OUR RECOMMENDATIONS
For Owning and Caring for your Chilubullies Puppy
Essential Vaccinations:
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Your puppy needs to get vaccinated regularly as a young pup. We’ve done the first one at 6 weeks, they need another around 10-12 weeks of age, and a final one at about 16 weeks. It is super important that you don’t take your pup around other unvaccinated dogs until they have had all 3 shots. You can take them to a puppy school once they are 12 weeks and have had the first 2 shots (as all the dogs there will be equally or better vaccinated). But as a general rule, no taking for walks on public footpaths, or taking them to the beach or dog park until they are 16 weeks. You can take them out, you just need to carry them, and have something for them to sit on & drink from.
Feeding:
We feed our British Bulldogs (Frankie, Bob & Pinky) and our Papillon (Candy, 16years old) a combination of raw beef mince (human grade, we buy Woolworths Beef Mince 82% Meat 18% Fat for the pups), and a good quality Dry Food. We tend to mix between Black Hawk, Meals for Mutts and Taste of the Wild dry food. We also always add Probiotics. We use ProN8ture – Multi-strain Probiotics, mostly because we can buy it in a 1kg tub, and it lasts about 3 months with the 3 pups. I’d recommend adding a probiotic (of any kind) – it really cuts down on the fluffs and makes the poops less stinky – major wins in my book.
For your Puppy, we have started you off with some Black Hawk, Lamb & Rice, Puppy. We choose to use this dog food as it is very high quality, and most importantly it agrees with our dog’s tummies. You may hear that ALL British/English (same thing) Bulldogs have food allergies and/or are allergic to Chicken. This just isn’t true. Frankie, Bob and Pinky can and do eat anything. Our dogs love seafood flavoured dry food, so we tend to stick to those options.
We have fed the puppies a variety of foods, including Blackhawk Lamb & Rice Puppy; Beef Mince; Beef Steak; Goats Milk & Lactose Free Milk; and Tuna and Rice. We’ve done this primarily to make any changes to their diet easier. You have some of the dry food to start off with, and you can introduce other food a bit at a time. They should be on puppy food and food with a good amount of fat, until they are between 6 & 12 months of age, depending on their weight and size. If you’re changing a food, take it slowly and change it over bit by bit, over 7-10 days. As I said, we like to give the baby puppies goats milk and/or full cream Lactose free milk (readily available at Coles/Woolworths) in small amounts. They love it, and it is a good source of fat & protein, and it supports a healthy gut and strong bones. We try to reduce the amount we give pups as they get older, try to have it only be a special treat by the time they are 6 months old.
For direction on how much to feed your pup, please refer to feeding guidelines on any purchased packaged foods. We will advise you of their weight when you pick them up/we send them off, but weighing your pup regularly will make it easier to ensure they are getting the correct amount to eat. As a Baby Puppy they will need to eat about 3 times a day, once they get a bit older 5-6 months you can drop it back to twice a day, and when they get close 9-12 months, you can drop it back to once a day if you wish.
Treats:
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Our pups absolutely love Schmackos Strapz, Pigs Ears and Liver Treats. But when we’re Show Training, we use Schmackos Tasty Bites – Cheesy Nibbles, and Huds and Toke – Micro bones, they will do anything for either of these. Many other people give their Bulldogs Blueberries, Strawberries, Tomato, and Carrots as treats. Sadly I (Rachel) am highly allergic to all of those except the carrots. Our Pup’s like carrots and some greens (they like broccoli & peas, but not lettuce). The upside with these treats, is you can give them more of these without it overly effecting their diets. Just watch the amount of sugar with the berries.
If you’re giving your Pup store bought treats (including chicken necks and bones with marrow or meat), just be mindful that this adds to the amount they’re eating, it’s no big deal to give them a couple of small treats a day, but if they are getting a handful of treats (say while you’re training) you may have to adjust how much food you give them. On the subject of Pigs Ears, we cut ours in half (or you can buy the strips), because particularly as a pup 3-6months old, Bob would chew on it for a while, get impatient and basically try to swallow it whole - not ideal. By cutting them in half he eats it properly!
