Thinking of getting a British bulldog pup. Need opinions.

[BatCrapCrazy]

We currently have a pekinese dog. We have been living with MIL for the last year and are about to move out but during this time, our dog has grown awfully attached to MILs dog and FIL wants to keep him. We are happy to do this as it would be awful to separate them after all this time.
But DC would be gutted. We have been looking into getting another dog and I have fallen in love with a British bulldog pup. I have done a fair bit of research about their temperament etc and it seems they are lovely dogs to have around children (our DCs are 3 and 4).
I work school hours. I'm concerned about leaving him at home all this time. This was never a problem with our other dog as MIL looked after DS while I worked in our house so the dog had company all day. DS is in school now so this wouldn't happen with a new dog.
Any advice would be hugely appreciated

I'm confused by the AB owner who will never have another bulldog. AB's haven't got the associated problems. Mine's a standard with a perfectly normal muzzle and has no breathing issues at all. OP, old tyme bulldog are very similar but more athletic and don't have breathing problems.

We have just got a new dog ... a cockerpoo ... after a lot of research. I know that half of MN will now descend to pour scorn and blame us for the suffering of dogs the world over, but she is now 14 weeks old and already much much calmer than friends' cocker pup of the same age. Far less jumping and barking.
She appears healthy and has a lovely easy-going nature. She spends quite a lot of time asleep on the sofa or lying on DH's prize plants, silently watching the guinea pigs. To add variety, she likes to lie on her back lazily chewing a toy ... sometimes even one of hers.
Other friends have a bulldog ... it barely moves, wheezes all the time, has cherry eyes which make me squirm when I look at it. I have never seen it run or play ...

We met a bulldog yesterday - very fit and active, looked healthy, highly ambitious on the size of tree stick it wanted to carry ... but my goodness, the noise it made breathing. Apart from whether it could really be totally healthy, I don't think I could stand living with it.

Rabbits will be much quieter. (I haven't read the whole thread so no idea how the OP got from a bulldog to a couple of bunnies!)

Get a mongrel. Lovely dogs and every one is unique

Bulldog also stink. All kinds of crap gets stuck in their facial creases. It's very distinctive to bulldogs.

I have one, she is very well bred, comes from great lines and she is very healthy.

She snores but has no skin problems or eye problems so far. They aren't so bad if you get one from good lines.

She farts none stop though and stinks.

We lived in a camper van with 2 dog and 2 small children for a month before moving into a tiny cottage. (Anything really seems big when you've been living in a van). We moved to a marginally bigger cottage and got another dog, so 2 bigger children and 3 dogs. We have collies.

U2 she snores because she is struggling to breathe :(

Staff staff staff. Love my baby girl even though she is a land shark at the moment.

Staff staff staff. Love my baby girl even though she is a land shark at the moment.

We have a pug - reasonably healthy, half German so has benefited from the trend there to breed in favour of longer legs / noses. But very much a "lap" dog - you couldn't leave her at home alone for lengthy stretches.

LEM, maybe you are right but I don't think she is struggling to breathe as such when she is sleeping. She is still young and hyper and she does get worn out quickly but she can run around in the garden as long as it isn't hot for a good 30 minutes without struggling.

I thought it was because of her short passage way, not that she is actually struggling to breathe as such?

The worst thing is the farting. It is constant and not diet related.

I totally understand people being against them being bred with the problems they have and I admit I didn't know so much about it before we got her. Although I researched I probably didn't go deep enough or find many unbiased websites.

My husband is obsessed with cleaning her wrinkles every day and after eating and drinking so she hasn't been sore yet.

As much as I love her, after reading this then searching for some old posts here we won't be getting another. She is young so I guess it remains to be seen what happens to her health down the line.

Sorry, but it's bollocks that the bulldog is snoring because it's struggling to breathe. In that case, my other long snouted dog also is struggling to breathe. Some dogs just snore.

My bulldog has wide breathing tubes and, according to my vet who has actually met her, is a perfect example of a healthy dog, regardless of breed. But bulldogs also have a really bloody big mouth. That then takes in air and either comes out via their snore or their butt.

Yes, my vet said mine has wide tubes for a bulldog.

Yours fart all the time too then?

She farts on demand. It's quite impressive!

I think the message I want to say is, if anyone gets a bulldog, research, research, research. In order for the breed to survive, you should only look at ethically proactive breeders. When looking at puppies, open their mouths and look down their noses. If the tubes they have to breathe through are tiny, walk away. Ive never met a lazy bulldog but have met lazy bulldog owners.

