Caring for English Bulldog Puppy by Nightingale Bullies

It takes approx. 30 days for your new Bulldog puppy to adjust to its new environment and to build up its resistance to fight off sickness. This is why we set up the following suggestions, which are preventative measures to get your Bulldog puppy off to a good healthy start.

It's always a good idea to have your puppy seen by a veterinarian for a check up right away.

Give about 1/2 teaspoon of honey on food each feeding for the next 30 days. This gives your puppy extra energy to help prevent Hypoglycemia (decrease of sugar in the blood). This condition resembles a convulsive seizure and should not be overlooked, or immediately classified as epilepsy.

After 7 weeks old do not give your puppy milk. It will most likely cause diarrhea!

Your puppy should have it's own if there are other pets. Drinking and eating from other dishes can cause health problems as well as fighting. Always use either stainless steel and/or porcelain dishes. Plastic dishes capture bacteria and no matter how well they are scrubbed and cleaned, the bacteria still stays in the plastic. This bacteria can cause illness and/or rashes on the bulldogs face.

Housebreaking is very easy if you are consistent and dedicated. Since canines are den animals it is best to crate train using a crate just large enough for the puppy to stand up and turn around. By using a larger crate the puppy will tend to do their duty in one corner and sleep in the other and the training will not work well in this situation. As long as you can pysically watch your puppy they do not need to be crated. If you cannot watch them - crate them! A good rule of thumb is to not feed the puppy after 6 pm. This will limit him/her doing their duty overnight. Very young puppies cannot help from relieving themselves even in a crate situation - not feeding them after 6 pm will help in this training. Since bulldogs are stubborn it is not recommended to train the puppy to go in a area inside the home such as a newspaper in the kitchen etc., if you plan to train the puppy later outside. Train to the area in which you wish the puppy to go for the rest of their life. A good rule of thumb is to physically take the puppy to the area in which you want him/her to do their duty as soon as the puppy :

(1) Wakes from a nap.

(2) 10 to 15 minutes after a feeding.

(3) When you see the puppy sniffing around the floor.

(4) After "Hard Play" as this tends to make them want to defecate.

(5)and at least every hour in between.

When the puppy does their duty in this designated area, praise the puppy by saying, That's a good girl/boy! and pet the puppy. Show and verbally convey to the puppy how happy you are that they did a good thing. Bulldogs love to please their human friends.

It's very important that you stick to a very redundant feeding ritual for your English Bulldog. Feeding him/her a measured amount of nutritious food around the same times of the day is the best way to ensure a good diet. This is probably one of the only things that most breeders will agree on. Some believe that dogs should remain on special dry dog food, such as Iams, Eukanuba or Science Diet and occasional treats in between. Others will only feed their dogs cooked meals they prepare themselves while others will provide dry dog food in the morning and give a mix of dry and wet dog food for dinner. Although none of these are either wrong or right, what is best depends primarily on you. Do you have time to cook for your dog?

Does giving your dog wet food agree with him/her? Many dogs get diarrhea from cheap canned food because they tend not to digest it well etc., therefore, only the expensive canned food may agree with them, do you want to pay that much for this canned food when it is just as nutritious to give them less expensive dry food? Whatever you decide, be sure to stick with the same food once you find it, this way the change of food does not disrupt their diet.

Be sure to never feed your Bulldog certain foods. Don't feed them chicken or pork bones, these bones are fragile and hollow allowing the dog to easily fracture and splinter the bones and swallow these splintered pieces, almost like feeding them glass shards! These splinters can easily lodge into the throat, stomach or intestines causing serious problems.

Don't feed them Chocolate - some dogs are allergic to chocolate and can kill them, if you don't know if your dog is allergic don't take the risk. Besides, chocolate is not nutritious for them anyway and should be avoided altogether. Also don't keep your dog on a complete meat diet, canines are actually omnivores not carnivores, therefore, they require vegetables and grains for their diet as well. Don't feed your dog food that is hotter than 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Don't walk your dog soon after eating.

There is some confusion as to whether an English Bulldog is a medium or large size breed. The reason for this stems from the fact that the English Bulldog only stands at an average maximum of 16 inches high at the shoulder for males and somewhat shorter for females, but with it's wide head and body weight sometimes maxing out around 70 pounds for males (average weight is approx. 58 pounds) and 50-60 pounds for females (average weight is approx. 45 pounds) can place them in the large breed category. I personally consider the English Bulldog a large breed because of the weight factor. I feed my bulldogs large breed Adult food from weaning throughout their life. Puppy food has too much protein for the Bulldog breed. Bulldogs are a rapid growth breed to begin with and most reach their maximum height by 6 months of age. The high protein in puppy food causes them to grow even faster which could cause a greater loose hip and knee problem that bulldogs have to begin with. If you must feed puppy food I recommend at the most you feed 1/4 puppy food to 3/4 adult food until 10 mos of age then go strictly to adult food. This is entirely up to the owner and this is only a recommendation - nothing more. Below is a chart you can follow for your Bulldog as to the amount of food to give him/her per body weight from weaning to adulthood. Dry food only!