We would highly recommend avoiding Rawhide treats. They pose multiple risks, but by far the biggest risks are choking and causing blockages. They can take big bites, and these can choke or block the oesophagus, or cause a blockage in the intestines. All these can at best lead to a vet visit, possibly surgery or at worst, death.
Chew Toys/Treats:
You’re likely to find after about the 3-4 month mark (if not earlier), your Pup will start chewing/destroying a lot.
Top Tip: put your shoes and anything you can’t replace/don’t want destroyed, either up high, or in another room. Watch out for phone chargers, electrical cords, and unsuspecting corners of furniture. Also, don’t get too attached to their dog beds. In our experience it only takes a few minutes for the room to go from ‘normal’ to snowstorm!
To try to limit the destruction: TOYS! Lots and Lots of toys! Kong do a great range of tough toys. Most of their toys will be fine until they’re about 6 months. But around then you’ll want to go to the Kong Black toy range, these are for the super chewers. British Bulldogs are most definitely super chewers. Nylabone are also super tough. While they’re little, I really like the pack of toys you can get at Kmart for $15, it has 10 or 12 toys in it of all different types (variety is good).
The other key thing is yummy chews, of course you can stuff a Kong, but our dogs love the Beef bones filled with beef you can get from Petstock, Deer Antlers (Medium or Large) and Goat Horns. As little pups, beef rib bones are great.
House Training:
Our first recommendation is simple, if there is any way you can have a doggy door, do it! It makes life a lot easier. Our Pups were all house trained within the first week of being home, mainly thanks to the doggy door. Without the doggy door it can be an entirely different experience. If you are getting a doggy door installed keep in mind that particularly the male dogs can grow very broad shoulders. If you can’t get a doggy door, I have seen many other British Bulldog owners have success with bells/buttons that they train the pup to use when they need to go to the toilet. For while they are a little pup 8-16 weeks, you’ll want to keep your pup in a pen or hard floored room where you can try and limit the impact of accidents. They just don’t have the control.
I wholeheartedly recommend reusable fabric pee pads. They are much larger than the disposable ones and can be washed and reused. We found that the disposable ones would be scrunched up and moved very quickly (making them ineffective). We found that two to three of our reusable ones, covered the floor space in the pen. So, when we had to leave our pup’s overnight, if they did have an accident, it didn’t make a mess. We got our reusable pee pads from Kmart, but many places have them available.
Obedience Training:
You can get your pup obedience trained, theoretically from 12 weeks old. We would heartily recommend that you get your pup accustomed to leashes, and being around other dogs before you attempt Puppy School. Ideally you wait until they are over 16 weeks, and more like 5 months. Bulldogs can be a little stubborn and from our experience, trying to take them to a puppy school when they are under prepared, becomes a battle of wills, and not fun for anyone. Bulldogs as a general rule, love their owners and will do just about anything to please them (and if that fails, treats, lots of treats).
Crate’s:
All our pup’s love their crates and have done so since the day we brought each of them home. The way we see it, it’s the indoor kennel for the pup. A specific space, where when they’ve had enough of the other dogs (or kids, or us) they can go and hide out. We often don’t close the door, let alone lock it. They really don’t have to be jails for your pups.
I wouldn’t go straight into putting a pup in one for a whole night, wouldn’t be fun for anyone. But you can build up to that, once you know they can hold their bladder etc all night. Introduce your pup to the crate slowly, (British Bulldogs don’t love change or changes to their environment). Place it in the room, where you want it to live, leave the door open, and walk away. Let the pup explore it at their own pace. In our experience they’ll generally start checking it out pretty quickly and are more than likely going to go in it. Once they have gone in, laid down and stayed laying down for 10minutes or more, you can gently close the door – don’t lock it! Let them get used to every stage. You’ll find if you put their puppy blankets in the crate, they’ll feel more comfortable, more quickly. If it takes a few sessions over a few days, so be it. You’ll need to play it by ear, but if you make sure they have time to settle and get used to the crate, being in the crate, having the door closed etc, you’ll be fine.
