Why is carefully choosing a bulldog breeder important?
Buying a bulldog puppy form the right breeder is one of the most important steps in having a happy and healthy bulldog. Bulldogs are one of the most expensive and popular dog breeds on the market, and therefore offer a huge chance to make money for breeders. Some breeders just try to crank out and sell bulldog puppies as quickly and cheaply as possible. Therefore you wind up with puppies from poor bloodlines and increased risk of health and/or behavioral problems. There are basic things every bulldog breeder should be willing to provide you with:
Pedigree: A pedigree is basically a “family tree” for your puppy showing you several generations of ancestors for your puppy. This is a pretty standard document to accompany your new pet. Any bulldog that is well cared for has a pedigree and is registered, many quality breeders like to show off there pedigrees to show you the quality of puppies they are offering. Often breeder will advertise “champion bloodlines”, and by looking at a pedigree you can check up on their claims. Most dogs have “champion bloodlines”, but in may just be one great, great grandfather of you puppy. By looking at the pedigree you can see how many and how closely related champion dogs are to your bulldog puppy. Also, you can see if there is an excessive inbreeding that have been going on, which of course is not a good thing. Some inbreeding is fairly common, so don’t be scared off is you see that a stud dog show up more than once on a pedigree, but its just something you want be sure hasn’t been happening too much. Any breeder that cannot supply you with a pedigree is ignorant about bulldogs or is just plain trying to hide something. Seeing a pedigree from a breeder is a must.
Health guarantee: Another common document is a 1 year health guarantee from the breeder. It is typically a guarantee that your puppy will not be diagnosed with any genetic health disorders for one year, but they can vary depending on the breeder, so be sure on what it covers. Now understand most of the guarantees do not guarantee you will have a perfectly healthy dog for a year, but rather that there is noting genetically wrong with the dog. So if your dog comes down with parvo or something a month after you buy him, the guarantee will likely not cover that. Conversely, a condition such as hip dysplasia (common disorder in bulldogs), is considered a genetic defect most of the time. Most guarantees are only valid if the buyer takes their puppy to a veterinarian within 48 hours of purchase to check out the puppy. If that vet finds something wrong, then the breeder will want a vet of their choosing to confirm the diagnosis. The catch is that most genetic disorders do not really become evident until a dog is several years old, so barring a rare and severe genetic defect these guarantees will go unused, but it is still a very important safeguard that a bulldog buyer should insist upon. Be sure that you fully understand what the guarantee covers before buying.
Health history: Depending on how old your puppy is they may already have been given vaccines and been dewormed. The breeder should provide you with all the history of vaccines, medications, exams, and any other health related information on official documents from a veterinarian. Furthermore, its always good to know the contact information for that veterinarian in case you need any more information in the future. This is very important because this way you know your puppy has been well taken care of, and will give your veterinarian all the information to property take of your puppy.
Now What?
Ok, so now you have researched a breeder and found that they offer all of the above documents, now what? Well if you haven’t already, you should probably give them a call or shoot them an email. You want to buy from a breeder that is willing to answer all your questions, give you information, and even question you too. I will go over these topics in questions to ask bulldog breeders and questions bulldog breeders should ask you.
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