British Bulldog Prices?

[Moselle]

10-15 years ago they did not have severely squashed faces and restricted airways.

Which begs the question, why breed BB with such severely squashed faces? I thought the idea of breeding was to better the breed and not make its life one of sheer misery. Shame that ;)

[moko81]

So sorry to hear about your sad loss, Moko81. My parents own a purebred fox terrier that has megaesophagus. He was born with no signs of this disorder, he was fed chicken wings, chicken necks, etc etc and never regurgitated. He came down with parvo in between vaccinations even though he never left the backyard. He was taken to the Werribee Animal Hospital and placed on a drip and given antibiotics. He came home 10 days later but was unable to keep his food down. Johnny was taken back to Werribee and the vets concluded that he had megaesophagus. They suggested surgery. When questioned as to why all of a sudden Johnny has this issue their explanation was that perhaps it was as a result of parvo; I never heard that parvo could cause this problem. After much research I found some info that stipulated that certain types of antibiotics can aggravate the esophagus. Anyway, Johhny is still very much alive and will be turning 10 in 3 months. He is fed dry food that has been soaked and mashed. He is able to keep this down without a problem. I wonder if your vet suggested ways you could have adopted in preventing aspiration pneumonia from occurring? I would hope so.

Wow, the Specialist we had our girl at said that they couldn't operate as there is no way of shrinking the oesophagus back into place. Apparantly she was born with an aortic (spellchek) valve constricting her oesophagus hence the reason it expanded into something much bigger then it should've been. From what our vet now told us it is a common occurance in the breed.

We had taken her to a no# of different vets to get diagnosis as at 12wks of age things started going down hill. She was on every antibiotic you could think of & would get better but in a matter of weeks after recovering she would be worse then before. We had to place her food on a step ladder & have her be on her two back feet to eat in the hope it would bypass her lungs & go to her stomach. In the end her poor little body couldn't handle all the pain & no matter how long we kept her on the gas at the vets she just didn't get better.

[Bullbreedlover]

and YOU know WHAT they say

when

U ASS U ME!!

;)

Exactly. :D

I wish I could recall who it was now to see if the attacks against whomever the breeder is that is being referred to above is actually the same one.

I actually understand that there are MANY Bulldog breeders out there whom are striving to continue to breed self whelpers and happy healthy dogs who conform to the standard.

I dont think they are getting "bashed in the ring".

[SpikesPuppy]

Here is a recent pic of our Chester, "Australian Champion Bratrice Just in Time," with our 2 year old grandson.

He is a tad grey around the gills now, but at 11 years one would expect that.

He will still bolt up to the front gate if a stranger comes and he continually tries to hump the girls, is really still a puppy at heart.

I factually know that his breeders have had bitches free whelp.

No words could ever express the joy that Chester has given to our family over the past 11 years, and there is definitely no price we could ever place on his being.

Whether people agree or disagree on their costs, is entirely up to themselves.

Just like a gemstone, it may be priceless to one and worthless to another, it depends exactly what one desires in life.

We count our blessings for everyday we have shared together and all I can say is that we know that we certainly got what we paid for and more.

Your dog looks very different to several I have seen in the show ring- yours has a moderate sized head, for one thing. I have seen many who look like they have a basketball in place of a skull, it's round and half the size of their body :D

[~Anne~]

Our girl died from aspiration phenmonia as she had a mega oesophagus (food was going straight to her lungs) we had to make the choice to have her pts as there was never a 100% guarantee she would recover. The last wk of her life was very heartbreaking & expensive for us we would've paid any amount of money to keep her alive, unfortunately we didn't have the money tree sitting in our yard to continue. Still look at pics of her wondering how she would've turned out etc. But she's in a better place now, no more suffering for her :D ;)

That's really sad. It must have been heartbreaking.

[Lesley]

Don't forget that our boy is now 11 years old, and like many breeds, shrinkage occurs with age!

We wouldn't change anything about him..........well, maybe the humping! :D

[Bullbreedlover]

Don't forget that our boy is now 11 years old, and like many breeds, shrinkage occurs with age!

We wouldn't change anything about him..........well, maybe the humping! :D

That is a great age Lesley.

Back in NZ we had three Bulldogs from one litter all live to the age of 12 and a half. Our oldest girl is now 9. We imported her from Aussie to NZ.

[Gayle.]

