New to this Forum and some pix of our new housemate

Djammy

Hello all together,

after being BT people over the last 14 yrs. already, recent events brought us to this Forum.

So we think it's time to introduce ourselves:

We are Dorothea and Ron, a couple originally from Germany, moved to Florida some years ago. 

After we had lost our beloved BT housemate for 14 yrs. to the ravages of time the suddenly all too empty house soon became unbearable.

It did not take much longer for us to admit to ourselves that we're obviously hooked to these lovely creatures and eventually we decided for a new housemate, which - that was for sure - could not be anything else but a Bull Terrier again.

Djamila (= the beautiful) is now with us, just about 9 weeks old and yet a textbook BT already: strong-minded, bright and a playful clown.

During the last years we had to go through a lot of the typical dog and especially BT health problems with our former girl and were a bit nervous about all these things. Also we had brought her from Germany and had to find out now how things work in the U.S.

We did a lot of research and soon read not only health stories but basically about everything we could find about BT's, because they just are so funny and fascinating.

This Forum here gave us good and very helpful advice, just by reading various threads, to make what we feel to be the right decisions. Therefore we want to be part of it.

If we get the chance to contribute in a meaningful way with our own experience, we will be happy to do so.

We're sure that you are curious about photographs of our little girl. So here she is.

Dorothea and Ron

Stoeger

Welcome! You're girl is an absolute KNOCKOUT!!! So beautiful!

If you have been reading this forum for some time, you know Leslie and Phil are gonna get out the condiments and gobble your little beauty up!

I'm sorry to hear of the loss of your 14 year old Bully but that is a grand old Bully age and boy have you found a wonderful looking youngster to replace the void left by your old friend.

Leslie

Welcome!! What a doll.........I'm going to need more mustard.......
where did this beauty come from?????

Leslie

LOVE her marking and what huge feet you have my dear!!!!!

DianeWright

She's a beauty!  It's the eyes that will kill ya!

 

Stoges_mom

She is gorgeous!! And yes those are some HUGE feet!! Her markings are totally awesome!

Xtracho

Welcome to the forum and congrats on the beautiful young one in the photo...and RIP over the Rainbow Bridge for your old friend.

philsergeant

Dorothea and Ron,
All I can say is DITTO.... your story is so similar to ours, it's scary!!! Only difference is we came to Florida from South Africa, by way of England.  We lost our best love at 14 last October, and couldn't bring ourselves to "replacing" her, because no one can, until February.... now we have two 8 month old kids.. you can read all about them on here. Welcome to our world made special by our love for Bullies... if we can help in any way (beyond the tons of reading material here),.. just shout!
:-h

BulliesofNC

She's a beautiful Bullie! Great markings, short ears, and such a happy face!

Daisy

Welcome!  She's gorgeous!  May you have another wonderful 14+ years of companionship

Djammy

Hello guys,

sorry for the late answer, but we're a little occupied - maily with a brindle little thing at the moment.

I can't stop taking photographs and videos like crazy.

Thank so much for the hearty welcome and the amazingly friendly feedback!

@Leslie

This is actually a bit of a long story. Originally we wanted to try to wait for one of Steve's gorgeous puppies, as he's awaiting litters and we were strongly looking for a puppy from a reputable breeder.

But call us a little wacked and the love for our former girl crazy intense, we don't blame anyone , in some way we wished to - I don't know how else to put that - PRESERVE some kind of heritage of hers in our family. 

We knew that we would still get an entirely different individual, IF choosing from the same bloodline, and the least did we expect was just to "clone" our last dog. But we felt that by choosing from the same bloodline a part of our beloved old dog actually would live on in the new one in our home. Initially in order to not put a new puppy under the pressure of too high expectations, we also wanted to avoid having another brindle like our Fancy had been and were looking for a white girl with an eye patch, if possible, but were also open for other options - except the brindle.

Well, never say never - we now have a brindle and a white dog in one (face-wise . It just depends which side of her face you're looking at.