All our puppies have at one time or another, wandered into one of their parents' crates and had a sleep (big soft comfy beds), and they are accustomed to being in a crate when I’m cleaning out and refitting their pen.
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Grooming and Bathing:
Your Pup should only need to be bathed/washed thoroughly every 4-6 weeks, to wash them more often than this, you run the risk of drying out their skin. We would recommend that in general you use a very gentle shampoo, many British Bulldog owners like Baby Shampoo, we prefer Plush Puppy Sensitive. If you do really need to wash your pup for whatever reason, more often, I recommend you get an Oil such as Plush Puppy’s Seabreeze Oil, to help restore the moisture to their skin.
If we’re having to wash ours weekly for shows, this is what we do.
While your pup is very little 10wks to 4/5months you may find he/she gets mucky. Bathing your new pup soon after you get them home, can be a lovely bonding experience. Remember to always make their experiences fun! But getting through the next 4 weeks without a bath, can be tricky. We tend to use a combination of fragrance free, hypoallergenic baby wipes – useful for all over cleaning, and if they were just too disgusting, we’d rinse them off (under a tap, from a hose, or in the shower) then give them a thorough once over with baby wipes to freshen them up.
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Cleaning their face wrinkles(ropes):
We use unscented, hypoallergenic baby wipes, you can also use a warm damp cloth. You need to clean their ropes every day. My best suggestion is to make a game out of it (keep it fun) at the very beginning and get your pup accustomed to your hands and tissues/wipes being in their face.
Once you have cleaned inside the rope with a wipe or cloth, be sure to dry it thoroughly. We use tissues to dry. Then if they have any pinkness, or had any moisture there, that wasn’t from you, put some Sudocrem or Wrinklepaste on/in the ropes that need it. We use Sudocrem, it’s useful for a range of little issues, not just the ropes. The Sudocrem/ Wrinklepaste create a barrier to additional moisture, the Sudocream is also antiseptic, so can clear up inflammation.
If they get tear stains or redness under their chins from drinking, we’ve found Plush Puppy Wonderblok, works well to remove the staining naturally, and Bob in particular loves the smell and taste (it’s all natural). If the tear stains are right in the corners of the eye you may find a tear stain wipe more useful.
Clean inside their ears once a week or so, again we use the baby wipes, and if there’s any pinkness apply a little Sudocrem.
Tail pocket:
The tail pocket is another wrinkle, just in an unfortunate place. If they have one, and not all do. It’ll be tucked up, under their stumpy little tail. It is very important that this is cleaned thoroughly very regularly. Dust, grime and of course poop, can get caught in it (to be fair most of the time, they’re just dirty). If they are left, they can become infected, which causes your pup discomfort, and a really unpleasant smell.
To find the tail pocket wipe around your pup’s anus and have a feel around. If they have one, you’ll find it fairly easily as it’ll be a deep little pocket. To clean it, once again we use baby wipes, and if there’s been any kind of smell or anything seems off, we put a dab of Sudocream in there.
Brushing:
A regular brushing will keep your pup looking shiny and gorgeous. Use a normal pin and bristle brush for regular brushing. If you find your pup is shedding, a FURminator De-Shedding brush for short haired dogs can help immensely. Though not common you can get your dog clipped. Not all groomers will do it, but ts worth checking out. If we are not showing one of the dogs, get them clipped, it all but stops the shedding completely.
Nail cutting/grinding:
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When you get your puppy home, get into the habit of handling and playing with their feet, particularly around the nails. This will make it much easier for you to cut/ grind their nails down the track. We have been cutting the tips off their nails every few days to week. We do it as a team to distract them, cuddle and kiss them while we are cutting the nails. Don’t cut the nails too short, you should leave about 5mm of nail before the nail bed. We have to go a little closer than this for showing, we use a grinder. Grinders are also good for taking off the sharp edges/corners. We use a Shear Magic Professional Grinder from Oz Fur Kids. Just be cautious if using a grinder, they can get very hot due to friction, and aren’t suitable for little pups (under 6 months).
