Ok... here are the reasons why English Bulldogs are bad Ideas and a cruel human selfish act....
From the beginning you're gonna probably Pay in the area of $2,000 for a puppy. This is from a reputable breeder... if you go the pet store route you might as well just give your money to the bum sitting outside the mall entrance... it would be more humane.
Why so expensive you ask... well, they are so genetically altered that they generally dont mate on their own accord... thus Artificial Insemination is required. This involves multiple blood test for the bitch to see when she is most fertile and collection of semen and the actual insemination... generally it wont take the first time so it has to be done a few more times.
If that wasn't trouble enough... the anatomy of the breed (narrow hind end and big broad shoulders and beefy heads) makes it impossible for the bitch to deliver naturally so a C-section must be performed. All this before you even get a puppy! Average litter probably has at most 4 pups... no wonder the breeder makes you bend over for a puppy.. they gotta make up all these expenses some how. These two facts should be a huge red flag that your gonna have problems. Nature doesn't allow things to breed that are gonna suck at life.
Now you bite the bullet and buy one anyway cause they are so fucking cute! What can you look forward to? Oh let me tell you....
They're faces are so jammed in on themselves that they can't breath. This requires surgery to correct in about 99% of the dogs. This means cutting out part of their nostrils so they can get more air in, shortening their soft palate cause it is too long for their squished in faces and gets trapped in their epiglottis which in turn makes it much easier for things to get into their lungs causing aspiration pneumonia. They also have little sacuols in their throat that need to be removed to prevent them from becoming inflamed (from all the effort to breath) and block their airway.
Eyes: Due to those cute skin folds their eyelashes very often roll in and cause ulcers on their corneas. This requires surgery to tack the eye lids and facial folds to prevent chronic damage to the eye. Medical treatment of this chronic eye irritation can get as intense as 5-6 different eye meds at 2 hour intervals if you want to save the eye (by "save" i mean not have them removed)... Hope you have plenty of vacation time and don't need much sleep!
Skin: Haven't met one yet that doesnt have skin allergies. To prevent this generally it requires a prescription food only bought at a vet and twice the price. No treats either cause they are the number one offenders when it comes to allergic ingredients. Also Dermatitis... This makes them really smelly and often requires daily maintenance (cleaning between folds) to prevent infections and/or cosmetic surgery to correct the folds if infection becomes a chronic problem. Don't forget the multiple vet visits and constant Antibiotics... the money adds up quickly!
Orthopedic disease is also very common because they have such short stubby little legs that are usually not straight at all to hold up their fat ass selves. They become over weight very quickly: they can't exercise because they can't breath... hope your not looking for a jogging buddy cause these guys tap out at a trip to the water bowl.
Often times they have some sort of cardiac disease which just goes hand in hand with the chronic pulmonary disease and once it gets bad enough they just perpetuate one another and ultimately leads to much expensive treatment and eventually death.
Surgery itself is very dangerous. We use inhalant anesthesia. Getting a E-tube into their throat is nearly impossible. Recovery sucks because they can't breath and often require Oxygen therapy while recovering and extra hospitalization post-op to make sure things go well. All this = more $.
SO.... in conclusion... prepare to mortgage your house, and give up all of you spare time to have a "healthy" English Bull Dog. This is all on top of the regular maintenance that goes with a dog... spay/neuter, annual vaccines etc.
General Rule that I like to go by... Dogs are direct descendents of Wolves. The more they look like a wolf (long slender snout, pointy ears... etc) the less they are genetically altered. Once you start breeding for different non-wolf like traits (squish faces, floppy ears...) the more likely you are to get health issues. As a standard practice, in order to get these genes well established in a line you have to breed back (aka inbreed) to animals that display these traits. I'm sure I don't have to tell you about what happens when inbreeding occurs.
Something else to think about... ever see a wild dog that looks like an English Bull Dog? No, cause they first wouldn't breed naturally and second they wouldn't live past a few months on their own.
So there you have it.... this is why I feel the simple existence of this breed (and the other similar to it) is innately inhumane. Is it really fair to bring an animal into the world and doom it to this sort of life? especially when nature tries so hard to prevent it from existing?... When are humans gonna learn not to fuck with nature and the natural order of things for their own selfish desires?!?!?!
From the beginning you're gonna probably Pay in the area of $2,000 for a puppy. This is from a reputable breeder... if you go the pet store route you might as well just give your money to the bum sitting outside the mall entrance... it would be more humane.
