Future Bull Terrier owner.
Hey everyone!
I've been reading through this forum for the last couple of days and wanted to wait until I actually have the puppy in hand so to speak before I posted. I am getting a female pup. She's all white with a red eye patch on her right eye. I have been wanting one of these dogs since I was a kid and read the Incredible Journey I think is the title of the book. This forum has so much useful information and I'm trying to take it all in. The pup is four weeks old, I''l get her at eight weeks and can't wait. I feel like a kid on the night before Christmas. I'll be buying a crate, collar, leash, food, water and food dishes this weekend. I'm going back and forth on using Canidae Grain Free or Blue Buffalo Grain free. The Canidae will be about $10 dollars less for a 30# bag and is also five star rated so I'll probablu use that. My son and I have already chosen a name for her, it's Sookie. So until I pick her up I'll be reading through the forum and trying to locate a vet in my area that has some experience/knowledge with Bull Terriers.
Comments
He says hello below.
"It's not just a Dog, it's a Bull Terrier!"
www.bulliesofnc.com
=D>
Anyways, I had Spud on a mixture of Blue Buffalo Wilderness Puppy and TOTW all life stages wild boar - both high in protein. I have had this mixture since 3-4 months and he's responding well. He's about 40 lbs now at 6 1/2 months. My BB Wilderness is running out so I need to reup on either that or adding another no grain high protein kibble.
Love Sookie to pieces!!!! Can't wait to see more pics!! \:D/
Good luck figuring out what food to put your cute girl on... Stoges_mom and I found DogFoodAdvisor dot com to very helpful. We landed on Victor Grain-Free All Life Stages for our Stoeger's kibble.
Xtracho and Apollosmama, what's the deal with the Nupro product? Is it something we should consider for our little man???
Ditto on what Apollosmama said on the collar, our Stoge is almost ready to have his adjusted out after sporting it for just two weeks.
Sookie looks beautiful. I know you are contemplating what type of food to feed her. There are many good links here on the forum on the subject, and will get many different answers. What we all can agree on is Grain Free. Find out what puppy food the breeder is feeding her through weaning. Allot of breeders will have a preferred puppy food to feed their litters. You have to ask yourself is this a food you want to feed your puppy when you get her? If not, you have a couple options, ask if you can pay a little more to feed her what you want to feed her so this does not upset her tummy when your get her and change it. The other option is mix her food 50/50 with what they fed her and what you want to feed her for a couple weeks. This will create change but not a shock to her sensitive digestive system.
Ok I finally picked Sookie up. Good and bad news. Good news is she is pretty smart already. She can go up and downstairs and will let you know if she has to use the bathroom. Bad news is when I picked her up she had diarrhea, suposedly from the wormer. Also she can't hear. I took her to the Vet for a check up and the Vet gave her a dose of Diagel and a prescription for Albon and propectalin. She weighs 2.8 lbs. I contacted the breeder and they claim they didn't know the pup was deaf and will not offer a refund but offered to take her back and I could transfer the balance to the next litter, which I declined.
Well, she is in good hands now the poor thing.
She is going to be a little harder to train and manage, however its NOT impossible and CAN be do-able.
Since she cant hear, your going to have to start teaching her commands using hand signals and touch, or even facial cues.
This is Something is something you want to start doing ASAP!! Since Bullies are a difficult breed as it is, a deaf one is going to need as much training under its belt as can be.
Your going to need a hand signal or facial cue to show your approval, youll need to use deterants such as a heavy bean bag or a squirt bottle of water to teach your new puppy "NO"
But dogs in general are extremely observant, and can EASILY learn a hand or facial cue as quickly as a vocal command.
When I was younger we had a very very old Lhasa Apso who was both blind as well a deaf and I taught her things using touch, if I touched her shoulder it meant to come, if I touched her but it meant sit, etc.
NO dog is ever to young to begin obedience training.
I would begin working on the basics, keepa small squirt bottle of water on you as well as treats at all times so you can quickly reward good behaviors and stop naughty ones.
To get a pups attention when its doing something bad-shouting no does nothing, stopping your foot the puppy can feel the vibrations in the floor and usually stop to see where its coming from.
You can use facial cues ( raising your eye brows, opening your mouth wide, sticking your tongue out, etc)
or hand signals ( showing one or two fingers for sit, a waving motion for come, palm down for stay, finger pointing to the ground for roll over etc)
what ever you want to use as your cues for each behavior is your own preference and choice!
@mikewho - Your breeder is either Blind or a Liar. Unless he/she never spent more than 5 minutes with the puppies. You're more than welcome to tell them I said that too.
I've seen deaf puppies before and they are easy to spot in a litter. You can't walk past a weaning box without waking a litter and when one puppy remains fast asleep it's obvious the puppy is deaf. You can't take food to the puppies without one catching you and barking which wakes the whole bunch except one of course if he's deaf and oblivious to what's going on around him. Even at 6 weeks of age the Vet would have caught it during a health check. A deaf Bull Terrier isn't SOLD they are adopted out to those willing to raise one with love and compassion. I know Sookie is in great hands but I'm utterly shocked by what how you explained the breeder said in regard to a refund. They kept this a secret, they didn't conduct proper genetic testing, and they have no integrity. Your breeder should be shot in the foot and reported to AKC.
As far as worm medicine causing diareha that would be rare unless they waited all this time and just now worned the puppy. Puppies need to be wormed at 2 weeks of age, 3 weeks of age, and 4 weeks of age. During their 6 week health check they should be tested and confirmed to be free from worms. Due to how tiny your BT is fear that he had or has coccidia. That will stunt his growth, cause diarrhea, etc.
My worry for Sookie is that his immune system will also suffer based on the way he was cared for as a young infant. To be honest, I've never seen or heard of a 3 pound EBT at 8 weeks of age.
Kim provided good information in regard to raising a deaf Bull Terrier. I know someone who has a deaf Bullie who is very attentive to their owner and knows many hand signals. My hat is off to you for your commitment to raise a deaf BT. In the event you speak to your breeder again please send them my LOVE. @-)
"It's not just a Dog, it's a Bull Terrier!"
www.bulliesofnc.com
Please keep us posted on her health. I sure hope the diarrhea subsides and she can start packing on some pounds.
Like Stoges_mom said... We thought Stoeger was small at 6 1/2 weeks, 4lbs. Sookie is absolutely tiny in comparison. Especially considering he was up to 7lbs. at 8 weeks.
Probably would be a good idea to get her on some NuVet and boost that immune system Steve!?!?