English bulldog or french bulldog
Discussion
Personally I would suggest reading up thoroughly on both breeds then deciding which breed suits your home life, family and financial ability more. Also check for health issues for the breeds. Both have great character traits so I can understand their attraction but people often fail to realise just how many health issues they can suffer (mostly the English Bulldog) and their special needs as a result.
You should also consider that these area fashionable breed to own at the mo (esp the French bulldog) so be very very cautious of unscrupulous breeders, illegally imported puppies and poorly bred lines.
Good breeders will generally have waiting list for breeds like these!
Hopefully on here people will be able to connect you to good reliable contacts. Kennel club is another avenue though not a guarantee of great breeders.
There is good thread running on here about bulldogs, if you can find it I think you will find it very helpful
You should also consider that these area fashionable breed to own at the mo (esp the French bulldog) so be very very cautious of unscrupulous breeders, illegally imported puppies and poorly bred lines.
Good breeders will generally have waiting list for breeds like these!
Hopefully on here people will be able to connect you to good reliable contacts. Kennel club is another avenue though not a guarantee of great breeders.
There is good thread running on here about bulldogs, if you can find it I think you will find it very helpful
As above, buy from a good breeder.
I've just posted a pic of my English Bulldog on his 12th birthday. My family's and mine (excluding one accidental death) have lived to 8, 10, 11, and 13, so some of the level of scare stories about how they all drop dead aged six are exaggerated.
A bit like how every modern car is an unreliable death trap if you read up on it on PH.
As for which breed you choose, Frenchies are a lot smaller and a lot easier therefore to handle. English's grow to be a pretty big and fairly stubborn immobile animal. So you need to be fairly physically strong to handle them and lift them into vehicles etc.
But I wouldn't have any other breed.
I've just posted a pic of my English Bulldog on his 12th birthday. My family's and mine (excluding one accidental death) have lived to 8, 10, 11, and 13, so some of the level of scare stories about how they all drop dead aged six are exaggerated.
A bit like how every modern car is an unreliable death trap if you read up on it on PH.
As for which breed you choose, Frenchies are a lot smaller and a lot easier therefore to handle. English's grow to be a pretty big and fairly stubborn immobile animal. So you need to be fairly physically strong to handle them and lift them into vehicles etc.
But I wouldn't have any other breed.
We have a Frenchie; we re-homed her just over two years ago, she is deaf, at some point I would love an English Bulldog, we have had Pugs too; which suffer from similar issues as Bulldogs, so I would like to think that we are aware of their pitfalls and know how to live with it.
They are not like "ordinary" dogs, they can suffer from skin and breathing problems and must not be walked too hard when it is hot or humid; 10 minutes can make then really suffer if it is too hot, however if it is not too hot they can go for miles with no issues.
The advantage with a Frenchie over a Bully is they are smaller so therefore take up less room, but they are still bloody strong and have their mad moments; the wife has been pulled over a couple of times when she wasn't braced for it, Daisy is only 8.5kg so is a small Frenchie, they do get bigger and obviously Bully's are even bigger and stronger.
They are strong willed and can ignore if they aren't in the mood, they love human company and mustn't be left alone for too long as they hate it and they are also very sensitive to being told off; they hate raised voices that are directed at them.
Frenchies do suffer also from dietary issues, they have sensitive stomachs and can suffer from skin issues too, not just in the folds of skin, it took us a while to get Daisy's food right; she is now on raw, it calmed her down and visually she looks far better for it.
They can also snore terribly when asleep; both myself and the wife quite like it and find it kind of comforting, they also snort and grunt, which some "non dog" people find alarming and mistake it for growling; Daisy grunts and snorts when she is happy.
They are great characters and aren't known as the Clown Dog for nothing.
Don't go into owning either breed because you think they are cute and adorable, they do need a lot of love, attention and acceptance into the family, the girl that we re-homed Daisy from told us that she was hard work, she was a chewer and destructive; she is none of those, she just needed the right kind of home and attention.