Trying to kill a little bit of time, we eventually did some more research to find the bloodline ( incl. "Von der alten Weste" & "Joker"). 

First it seemed like it is predominantly present in Europe and especially Germany and we almost gave up the effort to find it in the U.S. 

Until that one day, when we finally actually stumbled over it in Arizona in one dam. Better yet: The breeder just had a new 5 week old litter with puppies from that particular dam and when we saw one of the puppies in a video we had what I can describe best as a "magic moment". It simply made "click" and we fell in love with her, I think mainly because of her calm and elegant appearance, her funny markings and the seemingly very balanced temperament.

We did not dare to hope that she would be available because she had already attracted a lot of feedback and interest of other people.

But somehow 1:1 added up and things developed like this was meant to be. Ron picked her up by plane in Arizona and had a blast with her. She acted like a little hero - no whining, almost no oopsies , she instantly accepted her travel bag as a temporary home. What a brave little girl!

@Diane

Oh yes they already do! Their eyes are your worst enemy when trying to educate them.

But we are very motivated to face the challenge, because she is so much fun and we know it will get even better and better over time.

@philsergeant

Ron already found videos of your two cuties and these actually made us think for a moment about having two instead of just one. But eventually we postponed this decision and decided for just one for now.

You see, we already have to say "thank you", because that was exactly what I meant, all the people talking about their experiences here, helped us a LOT already.

I hope that the smooth start we already had will grow into a deep and loving bond between us and Djamila, a relationship filled with trust and joy. Like all BT's she is so smart already.

These little guys are just "( R )Angels" (= Rascals&Angels in one , sent to show us how beautiful life is.

philsergeant

One of the first things you need to do is tell us all how the name " Djamila" came about, or what language it's from.
One of the prices for being here is that you have to tell us lots of stories and post lots of pictures!, 8-}

Leslie

@Djammy I actually find that quite beautiful! Nothing at all strange about the love and bond you shared with your past girl as you will have to believe me when I say I completly understand that intense love. I been their!! Your new girl sure is a beauty and I'm sure it will be different with her but an all to familiar feel of the bond and love you once had the best part is each is different and wonderful in their own way!!! And as Phil said we LOVE pictures! !!!! More please!!!

Djammy

@philsergeant

Djamila is a female human name with oriental origins. It means "the beautiful" and goes along with a handful of equally sweet abbreviations (Djammy, Mila).

When we first heard that name some years ago - it was the name of a former colleague of mine - we could not help it to find the sound of the name beautiful and therefore exactly expressing what it means. It made us think of oriental fairy tales, elegance, princesses, sultans and flying carpets

So, now we have a beautiful flying PIG with a beautiful name.

Here's latest picture news from yesterday.

yoshirican

Awe gorgeous! Love her color!

philsergeant

By the look on that face, you are going to get more joy from her than oriental fairy tales, elegance, princesses, sultans and flying carpets! Keep us posted so we go along for the ride!

apollosmama

What a sweet heart!!! Welcome to the forum.

BONC_Jacksonville

Love his markings.  Welcome.

xchairity_casex

what a gorgeous baby!

Djammy

Hello, here is a quick update from Djamila. Today we just want to let the images speak for themselves. We hope, you guys enjoy them.

BulliesofNC

@Djammy - Those photos were awesome!!!

Leslie

Great collage!!!!! 2 thumbs up :x

Stoeger

Love the collage updates!

Stoges_mom

Wish I was that creative! Pretty pretty cool! :-bd

philsergeant

What a beautiful child!!! I've gotta get ours in the pool,... good start! Keep the updates flowing, she will start to grow like crazy about now!  Where in FL are you?

Djammy

philsergeant
We're located SW at the Gulf Coast, Cape Coral/Ft. Myers area, if that rings a bell.

@everybody
Thanks for the comments. We'll keep you posted.

Djammy

Hello guys, 

September 9 - status evaluation of Djamila.