There's a bulldog at our obedience club who was competing in one of our mock trials one day. He was doing an off-leash recall and rather than sit there and wait til his handler called him, he decided the judge was definitely his type and he waddled over to her and straddled her leg and humped away happily, while every onlooked just about fell over laughing.

By the end of his turn in the ring, he'd done more humping than anything and had a lovely little affair going with the judge. We all said we'd never seen him move so fast as when he was chasing her around the ring.

[Wazzat Xolo]

Don't forget that our boy is now 11 years old, and like many breeds, shrinkage occurs with age!

We wouldn't change anything about him..........well, maybe the humping!

Congrats Lesley great age and good looking boy I see in the latest Dog News there is a Bulldog on the cover .

[Wazzat Xolo]

There's a bulldog at our obedience club who was competing in one of our mock trials one day. He was doing an off-leash recall and rather than sit there and wait til his handler called him, he decided the judge was definitely his type and he waddled over to her and straddled her leg and humped away happily, while every onlooked just about fell over laughing.

By the end of his turn in the ring, he'd done more humping than anything and had a lovely little affair going with the judge. We all said we'd never seen him move so fast as when he was chasing her around the ring.

[Lesley]

In his hey day, Chester would hump any leg that was sitting on our lounge, and one stupid visitor didn't realise that when she lifted her leg up and down trying to get him off, that she was actually stimulating his ride!

Nowadays, he would rather stay in his comfy spot on the lounge, however if he is on the floor and there is anything moving, well he still thinks it is fair play!

When our grandson was crawling he often fell victim, and he would see Chester coming towards him and would say 'Ah Ow'!

Now 2 and a half years, he tells all how much he loves Joanie Mae, Billy Jack and Ah Ow!

And at 10 years, 23 years and 11 years respectively, we cannot imagine life without our veterans.

All three are the best of mates and are often seen cleaning and preening each other.

Thanks stonebridge and Wazzat Xolo for your congrats, we certainly know how blessed we are:- sharing their twilight years is such a reward!

[SpikesPuppy]

Don't forget that our boy is now 11 years old, and like many breeds, shrinkage occurs with age!

We wouldn't change anything about him..........well, maybe the humping!

Lol re:shrinkage!! But I can see a definite difference in your boy's head shape, I have seen others that are similar and of course te baskeball heads I mentioned- I think the moderate headed dogs are much more impressive, they will always look a bit like a caricature IMO but the basketball heads just look tragic.

I also try to imagine a dog doing what it was bred for, whether or not that job isnstill appropriate and well, I cannot see any of today's BBs being physically capable of taking on a bull??? Or is today's bb more of a companion/show animal derived from baiting stock??

What should the ideal BB be capable of? (in theory)

;)

Edited June 24, 2010 by SpikesPuppy

[Skye2]

Hi Lesley,

Chester is my boy's grandfather!!!

[Bullbreedlover]

Lol re:shrinkage!! But I can see a definite difference in your boy's head shape, I have seen others that are similar and of course te baskeball heads I mentioned- I think the moderate headed dogs are much more impressive, they will always look a bit like a caricature IMO but the basketball heads just look tragic.

I also try to imagine a dog doing what it was bred for, whether or not that job isnstill appropriate and well, I cannot see any of today's BBs being physically capable of taking on a bull??? Or is today's bb more of a companion/show animal derived from baiting stock??

What should the ideal BB be capable of? (in theory)

:D

Baiting a tethered Bull is a good start. Exactly the job they were bred for. The barbaric sport was outlawed in the 1800's and The Official Standard as we know it today was drawn up in 1875.The standard hasnt changed(well here in Australia anyway)(except for a few issues ie, weight, breathing ability)

It is the breeders whom have altered the breed through their breeding program and the differing opinions in interpretating the standard. The standard was written up using various dogs whom each contributed to the ideal Bulldog.

The standard has always stated that "no point should be so much in excess of the others as to destroy the general symmetry, or make the dog appear deformed, or interfere with its powers of motion etc"

Every point on the bulldog is there for a reason. Nose roll, ear set and structure, dewlap, layback of skull, tacked on shoulders, pear shape, tail, etc etc.

The head on the Bulldog is brick shaped, strikingly massive and large.

Many Bulldogs of today are physically capable of holding on to a bull.

Of course todays Bulldog is now a companion animal, but it still must be bred to the standard.