Newbie
Submitted by BullymamaD on September 6, 2013 - 9:50amHi, I'm a new member hoping to learn about Bulldogs. My family is adopting a 7 month old puppy in a few weeks. Right now he is being moved to a foster mom that will have him neutered and brought up to date on medical checkup. This is a private adoption, we were contacted by his foster mom that he needed a home and we agreed to have him come and meet our family and two five year old Boxers. I am hoping that all goes well and I can give him the loving home that he needs. My Boxers are very dog friendly and I have been told that he is also. Any advice or information will be greatly appreciated:)
Hello and Welcome!
I am glad you found us, and I hope you get lots of great information from our site!
First off, congrats on the baby! You will LOVE your bully pup like crazy, they are wonderful little dogs.
To help your puppy and older dogs get to know each other, make sure you provide a safe crate for the puppy to rest in, and baby gates are a good idea to allow smelling each other through without touching each other yet. Puppies can be either fully accpeted pests by some dogs, or home invaders deserving of being run out. You really want to intro them slowly so they can become accustomed to each other and are less likely to fuss. Are your adults spayed/neutered? If not, that can be a problem bringing in a new dog. Just be very watchful the first several days, and allow a little play/contact on a limited basis until you are certain the bigger dogs won't gang up on and injure/kill the puppy. It happens, sadly.
But most of all, enjoy that baby!!! They are lovely, sweet, well mannered little guys usually!
Amy and Sophia
Thank you and I am very
Thank you and I am very nervous about my new little boy! I really don't know much about him except that he is 7 months and not yet neutered. My boxers are neutered and spayed and I definitely wont give them full acess to the baby until I have seen that they know how to behave with him and I will never leave them unattended together for a very long time to come.
I have a crate for him but I have no idea yet if he is crate trained or potty trained to outside. He has been living in an apartment so I am hoping he is potty trained but we're definitely not counting on it. Will he be agreeable to being crate trained if he hasn't been already?
Thank you and I am very
Thank you and I am very nervous about my new little boy! I really don't know much about him except that he is 7 months and not yet neutered. My boxers are neutered and spayed and I definitely wont give them full acess to the baby until I have seen that they know how to behave with him and I will never leave them unattended together for a very long time to come.
I have a crate for him but I have no idea yet if he is crate trained or potty trained to outside. He has been living in an apartment so I am hoping he is potty trained but we're definitely not counting on it. Will he be agreeable to being crate trained if he hasn't been already?
Nice to hear from you...............
congrats on the new addition to the family. Of course, we will need to see pictures! Happy day for all of you!
Welcome!
Some advice; introduce the dogs to each other in netural territory (a park or a friend's house) before you bring the new dog into the pack.
We want to see photos of all of them. Bulldogs are great dogs.
Congratulations!
Can't wait to see pics of your new little guy!
I also agree with the advice from Stephanie and David to have the dogs all meet in a neutral place for the first time.
Thanks for the advice.
Thanks for the advice. Here's my plan, please feel free to give any ideas to make sure it is successful.
So I plan to have him brought to my neighborhood and for him to meet me and my daughter and boxers (leashed) in the dead end that's on the side of our house. I don't think my dogs associate that area with "our" property. Hopefully after we stand there with everyone on leashes and chat for a while they will all be calm enough for a walk around the neighborhood. When we circle back to my house I will see if they are all calm enough to sit on our porch together, if not we will stay on our lawn until everyone seems calm enough to sit together. When this is accomplished we will move to the back yard and hopefully I will be able to take the leashes off my dogs buy keep puppy leashed (we have an inground pool). When we move to inside I will keep puppy gated in the kitchen with me until I see that my boxers are not going to be too rough with him. I have a crate for him and I am hoping that he is crate trained already. My boxers have only recently (last month or so)been give free reign of the house while we are not home. I'm hoping that they are ok with the puppy using their crate but I do have another crate if necessary. My boxers are both dog friendly and really I am only worried about my male, he is very "bouncy" and I'm just afraid that he will be so exited that he may try to play too wildly. He did recently meet a small poodle and we kept him a good distance away on a leash and then let him gradually "commando crawl" to the pup and just play on the grass while laying down. My girl is very calm when meeting other dogs and she will probably try to keep my boy in line, lol.
Sorry this is so long but I do really want this to go well and I appreciate any advice and info you all can give:)
I'm going to try to post pictures, I hope it works!
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/WcQ-LO1-_cw4b0dh-hDYrmEN9Z3woUbCrMoIer...
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/7qp4Bdht2K2_W04eq3Yay-VLmbL2SXPlg5dQIc...
Welcome!
I hope it works out for you and you end up being able to give your foster a home. Thanks for all that you do!
Thanks for adopting!
I'm part of a rescue and it's always great to hear people adopting instead of shopping, with so many bullies in rescue. First off I just want to say the most important thing for a bully is the food you feed them! They have so many issues with food, that it has to be a high quality food. Grain free is the best option and a lot of people feed their dogs raw. Things can go really bad, really fast if they are not on good food. They get skin allergies, ear infections, tail pocket issues, yeast infections etc if you feed them a cheap food. Good quality food range from $45.00 for a 30lb bag up to about $80.00, but it's worth every penny to keep them healthy.
Read up on the breed, they have different things like tail pockets that most other dogs don't and if you don't know about them and how to clean them, they can get infected or just become very stinky! Not all have them though, 2 of mine don't and the other just has a tight cork screw that I have to clean under on one side.
Get a vet that knows about Bulldogs. Some vets know nothing and will nickle and dime you for a lot of money, then tell you that your dog has everything in the world wrong with it. Don't let the vet fool you and have you spend money on something that doesn't need to be done. They are a breed where etropian and cherry eye is common, long palates etc so just read what you can so you have some knowledge under your belt. With boxers already, you have experience with some of the issues bulldogs can have.
Thanks so much! I already
Thanks so much! I already feed my boxers grain free kibble and was wondering what the pup is eating now, I'm sure it's not good but we will slowly transition him to grain free kibble also.
I will get more info on him when the foster mom that I know gets him to arrange his neuter and medical update. I have called my vet already and they seem to have a good amount of bulldog knowledge but I have looked at the list and made note of where the closest bulldog expert vet is to me.
I have noted that they do have a lot of the same issues as boxers and that makes me feel a little bit more comfortable. I'm sure I will have many questions when I actually get him and I hope everyone will have patience while learn about him because I am a bit of a nervous Nellie and will ask many questions.
Since you are in rescue, if you have any additional tips for bringing him into my home and introducing him to my boxers I would definitely appreciate it as this is my first concern, oh and seeing what this "tail pocket" is, lol. Also, can u tell me is there a smell to these dogs? My boxers generally do not have an odor unless they have chosen to bake in the sun a bit or they are sick, but in general they are pretty odor free and I am assuming bulldogs to be the same since they are not hounds or any type of water dog.
Looking forward to getting to know everyone:)