There is no such thing as a healthy bulldog. Google what a bulldog skull looks like compared to a normal dog skull and you can see how deformed they are. You can not check how big a dogs airway is without anaesthetising them.

Vet Nurse here too and if I am going to have a days holiday it will be the day we have a bulldog booked in for an anaesthetic! Everything about them is wrong including the purchase price! Every summer we have at least one in on O2, lying in ice, on a drip and meds with a fan on it until it goes one way or the other.
If there is one breed that should be stopped now, today, it is the British Bulldog. They suffer terribly as they can't actually breathe without a 'Lanes Procedure', half the time they can't mate without assistance and they can't birth without surgical intervention. All this tells a story that humans ignore for what. Money! Get a dog with legs, a face, a tail that doesn't turn up it's own anus and something you can actually see under please.

Thewholeofthespoon - i would like nothing more than to see this breed die out. I too was a vet nurse and would always avoid assisting with bulldog surgery. This breed is nothing like its ancestors , it has been selectively bred for defects that are bad for its health in every way.

My jack russels snore too - however they can run all day whatever the weather. You are chuffed that your dog can run about for 30 minutes so long as its not hot? I think that says it all really. I am dure you love your dog just as my bil and sil love theirs but having broken their hearts after losing the rescue bulldog from a heart conditions they actually went and bought a puppy - this dog can't walk to the end of the road, is ataxic and is costing them £££'s in vets bills. She still plasters her fb page with "cute"bulldog pictures - ive had to hide her posts.

Lemming so you too have fond memories of not wanting to take out the ET tube until it's 2 day post op check then?

It's the facial fold thing too. Had a litter a couple of years ago that had to be operated on as their corneas were parallel with the spikey fur on their faces and their eyes were like hot coals but you could barely see them to medicate them. Plastic surgery rendered them out of pain but so ugly they couldn't be sold and the breeder had them all euthanased at 15 weeks. THIS is the reality of this breed but people don't see it. Those poor little blighters had a short life of anaesthetics, agony, eyes like they had been rolled in grit and then the needle. Sorry if this is upsetting but when I see pictures of Bulldogs I actually have a stress reaction. But hey! Who cares? It's money in the bank for the 'breeder'. No wonder there is a massive shortage of vet nurses. I cry most days I am at work and I have done this job since 1981.

I agree the breed should be allowed to die out, as should the other 'walking vets bill' breeds. Personally I think the Kennel Club has an awful lot to answer for.

What is the problem with them under anaesthetic exactly that makes it awful for a vet nurse to assist with?

Mine needs to get spayed soon so I am genuinely interested.

And yes, I do feel bad now and won't get another, however much I love mine.

u2 what it is is that the soft palate (the flap of soft tissue that hangs down the back of the throat and has the uvula swinging off it) is the same size it would be if the bulldogs head were the size it would be in nature, ie big, wide and flappy BUT..because the head is morphed into the shape it is by breeding it that brachycephalic shape, the soft palate is squished into a tiny space. Unfortunately that tiny space is also where the air intake for the dog is. In hot weather or after exercise you may notice (any peple don't notice this) that your dogs tongue swells up to something like 8 x it's erm...flaccid state. This is the dogs cooling system working at it's finest as they don't sweat (apart from the nose and paws) so in hot weather their tongue swells AND they need more air and this is a disaster when the air intake is already made small by breeding. Overheated and they collapse due to lack of air, they overheat more as a result of being collapsed and not having the air in and die real fast if not cooled quickly.
Bulldogs don't need to be exercised to get to this stage. Just a hot summers day will do this if they have a very brachycephalic head as the air hole is too small.
A vet called Geoff Lane invented a procedure (and the instrument to do it with) that clamps and removes the soft tissue at the back of the throat. It works like a charm but it is a specialised technique and not without complications.
The scary bit with operating on these is the removal of the endo tracheal tube that is giving the dog it's airway as it should normally be removed when the dog coughs it out (cough/gag reflex is back) take it out too soon and the dog still has enough anaesthetic in it to stop it opening up it's own airway and it can suffocate. Take it out too late and it can bite the tube off or go into larangeal spasm, so it has no airway but is too awake for you to re-tube it without getting bitten and another I/v dose is needed to save it's life basically. It's a white knuckle ride choosing that perfect moment.

Should be (in brackets) many people don't notice this. Soz!