She's doing great so far.

Pros:

- Starting to recognize us as "her people", wanting to be with us most of the time and also starting to spend time with us on the couch

- Very playful and cuddly

- Training tasks accomplished so far: "go crate", "sit", "down", "stay" (so far for a short while and with handler in sight, still working on it), "come", "leave it" (things on the ground, we don't want her to eat), "let go" (of a toy for example), accepting leash & collar or harness, swimming short distances on her own in the pool & climbing out, "fetch" a ball (in the house) and some more useful things such as only coming up, when invited, chasing our legs and chewing our fingers off less …

- Her first tricks: "Paw", "High five" (touching a stretched out hand), currently working on her "roll over"

- Another "trick": Letting US "play ball" outside on the lawn, lying down comfortably, watching us

*Note: Ok, now that I think about it that belongs to the 'Suboptimal Pros' section *

Suboptimal Pros:

- Going "potty" a million times a day, but only one time at night (and three slept through nights already … "yeah"...we cherish the little things

- A little picky with her food (although she's getting Royal Canine/Blue Buffalo, Vitamins and Darwin's raw food) and  - yet still eating our hair off and treats are always welcome (started to only cast treats AFTER meal times)  

- Has not really gotten the hang of "going for a walk together" yet - momentarily it's more like having a sit-in in the street together, but we're working on it in little steps (fortunately we have a very quiet street here, good for practicing)

*Note: During the next playful tries with a toothbrush (we'll start with the serious brushing once she has her real set of teeth) I will definitely NOT use the peanut flavored toothpaste. She really likes it, which makes the brush a welcome chew toy. But we're working on progress. *

Cons:

None! 

She's catching up pretty quick on things, but still thinking that good behaviour is more like a raw concept, the choice of an idea, because she's a bull terrier, of course. But we're working on getting this shaped into an "attitude" - we absolutely love her! She is fun in our house.

Djammy

One year of fun and lots more to come!

Djamila is now 10 months with us and turning 1 yr. today. She is a pretty active young lady, but a delight through and through. Makes it easier to swallow the "collateral damage" every now and then - thankfully not a lot.

She's a textbook Bully and that's why we love her so much! 

Happy First Birthday, Djamila!

BulliesofNC

LOVE the photos! She's looking great.
Happy B-Day Djamila   \:D/

philsergeant

Love the collage! Wonderful.... It would seem you love her nearly as much as she loves you... Happy Birthday!

(Where did you say you were in FL again?, we are in Palm City.

Djammy

We’re the ones from Cape Coral - Gulf coast.

Sadly, too far away for a spontaneous play date. We’d love to watch Djamila with another EBT, because honestly we think, they are the only real match when it comes to the way Bullies use to play.

Couldn’t manage to find a Bully in our area yet to give it a try. 

Right now she seems to be more into humans and balls anyway, even better: Humans THROWING BALLS!

She has also developed her own game, where she would throw the ball herself and kick it with her paws to then go violently after it. Doesn’t even need humans anymore for that. And she could spend hours on it.

If we could ask her after a visit at the doggie park, I bet she would not even be able to tell us, IF any dogs were there. Because as soon as she has spotted a ball, nothing else matters.

We would still like to see her play with another Bully some day though. Must be fun to watch.

philsergeant

Yes, you are about 3 hours from us, a little far, although our kids would just love to play with another Bullie... they love to play with everything (besides rabbits and armadillos)... If we ever have the excuse to be on the west coast we'll look you up.
(Photo is kids after their bath this morning)

Djammy

So sweet! I am so happy Djamila likes bathing and water games, too. Makes things such a lot easier. Really like the color mix on the head of your brindle one. Maybe one day we get a chance to let them meet for a play date.

Quinnofhearts

What a beautiful girl! Happy birthday to her!! I see she's still swimming...can't hardly believe it when I see other bullies swim as mine hates the water so much! Hope she had a blast on her birthday!

exiled

Happy birthday to Djamila.  Love the pictures, everything from swimming to jumping in the clothes dryer. 

