Bulldogs World

My 2nd rescue guy was also not registered. Hard to believe these people are even "allowed" to purchase a bulldog. Ok. as far as the mange goes we did the baths, except for the fact that I changed it up after the first time. I didnt want to soak the dog in pure poisen. I put the required mixture in a spray bottle and used a wash cloth and sprayed and soaked the areas of mange. Our vet was also doing ivermectin injections 1x a month. Its a long process.....Its a hard process....The dogs immune system is down, stressed and so on. The best WOULD be RAW......

The humping....Oh boy....Good luck with that. Our female was a huge humper. We think she leans the other way...Ya know what I mean. She even partially lifts her leg to pee. She was a hand full and I knew exactly why she was given up. She pushed me to the limits for sure. She is 4 now and a totally different dog.  Getting him fixed will help, but not immediatly. It will also make the mange worse. That is what  triggered the mange in our girl. Its just another stress in his life. Be firm with him when he does it and let him know that is not acceptable. We used to fill a soda can with some pennies and shake it to get her to focus on us again. Once they are in the "zone" its hard to get them out of it.......

You are a great person for giving this guy a better life. Keep up the good work.

I can give my experiences, if it helps, great. Rex is not neutered. Long story, we've had him since he was 12 weeks old, but we never got him fixed. I know all the risks. He prefers little children to hump, great I know. For some reason he is insulted by a small spray bottle of water. It is the only thing that stops him from humping. It is the oddest thing. I say NO and spray the top of his head with one gentle little squirt, and he gets all insulted and rejected looking and runs and hides. I am talking ONE little squirt, not a forceful blast from a hose! (P.S. that he loves) This dog has NEVER had anything bad happen to him, has never been mistreated, has never been left with anyone and I do not understand why he reacts this way to a water spray bottle, but he does.  Perhaps you could try that with your rescue guest. I cannot think of anything else but having a a separate private area where Matilda can get some peace from the guy if you cant get him to stop. Once we had a puppy visit and puppy teeth hurt and Rex didnt get nasty but tried to run away and looked at me like, "Yes I have had enough, I need my own space in MY HOUSE."

It sounds like you got the skin thing covered. Everything you mentioned is what I have gone through with Rex, except I dont like to give him benadryl because it makes him sleepy, so i have a script from the vet for hydroxyzine. I've heard Claritin works too, but NOT the Claritin D - is poison to dogs, so I've read. but i stick with the hydroxzine and he stops itching in 15 minutes and doesnt get sleepy. I know there are differences of opinions with giving antibiotics and antifungal meds, but I do believe if he is as bad as he sounds, it may be the best for his situation. Every dog is different. With Rex cephalexin seemed to help when his skin got bad, but he never got as bad as this little guy sounds with open wounds.

Not sure what kind of tail issue your rescue has, but Rex has a button with deep pockets and i wipe with a baby wipe every few days, clean it good and dry good when he gets his weekly bath and he has never had a problem since he was a puppy and I didnt know about tail pockets. Talk about on the job training. Sounds like you know what you are doing.

It is unbelievable about the microchip. But it is only as good as the information on their computers. I checked Rex's and they had the wrong contact info. It was just one more thing that I figured I better double check, because it seems like i have to watch what everybody elses jobs are to make sure that it is done right. And it is a good thing, because if he was lost, they never would have found us. Not sure what you can do at this point if there in no info on him. I know there are different microchip companies, I am wondering if all companies were checked??

i know nothing about raw feeding, sorry.

I hope the others can be of more help. Good luck with the little guy and God bless you for helping him. Hugs to sweet Matilda :-)

on the mange...its casued by stress and the immuntiy system will drop allowing the mites to increase....raw is the best for him...add some pure honey 1/2 teaspoon this is a immunity booster go every other day...a teasppon of yogurt plain will also help...then 500mg of vit c once a day....one cod liver tab a day for the omega in it....these all will help build his immunity...i would also use a spray bottle and not bath in posion...

as for the humping...if he is crate trained..when ever he starts to hump just calmly say no and put him in his crate for at least 15 min...he will get the idea...my intact male does not hump becasue he knows that a 15min time out and he hates to be put in his crate....

the most important things for a rescue is routine...its some thing they never had....

Thanks for all of the advice. I think I'm pretty up on the wound care so that should be okay and thank you for all the messages about various things to try. And as for routine I'm all about the routine. :) It definitely helped my first rescue guy.

I think you are all correct, the important thing is to let Matilda have some space if she gets tired of him. I am told that he does not get up on furniture, that should make her happy. She was mortally offended with the last guy trying to get up on the couch and sit next to her. I've just never been around an intact male dog and the dogs of other breeds in my neighborhood are all unaltered pit bulls. I guess I just want to know what to watch for but I'll try to reinforce the right behavior at home. Hopefully that will help.

And, according to the woman that has him right now, he does sleep and rest in his crate without complaint so that should be okay.

My worry about feeding him raw is switching him and then him being adopted and them switching him back. I dunno, I guess I cross that bridge when I come to it...? Or my vet freaking out. I also don't know that I am ready to start doing my own raw - I would have to - since I can't afford to put two dogs on Nature's Variety when he would prob need to eat a crazy amount of food.

I guess I just don't feel as comfortable as I did the first time and i'm not sure why. I suppose it is because I remember when I first had Matilda and knew nothing...she had a yeast infection and an itchy tail and I remember her getting out of bed every ten minutes to wake me up. I just want him to be as comfortable as possible and not put the house (me, him, and Matilda) through any more stress than is necessary. Life has been hard for him, but it was for her too, when she was young. 

We will see how it goes, I guess.