informative and helpful. feel free to add anything else through the comments thread 🙂

Ary www.OneofaKindBulldogs.com

 

 

 

 

Be a responsible breeder, help with rescue

The responsibilities of Olde English Bulldogge breeders go much further than just raising and selling pups. Shelter systems are over run nearly everywhere. Dog are being put down in the masses, pure-bred and mutts. It seems easy in the eyes of many to be a “breeder,” but being a responsible breeder with morals, ethics, compassion and love that passes into their breeding practices seems to be rare. For example, I see hundreds of breeders on FB who pump out litter after litter, easily 60-80 pups a year even though they have less than a year experience. Many of these breeders produce 200 or so pups in a few years and then close their doors and stop breeding. Now they have 200+ offspring and I highly doubt the contract states they will take them back, and if so, would they after they are closed? Also, I hear a lot of breeders say their dogs will never end up in a pound, but how can you be sure if you are not contacting them regularly and making sure your contract specifies legal repercussions? Many contracts ask for the dog back or have “first right” to buy the dog back, but what good does that do? And yes, I drop 8-12 litters a year, BUT i didn’t start up like that. I dropped 2 litters my first 3 years and then was dropping 2-6 litters a year for the next 3 years. I never had three litters on the ground at once until I knew I could place that many pups. I put 5 years into this as a full time job, 24/7, 365 days a year before I took the jump and dropped a lot of Olde English Bulldogge puppies, and when I did I already started my Bulldog rescue. I also do this for a living. I DO NOT have another full time job, so that means my dogs are cared for hands on by me personally. Being this is my livelihood, I have more incentive to produce only the best and to maintain the best reputation. Most breeders can produce some mess of dogs, stop returning client calls, sell all their dogs and go back to focusing on their families and full time jobs or what ever new hobby they wanna get into. Not One of a Kind! We are here for life, that is why our Lifetime guarantee is for real!

This leads to my main point. Over the last few years I have been trying to keep track of how many dogs get returned. Keep in mind I am in a decent demographics in regards to cost of living and so forth, so I do like to think I get better placements. Plus with my guarantee and all we include, and my prices are a little higher which help eliminate some buyers that may not be a great fit. Now, this being said, I think it is fair to say that 1 out of every 5 pups I produce will come back within the first two years of it’s life. yes, 1 in 5 pups returned before 2 years of age. I would ESTIMATE another 1 in 5 will be returned after 2 years of age. I have noticed dogs that are adopted out through my rescue have a 1 and 3 chance of coming back since they sometimes have behavior issues or something of that nature. Dogs I produced seem to be placed easier through rescue since even my owners who have surrendered my dogs have done a good job raising them. So, once a dog is returned to me from my breeding program the odds of it finding a permanent forever home actually goes down significantly as does any other rescue/owner surrender. This is from my own experience, BUT I think it is fair to say that as breeders we are ALL contributing to the mass shelter kills IF we are not taking some precautions to lower the likeliness of our dogs ending up in shelters.

For example: One of a Kind Bulldogs come with a complimentary responsible pet sterilization package. I include a spay/neuter package on my pups. It is included at no cost to the buyer, all they have to do is show up at my vet between 5 and 7 months old. We also include ALL boosters, micro-chip and rabies shot as a courtesy. A bulldog that is not fixed has a high likeliness of ending up in a backyard breeders hand as a free money maker. I have seen it all too many times when a dog is given away or sold cheap intact and it is just turned around and bred for profit then put back on craigslist. I do have a strict clause in my contract in regards to this and I do have penalties clearly stated for those who break my contract. And yes, I have enforced my contract before and won every time. I also have a no re-sell clause, meaning my dog can NEVER change ownership without my written permission. Again, it is stated clearly on my contract that their is a large penalty for this violation of the terms. To make sure we are better communicating with our customers we have started a One of a Kind Bulldogs Client facebook board and newsletter to help stay in touch. Our customer facebook board is over 300 strong and we have become a giant family who are informative and supportive of each other.