Djammy

Sorry for the delayed answer. Doggie and work are keeping me busy. Yeah, that’s right - in exactly THIS order

@Quinnofhearts

Every dog is different. Some humans are also afraid of water. Actually I was not able to swim in dark waters for a long time and still feel a bit uncomfortable with it. When I took Scuba Diving lessons, it was a huge first step for me to sink my head under water. Then I realized that knowing what’s below the surface helped me a lot. Unfortunately this is something you cannot TELL your Bull Terrier.

Our last Bully Fancy did not like water at all and also jumping into the pool wasn’t exactly the first thing Djamila did. Walking in the shallow surge at the beach would be the most Fancy would do. She loved to plunge into puddles when she was overheated from frolicing, but she would never ever have entered our pool voluntary. She once slipped and nearly drowned. This event either did not exactly help with her aversion to water.

I think the main reason why it’s so different with Djamila is that we have a pool and beaches available now and have started to familiarize her with water since she came to us at the age of 9 weeks. Of course, we have always left the final choice to her. We just did some trials, like placing her in the water with her safety vest on and watching her reaction.

She definitely seemed a bit intimidated first, but not completely freaked out - which would have been reason enough for us to let go of the entire "water and swimming" idea.

We placed her on a floating mat several times, which also scared her first. When she seemed to get used to and started enjoying it, we extended her times on the mat. Then we taught her how to enter the pool over the mat and swim, then how to walk into the pool over the pool stairs. The entire process took quite a while.

And she is still hesitant sometimes. She obviously has a lot of respect and she just hates having water in her ears.

I don’t consider this a bad thing. Because her hesitation will keep her aware of the dangers, water can pose to her.
I once heard that dogs can lose orientation when they have water in their ears and this can bear the risk of drowning. I don't know, if that's true.

I think many dogs just feel uncomfortable when their feet are not touching ground. And it seems to me as if they cannot really perceive depth in clear water the same way we humans do. The situation reminds me of myself as a child when everything was twice as big and water was just scary - until I got used to it and learnde how to swim.

The most important step of all, I think, was for her to realize that she CAN swim and to know where exactly and how she can exit the pool.

Although today she is entering the pool on her own and swimming for balls or to come to us, I would still not call her absolutely crazy for water.

She still seems very concentrated and a bit timid when she is swimming. I have seen other dogs going bananas from fun in water. That’s not her.

I think for her it’s the Bully-factor: It’s about the fact that WE go into the pool and she wants to interact with us, be close, please, share the fun and be part of the pack. Also she likes to learn things and give herself challenges. She does that all the time. Bullies are just so smart!

What I love most about her swimming is that I can be almost sure that, if she accidentally falls into the pool, she will not drown. It already happened once or twice and she just swam to the stairs and walked out of the pool, as happy as always.

On the downside I have to take care of dry skin from the chemicals etc. So, we do not take her into the pool all the time and always rinse her afterwards. It’s fun to play with her in the water sometimes, but actually the most amazing part of it was watching her overcome her fears and taking the next step.

I could also live with it, if she hated water. 

A good swim sure is a way to drain a super agile Bully’s energy. But unfortunately you can’t let her do it all the time anyway.

@exiled

Honestly, we were thinking that a rawhide and some extra cuddeling and playing would be enough on her B- day, as Djamila is - how do I put this - SPOILED to the bones already.

If I lived the life she is living, I would feel like every day would be my birthday. She owns a ton of toys, eats the best dog food and is keeping us busy with entertaining her.

Anyway, we still couldn't keep ourselves from acting "human". So, when we decided to swing a steak on the grill that night, of course, Djamila finally had her "birthday piece".

Her face spoke volumes that she knew something special was going on.