Why so expensive you ask... well, they are so genetically altered that they generally dont mate on their own accord... thus Artificial Insemination is required. This involves multiple blood test for the bitch to see when she is most fertile and collection of semen and the actual insemination... generally it wont take the first time so it has to be done a few more times.
If that wasn't trouble enough... the anatomy of the breed (narrow hind end and big broad shoulders and beefy heads) makes it impossible for the bitch to deliver naturally so a C-section must be performed. All this before you even get a puppy! Average litter probably has at most 4 pups... no wonder the breeder makes you bend over for a puppy.. they gotta make up all these expenses some how. These two facts should be a huge red flag that your gonna have problems. Nature doesn't allow things to breed that are gonna suck at life.
Now you bite the bullet and buy one anyway cause they are so fucking cute! What can you look forward to? Oh let me tell you....
They're faces are so jammed in on themselves that they can't breath. This requires surgery to correct in about 99% of the dogs. This means cutting out part of their nostrils so they can get more air in, shortening their soft palate cause it is too long for their squished in faces and gets trapped in their epiglottis which in turn makes it much easier for things to get into their lungs causing aspiration pneumonia. They also have little sacuols in their throat that need to be removed to prevent them from becoming inflamed (from all the effort to breath) and block their airway.
Eyes: Due to those cute skin folds their eyelashes very often roll in and cause ulcers on their corneas. This requires surgery to tack the eye lids and facial folds to prevent chronic damage to the eye. Medical treatment of this chronic eye irritation can get as intense as 5-6 different eye meds at 2 hour intervals if you want to save the eye (by "save" i mean not have them removed)... Hope you have plenty of vacation time and don't need much sleep!
Skin: Haven't met one yet that doesnt have skin allergies. To prevent this generally it requires a prescription food only bought at a vet and twice the price. No treats either cause they are the number one offenders when it comes to allergic ingredients. Also Dermatitis... This makes them really smelly and often requires daily maintenance (cleaning between folds) to prevent infections and/or cosmetic surgery to correct the folds if infection becomes a chronic problem. Don't forget the multiple vet visits and constant Antibiotics... the money adds up quickly!
Orthopedic disease is also very common because they have such short stubby little legs that are usually not straight at all to hold up their fat ass selves. They become over weight very quickly: they can't exercise because they can't breath... hope your not looking for a jogging buddy cause these guys tap out at a trip to the water bowl.
Often times they have some sort of cardiac disease which just goes hand in hand with the chronic pulmonary disease and once it gets bad enough they just perpetuate one another and ultimately leads to much expensive treatment and eventually death.
Surgery itself is very dangerous. We use inhalant anesthesia. Getting a E-tube into their throat is nearly impossible. Recovery sucks because they can't breath and often require Oxygen therapy while recovering and extra hospitalization post-op to make sure things go well. All this = more $.
SO.... in conclusion... prepare to mortgage your house, and give up all of you spare time to have a "healthy" English Bull Dog. This is all on top of the regular maintenance that goes with a dog... spay/neuter, annual vaccines etc.
General Rule that I like to go by... Dogs are direct descendents of Wolves. The more they look like a wolf (long slender snout, pointy ears... etc) the less they are genetically altered. Once you start breeding for different non-wolf like traits (squish faces, floppy ears...) the more likely you are to get health issues. As a standard practice, in order to get these genes well established in a line you have to breed back (aka inbreed) to animals that display these traits. I'm sure I don't have to tell you about what happens when inbreeding occurs.
Something else to think about... ever see a wild dog that looks like an English Bull Dog? No, cause they first wouldn't breed naturally and second they wouldn't live past a few months on their own.
So there you have it.... this is why I feel the simple existence of this breed (and the other similar to it) is innately inhumane. Is it really fair to bring an animal into the world and doom it to this sort of life? especially when nature tries so hard to prevent it from existing?... When are humans gonna learn not to fuck with nature and the natural order of things for their own selfish desires?!?!?!
mikefool:
wow. i guess I will just keep my beagles. Thanks , I think i would have had a dead dog because i used all my sick time and my cards are maxed out
mikefool:
I keep thinking about what you wrote. i don't know if they should ide off but I guess part of me agrees with you. So would you say that a german shepard is a good dog or should I go with a mutt (I hear they are the best)