Living with Bull Terriers
The Bull Terrier breed is definitely not a breed for the faint of heart! To own and live with these dogs is to love them, unquestioningly and unconditionally. They do not suffer fools gladly and will happily lead any owner, who is not fully prepared, a merry dance!
Most breeders have the best interests of the breed at heart and will question relentlessly any aspiring puppy owner, sometimes to the point of the ridiculous! But this is done only out of love and the best intentions of finding the RIGHT forever home. Unfortunately too many of our beloved breed end up in rescue due to the owners not being able to cope.
To start with any prospective owner needs to understand that Bull Terriers love to be around people, they do not do well when left to their own devices for too long and many an owner comes home to a wrecked house. And a Bull Terrier puppy can do some damage!
To ensure a happy, well adjusted puppy, you will need to invest a lot of your time, love and patience; they do not take to training naturally and can be extremely stubborn. Should you wish for a dog to hang off your every word and do you bidding unfailingly, then maybe this is not the breed for you. The Bull Terrier definitely has a mind of its own.
The basics you will need, besides a will of iron, are a good strong, appropriately sized dog crate (to save your house from sharp puppy teeth and give your puppy a nice secure place to rest), strong, indestructible puppy toys, vet bedding or similar (as a puppy will in all likelihood rip up the nice soft pillow type bed you thought they would love!), food and water bowls, collar and lead and appropriate food as directed by the breeder. You will also need a well fenced garden, at least 4ft high fencing which would be better solid than with gaps. Bull Terriers have been known to go through fences, even eat through walls and shatter glass doors - you have been warned!
All advice from the breeder should be burned upon your very heart, they know the breed and more importantly their particular line and how it behaves. Some Bull Terriers can be surprisingly laid back, whilst others will test the patience of a Saint.
Puppy training classes can prove useful in socialising and teaching your puppy basic commands, just expect your Bull Terrier to be a bit less enthusiastic than some of the other more compliant breeds like Labradors or Spaniels! You will just have to persevere and work harder than their owners. When walking a Bull Terrier puppy for the first time, you will probably have a very reluctant participant! Some can be known to plonk their bums on the floor and refuse to budge, even treats being ignored. You will have to rise above this and not give in, you must not allow your puppy to call the shots. If you are instigating a walk, then walk you must, the puppy cannot have its own way.
You will find persistence will be your watch word for quite some time after acquiring your new addition, but give in at your peril, a full grown Bull Terrier who thinks it rules the roost will cause many problems and be very difficult to live with. You must always be aware that the law requires you to have full control of your dog when out in public places, and in the home an ill-mannered dog can be a nightmare when visitors come round.
You will find that most Bull Terriers will happily live with other animals if they are brought up with them from a puppy. However, trusting them to never do any harm would be foolish, they are clumsy by nature and are not unknown to sit on smaller animals and squash them.
It is, however, not recommended to have 2 same sex Bull Terriers together, although bitches do prove more tolerable of each other than dogs. Having a dog and bitch is a much better idea, although again do not be complacent, arguments can flare in these pairings too.
Bull Terriers will generally take as much or as little exercise as you can provide, they do love to sleep the day away on a comfortable chair or sofa in the sunshine, but will also happily run round at full pelt when out on a walk. Do not allow your Bull Terrier to be off lead unless you are fully confident of your ability to recall the dog at any moment. Allowing your dog to make anyone feel in danger of being attacked or bitten constitutes it being out of control and can lead to action being taken against you by the law.
Here may well be a good place to mention insurance, something to seriously consider for your Bull Terrier.
Feeding you Bull Terrier should be firstly done along the directions given by the breeder. Some feed raw meat and some feed complete dry food. All dogs are different but in nature raw food is what would be the normal diet of a dog. Lots of research and information is available on the internet and owners must decide what is best for them and their dog.
Your puppy should be taken to your local vet as soon as possible after you acquire him or her. The vet can double check that all is well and advise you on puppy vaccinations (should these have not been done already) and on worming. Vets will also often talk about castration and neutering with new owners; please do not be tempted into this operation at a very young age. Allow your puppy to mature before making this decision; some problems can be caused later in life by neutering too young.
As in most pedigree dogs today, the Bull Terrier can suffer some health issues. These can include, but are not restricted to, heart disease, deafness and kidney disease. Some of these can be hereditary and some may not be. It is worth checking with any breeders you approach as to the parents of the puppy and if they have had any health tests. Most breeders will deaf test their puppies and as such you would receive a certificate stating that they have been BAER tested and the result.
It is an unfortunate fact of life that your Bull Terrier will not live forever, however you can expect a life span of up to 16 years in some bitches. Males more normally do not reach this great age. Some can fall from natural causes as young as 9 or 10.
Bull Terriers as a breed also have a couple of breed traits, one of these is Bully Running - a mad dash around the house or garden at full pelt, normally bouncing off walls or chairs and with no regard for life or limb! It lasts a few minutes and is best left to run its course whilst standing very still so as not to get knocked over! They will also at times 'trance', where they hang their heads down and stand under low hanging branches, bushes, table cloths or anything that can tickle their backs. Their eyes will often glaze over and they will move very slowly. Do not get concerned by this behaviour, it is 'normal' in this breed!