Quinnofhearts

ha, Djammy, perhaps Quinn gets her aversion to water from me...I can't swim! Though I still go in pools and the ocean. But Quinn stepped off the edge of a pool when she was 12 weeks old and I think it scared the lights out of her. Our recent trip to the beach has been the only recent interest she's had in water. Glad that Djamila is warming up to some types of water though. Must be fun, especially in the summer!

Djammy

It IS so much fun, I have to admit! 

Sadly, "accidental" experiences with water can be traumatic for dogs of all ages, I guess.
It's just bad luck, if this is one of the first experiences for a dog with water. Unfortunately you can't turn back the hands of time.

Maybe for the summer a very gentle idea would be to buy one of those 10 buck flat plastic baby pools (not one of the inflatables) and only fill it with like 3-4 inches of water. Then after a round of heated playing in the sun maybe lure her in with a favorite toy or treat just to show her that she can cool her belly in there without anything threatening around.
Who knows. Maybe, she'll warm up a little bit with water again.
Well, that is, if you are really interested in trying the water stuff again.
I mean, there's such a lot of other stuff one can do. So, just an idea.

Quinnofhearts

I'd probably be more apt to try it if I was a homeowner. Not sure where I'd even keep the pool! We do have a creek that runs behind the buildings here and I've let Quinn put her toes in it. Unfortunately there is a lot of sewage that runs into it...on heavy ran days the sewers will overflow and the water and everything inside will come out the top...and flow right to the creek. It's nasty. And yes, Quinn received a bath after being near the creek! bleh!

philsergeant

Golly! That sounds terrible! Where can there be a place that the authorities allow sewage to run in a nearby creek? Blows my mind... I thought Florida swamps were bad enough!

Djammy

@Quinnofhearts

Somehow I assumed that you have a yard. My bad.
I would not put up a pool in an appartment either.
Luckily water games are not the only possible entertainment.

Such a pity with that creek.

Quinnofhearts

@Djammy , I think it would be natural for a lot of people to assume that a bull terrier owner would have a yard just because of the type of dog they are. But I've found that Quinn is only active in short spurts anyway, and often likes to lay around or play inside on hot days. She was introduced to a hose for the first time on our vacation when we would wash her off at the beach...didn't care for it!

@philsergeant , we live in Kentucky. I'm not sure what the regulations are for that kind of stuff, but they have signs out by the sewer covers/manhole covers warning people about the overflow. Not pretty, but thankfully it only happens when there is extreme rain. :-/

Djammy

I agree. We used to live in an apartment with our former Bully "Fancy" back in Germany and it was perfectly fine. They get lazier when they get older and it is absolutely possible to keep them in an apartment.
But interestingly, she was not a huge fan of water either. When we moved to Florida and then had the pool available, she once slipped and fell in accidentally. It was horrible for her and she never set a foot near it after that. Also we did not try to force it. She still liked beach walks in the shallow surf though.

They often say that you can't teach an old dog new tricks. After all I have heard, read and experienced in the meantime, I think this is not quite right. But, just as in humans, what remains true is that it is always easier to conquer one's own fears (also learn things), when dealing with them from the time of being young. I see that with Djamila.

Djammy

Hi @all, 

it's still early I know, but I could not resist and spent some time today on another one of my Bully cartoons. 

It's getting HALLOWEENY ...

Have fun checking it out.

BulliesofNC

Oh that's awesome!!!!!  I love it. I got to share that one on Facebook. (Good for advertising your website too)

Djammy

Steve, thank you for your support! Glad you like it.

MikeSBT

=D> She is so beautiful and having a great life with you.

philsergeant

@ Djammy ...Stop spoiling that dog so much... you're embarrassing the rest of us!

Djammy

Guilty as charged ...

Ya, I think I can't deny it. While she sure is a little diva, I am so lucky that she's an obedient and non-destructive one. If she intended to do so, she would have twisted me around her pinkie toe in no time.

I would live in a shredded household, being walked by my own dog ...

alexa

So cute!! Welcome!