Walking your pup:
If your pup is under 16 weeks of age and hasn’t had its final vaccination yet, please DO NOT take your pup for a walk. Until the pup has had their 16 week vaccination, they are still at risk of Parvo and other diseases. It is very important that they only interact with fully vaccinated dogs and that they don’t go to dog parks; walk on footpaths/roads where you can’t be sure of the vaccination status of all dogs.
Carrying your pup is the go until then. Once you pup has had their 16 week vaccination, they can go anywhere and interact with lots of dogs. Sorry to repeat myself, but it’s very important.
It’s a good idea to start getting your pup accustomed to a collar/harness and leash in the home well prior to taking them for a walk. Let them spend time in their collar/harness, then attach the leash and let them walk around with it (dragging behind them at first). Once they’re accustomed to the feel of the collar/harness and leash you can practice walking on a leash in the home/backyard. We have given all the pups time with collars (only possible when they are separated lol) and given them a taste of a leash. Take the initial walks of your baby puppy slowly and gently. They’re only little and their leg strength may not have caught up with their weight yet.
Initially they’re going to be overwhelmed with the smells and sights, allow them to sniff to their hearts content, (I heard the analogy “that sniffing is like Facebook for dogs”). Keep in mind a 5-10minute walk for a baby puppy is a good start, you’ll build up over time.
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Harnesses and collars:
When we’re walking or playing with our British Bulldogs, or they’re travelling in the car, we prefer for them to wear harnesses. We like the Ezydog, Rogz, Julius K9 and Bully Billows (BB) harnesses. British Bulldog necks and torsos are very large and you’ll find they grow out of their early collars and harnesses very quickly.
For training, you may find a trainer will want you to use a check chain, we’ve found for the younger pups, a half check chain collar works much more effectively for the Bulldogs. When we’re show training our guy’s we use snake chains (smooth metal chains, less likely to snag on their dewlap or hair). We get ours from Oz Fur Kids.
If you choose to use a collar, that is entirely your choice. At the moment we have Ezydog collars for our three. When using a collar on a British Bulldog, please leave it looser than tighter. Collars can cause some issues with their wrinkles/dewlap. We don’t use the collars to walk them, just for their ID and council tags.
Having a strong leash is important, Bulldogs are quite strong, and until they are well trained, holding onto them is important, it’s also reassuring to people who aren’t familiar with the breed.
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Female Heats:
If you have a female Pup, she is likely to go on heat around 6-9 months old. Frankie and Pinky get super sooky and needy. We have heard of some dogs getting upset and even a little aggressive.
There are a couple of issue’s with having a whole/intact female dog, going on heat. It’ll make any boy dogs in your home or area, go a little crazy – particularly if they too are whole. And it can be messy. We recommend and use Dundies, they are reusable nappies, made by an Australian company, and they were first designed for British Bulldogs. They actually fit! We also use their suspenders to keep them up. They make life a lot easier. And once you have them you can reuse them over and over.
We didn’t get them until Frankie was over a year old, so we could be sure they’d fit her long term. If you plan to spay your girl pup, and she’s only going through her first or first couple of heats, it may be more worthwhile to try and use kid’s disposable nappies. Apparently, pull-ups are quite effective. Nappies are useful not only in stopping the mess, but they also stop male dogs from being able to ‘have their way’ with your girl.
It is imperative to keep male dogs away from your girl during her heat.
Spaying/Neutering:
In general, we would suggest not getting your pup spayed or neutered until they were at least 1 year old. This allows them to grow more fully. You can get it done when they are quite young, but there is evidence that this can restrict their growth.
Neutering a whole male dog, can make them a little calmer. If you are not showing or breeding your dog/bitch, we would recommend getting them fixed at approx 1 year old. And if they are showing or breeding, as soon as they have finished, they should be spayed/neutered, in the long term, it is generally better for their health.