They are not like "ordinary" dogs, they can suffer from skin and breathing problems and must not be walked too hard when it is hot or humid; 10 minutes can make then really suffer if it is too hot, however if it is not too hot they can go for miles with no issues.
The advantage with a Frenchie over a Bully is they are smaller so therefore take up less room, but they are still bloody strong and have their mad moments; the wife has been pulled over a couple of times when she wasn't braced for it, Daisy is only 8.5kg so is a small Frenchie, they do get bigger and obviously Bully's are even bigger and stronger.
They are strong willed and can ignore if they aren't in the mood, they love human company and mustn't be left alone for too long as they hate it and they are also very sensitive to being told off; they hate raised voices that are directed at them.
Frenchies do suffer also from dietary issues, they have sensitive stomachs and can suffer from skin issues too, not just in the folds of skin, it took us a while to get Daisy's food right; she is now on raw, it calmed her down and visually she looks far better for it.
They can also snore terribly when asleep; both myself and the wife quite like it and find it kind of comforting, they also snort and grunt, which some "non dog" people find alarming and mistake it for growling; Daisy grunts and snorts when she is happy.
They are great characters and aren't known as the Clown Dog for nothing.
Don't go into owning either breed because you think they are cute and adorable, they do need a lot of love, attention and acceptance into the family, the girl that we re-homed Daisy from told us that she was hard work, she was a chewer and destructive; she is none of those, she just needed the right kind of home and attention.
budgie smuggler said:
Has anybody kept one of the 'old tyme' type bulldog breeds?
Supposedly closer to the original bulldog, and suffer from less of the ailments of the modern breed.
We have an Olde English Bulldogge, a modern-day American recreation of the original bulldog - which is made up of roughly half English bulldog and the other half a mix of pit bull, bullmastiff and American bulldog. Overall very glad we got him over a typical English bulldog, taller, larger boned, more mass yet leaner, a usable nose/snout and a lot more active (will walk 6 miles without too much fuss). Personality wise he's bloomin' lazy when he wants to be, he'll do silly things, fall over, but all he really wants to do is follow you around and lie next to you, very "bulldoggy" Supposedly closer to the original bulldog, and suffer from less of the ailments of the modern breed.
. He's only 2 years old so can't say about health issues as of yet but he has not had any problems so far, they are also supposed to live for around 12 years on average. They can be pricey, ours was comfortably into 4 figures, but the biggest difficulty is finding a genuine OEB, as they're still a pretty rare breed over here, much more popular over in the USA as you'd imagine. However definitely an alternative worth considering!
Just to add - definitely get along to the "bulldogs" thread posted earlier, all types of bulldog in there and a helpful bunch of members to answer/give opinions!
AM7 said:
budgie smuggler said:
Has anybody kept one of the 'old tyme' type bulldog breeds?
Supposedly closer to the original bulldog, and suffer from less of the ailments of the modern breed.
We have an Olde English Bulldogge, a modern-day American recreation of the original bulldog - which is made up of roughly half English bulldog and the other half a mix of pit bull, bullmastiff and American bulldog. Overall very glad we got him over a typical English bulldog, taller, larger boned, more mass yet leaner, a usable nose/snout and a lot more active (will walk 6 miles without too much fuss). Personality wise he's bloomin' lazy when he wants to be, he'll do silly things, fall over, but all he really wants to do is follow you around and lie next to you, very "bulldoggy" Supposedly closer to the original bulldog, and suffer from less of the ailments of the modern breed.
. He's only 2 years old so can't say about health issues as of yet but he has not had any problems so far, they are also supposed to live for around 12 years on average. They can be pricey, ours was comfortably into 4 figures, but the biggest difficulty is finding a genuine OEB, as they're still a pretty rare breed over here, much more popular over in the USA as you'd imagine. However definitely an alternative worth considering!Just to add - definitely get along to the "bulldogs" thread posted earlier, all types of bulldog in there and a helpful bunch of members to answer/give opinions!
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