It seems obvious that dogs bred for the true betterment of the breed have higher chances of getting good homes. Breeding for health, temperament and correct conformation makes a big difference. Dogs with health issues or special needs are a more difficult placement. Dog with poor temperament are a lot more difficult to adopt, especially if aggression is an issue. I see it all too many times when breeders breed defective dogs and think they are going to breed it out of the lines. I have numerous times given dogs back to breeders for defects just to see them re-sold to another breeder instead of fixed and placed as a pet. These low quality dogs only cause heartache to their owners and help contribute to the inconsistent life the dog may have. Yes, we ALL produce dogs of lower quality or with defects, but we do NOT need to breed them and we need to take the best steps to lessen the likeliness of producing them.

I also NEVER sell my adult Olde English Bulldogges as breeding dogs. Whether 1 litter or 4, they all get fixed and placed locally in a loving home. I like to make sure my retired babies are loved and spoiled and within driving distance. Keeping track of the health and longevity of life on ancestors to our dogs is important to bettering our breed. I have all too many times seen dogs get passed around like candy just to die. I will use One of a Kind’s Judo Chop’s parents as an example. He has now outlived both mother and father. If i remember correctly his mother who was an EB went to 4 different breeders and was c-sectioned 4 times in a row and died on the 4th, r.i.p What a Mug Blue Groove. His father went to at least 7 breeders that I know of for sure in only a 6 month time frame. he died at under 4 years I think, r.i.p Kong. Judo is now older then both his parents were when they died. That’s because as a breeder I give my dogs some loyalty and respect, and of course I know how to raise my dogs properly.

Now, the most important thing I wish other breeders would do, some RESCUE work. The stats on my end over 8 years clearly show whether we like it or not we are contributing to over-population, so why not help save some dogs within your breed? Why not keep a kennel or two open and help keep a dog out of a shelter? Truth is, if you are an expert in your breed and really care then you should be the best fit to help them. If you really want to help the breed then keeping them out of the shelters should be a priority. If every breeder just made room for one or two rescues, really implemented spay/neuter clauses and truly cared for the well being of their placed pets we would not have such an epidemic in our shelter system. Not trying to ruffle feathers, just speaking my mind.

– One of a Kind Bulldogs

-Ary

www.OneofaKindBulldogs.com

www.BulldoggeRescues.com

“Built to be Strong and Live Long”

Olde English Bulldogges For Rescue

One of a Kind Olde English Bulldogge Rescue is a rescue/adoption site to help re-home Old English Bulldogs in need in the Southern California area. We are a free service as this is not for any type of profit. As a breeder, we feel any breeder has a bit of responsibility to help keep our shelters from over crowding and help reduce pointless euthanization. The principle action in regards to our rescue is simple we want to get this great dogs into the homes that will care for this breed and have as high a regard for their lives as we do. Our rescue program is designed to create a healthy environment for this breed of dog unlike any other shelter or rescue for Bulldogs. We admire a breed many others fear and reject, and our goal is to find more people like us to get these great dogs into the right homes. Rescue is something many people feel is right for most dog breeds but not the Olde English Bulldogge and that is far from the truth. Rescue with us is the best things for these dogs because we can provide the right stimulation and care for this breed. The right size of facility and the right individuals to care for these great dogs is just a part of what we provide. We keep 2-4 kennels open on our property or through fosters for these Olde English Bulldogges for adoption and in need. Some of these dogs were either abandoned, neglected or surrendered by their owners. In some cases we have retired breeding adults for adoption (I refuse to sell my adults and I like them retired and adopted into nice pet homes instead of passed around from breeder to breeder). Olde English Bulldogge Adoption fees include spay/neuter, full vaccines and micro-chip. Potential adopters are required to place the adopted Old English Bulldogs on NuVet supplements to help ensure better health and longer life. If individuals are interested in more information about the process of adopting on of the dogs we have ready we ask that you please contact us through our site below. Please check out our rescue site for info on adopting, relinquishing or fostering an Old English Bulldog in need. We use this page to host images of our available Olde English Bulldogges but all the info can be found on our adoption site. We look forward to visiting with you soon, contact us today.

Our Old English Bulldog Rescue Site

www.bulldoggerescues.com