General Play and Life:
You’ll find that British Bulldog’s change your life. They are incredibly affectionate, loyal and a bit stubborn. They aren’t known for their respect for personal space. They’ll want to be on the couch/chair/bed. They believe they’re lap dogs. Take care that when they are playing or when you’re cuddling your pup, you don’t let them jump off furniture. As a pup their limbs and joints aren’t really strong enough for the weight they are carrying. If you have recliners, lower the pup down, if it’s a couch or bed, either lift them on and off, or get a ramp or some pup steps. It may all be easy when they are a little pup, but quite quickly your pup will be 20-25kgs or more. You’ve got some time to work out how you’ll manage when they’re heavy, but don’t let them get into the bad habits of jumping early on.
Sadly, jumping can lead to all kinds of leg and joint issues and expensive surgeries, so a bit of care and forethought can make a huge difference. These dogs are known as Velcro Dogs, they stick to you. We’ve found that our pup’s follow us everywhere, get offended if we go somewhere without them, and will usually bond hardest with one member of the family, but love everybody at the same time!
British Bulldogs, though they’re known as couch potatoes, do need regular exercise. Ours love going to the beach and sprinting in and out of the water. We also walk them for show training purposes, but for our guys their main exercise is at the beach. When you take them for a walk, prepare for the pat fest! Admit it, you’d want to pat them if they were someone else’s too. Our three are totally pat mad and expect pats from everyone they see; Frankie belly crawls up to people for a pat – she just loves everyone!
Weight wise, keeping to a diet and exercise is important. It’s very easy for a British Bulldog to become overweight, it is a lot harder to get the weight off. Once your pup is over 6 months old (before that they can be chunky monkeys), you should be able to see a clearly defined waist. They should come up and in, just in front of the hind legs. If you can’t see this, or they look flat across the bottom of their torso, they probably need to lose some weight, again, don’t even think about this until they are over 6 months old.
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Hot Weather:
In relation to hot temperatures, please use common sense. Take your pup for walks at cooler times of the day. Even if you’re taking them to the beach (for swimming or running in the water) be mindful that the sand can get boiling hot. In the heat of Summer, it is always worth checking the temperature of pavements/carpark surfaces and roads, prior to having your dog walk on them, this is easily done with a bare foot or hand. If you can’t hold your hand or foot on the surface, please don’t expect your pup to walk on it!
Pet Insurance:
Like any insurance it’s good to have it. Not because your dog is any more likely to have illnesses or accidents than any other, but life can happen. We give you a free 6 week policy with Petcover to get you started. They do offer fantastic British Bulldog insurance. They cover 80% of your bills (with some limits) and are one of the very few insurers that cover Brachycephalic breeds for conditions relating to the brachycephalic airways (after the first year).
For us personally with 4 dogs, and knowing that our Bulldogs are all clear on the brachycephalic front, we have opted to go with Woolworths Pet Insurance. They cover up to 80% of the applicable vet bills. If we only had one dog and/or were concerned about breathing issues, we would have gone with Petcover.
Vets:
Finding a vet that knows and understands British Bulldogs is very important. It will make a huge difference to your experience with your Pup if you have a good, British Bulldog knowledgeable Vet. In the Burdekin we use Burdekin Veterinary Services and in the Whitsundays, we use Dr Julie-Ann Ruddle @ Whitsunday Veterinary Surgery.
They are familiar with the breed and our dogs love them. Depending on where you live, we are likely to be able to find out who is the preferred vet for British Bulldogs in your area, if you don’t have a family Vet you use regularly.
Worming/Flea Treating:
We use and recommend Nexgard Spectra. It does everything you could need it to do, in one monthly chew. We like it because it protects the pups from worms, fleas, mange and mites. While Frankie is breeding/pregnant we must treat her with a mixture of other medications, and the same is the case for the pups until they are 8 weeks old. We have treated your pup with Nexgard Spectra at 8 weeks of age, on 30/10/23, to maintain treatment/cover they will need to be treated every month on the 30th or a day or 2 before.
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Final note:
Most importantly, try to keep everything for your Pup an enjoyable/fun experience, be firm with them when they do something wrong, and reward them when they do the right thing. They’ll give you unending love and loyalty and often a lot of laughs! If there is anything we haven’t covered, please don’t hesitate to call or email us!