Georgie the Bulldog information and photos.

Being picked by a Bulldog

One day, I went into PJ's Pets in Yorkdale shopping mall where I'd been many many times before. There was a sign up, "Baby Bulldogs are here!". Four squirming little puppies were in a crate, surrounded by at least 20 admiring fans. I glanced through the crowd and looked at them for all of two seconds, then went on my way. The subconscious mind sure can do a number on you, and that night I had a very profound dream about a Bulldog. The Bulldog was female, white with some brown, and in pretty good shape as far as the breed goes. I tried to put the dream out of my head, but for the next 3 weeks it stayed with me. Finally, I called the pet store and asked if she was still there. Yes, she was. I did some research on the breed, and found out they were often a vet's best customer. Another week passed by, and I found myself calling again to see if she was still there. So almost exactly one month after glimpsing her in the store, I was there to meet her. I sat in a little room and someone brought her in. Immediately, she started a sort of scatter footed little dance, snuffling and wriggling the whole time. She attacked my shoelaces, and untied both in no time. It's not that it mattered what she did, the decision had already been made that she was coming home with me.

Miscellaneous photos

Daycare

I was not in a position to keep a dog, as I was renting a condo and the landlady did not want pets in her place. The building policy was to allow dogs up to 20lbs. Georgie grew to 43lbs, but she was a very popular dog with all the people who lived and worked in the complex, and we never ran into any trouble. Life was busy for me back then, and because I was gone for several hours a day, I would drop her off at daycare most days. Our first daycare was Barking Along. She was very well looked after, and they really grew to love her. She would play the entire time she was there, and mostly with the big dogs. Theirs is a home style daycare, so dogs have a nice comfortable environment, not stark kennel surroundings. Once or twice a day, the van would get loaded up with dogs and off to the park for a run. Georgie was able to keep up with all the other dogs, and the daycare staff called her the most energetic Bulldog they had ever seen. Georgie went through a long period of separation anxiety. There were days when I wasn't able to take her to daycare, and I'd lost a few pairs of shoes as a result. After about age 2, she settled down well enough to be left alone all day.

Bedtime Blues

When I had first brought Georgie home, I figured that she could sleep in her own little bed beside mine. Wrong. I had an entire sleep deprived week trying to hold my ground and not let her sleep in my bed. She would have nothing to do with her bed, and wouldn't stop hurling herself at the side of mine. Somehow I would manage to fall asleep in the wee hours of the morning, but when I woke up, I couldn't believe my eyes....and nose. She had pooped and peed EVERYWHERE! And probably from over-exerting herself in her attempts to jump up, she threw up a huge pile right where I would step out. The next night I would lock her in the bathroom. She eventually stopped whining and scratching the door, but once again, managed to pollute the entire floor. Each night I tried a little something different, but it was obvious that she was extremely traumatized by being left alone. Exhausted after a week of this madness, I finally put her in the bed with me. She slept through the night, curled up right beside me, never a sound or an "accident". So it has been ever since.

Training

Probably everyone has heard about Stanley Coren's intelligence list for dogs. Bulldogs rank #77 out of 79 places, coming in ahead of the Basenji and the Saluki. Yes, certain things have been hard learned by Georgie, but I think it's safe to say that anyone who knows her, has been amazed by her intelligence. Many people have described her as perfect. I never have to worry about her eating junk in the park, running away, getting into fights, or bothering anyone. We didn't go to formal training of any kind as I'm a pretty good trainer myself. One of these days I'm going to make a list of all the words and commands Georgie knows and add it to this site. Perhaps her greatest talent is walking off leash. Since she turned about 18 months, I've seldom put a leash on her and we've been to a LOT of places, both near and far. When we get to an intersection, I tell her to "wait", and she won't cross the road until I step out and say "lets go". I can ask her to speed up or slow down her pace, and even change direction. Perhaps the greatest compliment to her was when my Mom refered to her as a little person. My Mom is a highly intuitive person, and she can relate to Georgie on a very human level.

Travelling

Georgie has travelled more than a lot of people. She's also been on a houseboat cruise and in a small plane. I won't have my dogs flying in cargo though, so until airlines allow dogs in with the passengers, we'll stick to vacation destinations we can drive to. Her first trip was to Fort Lauderdale where we stayed mostly with family. We also stayed a couple nights at the Loews South Beach. That was such a beautiful hotel, and Georgie got as much attention as the celebrities who've stayed there. She was allowed by the poolside, but unfortunately not in it. Dogs aren't allowed on most Florida beaches either which is a shame. Next big trip was a family roadtrip to the Eastern provinces. In 10 days, we did 5000kms. We saw a lot in that space of time, and made it to most of the major attractions in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and PEI. See some of our photos, some may not show Georgie, but she saw everything too. Twice, just Georgie and I drove to Chicago to visit Matsu Kennels. The first time, we stayed overnight at the Lowes House of Blues. They weren't that well set up for dogs, and the closest "washroom" was across a busy street. Then there was our first trip with Taro to Florida which I spoke about on the main page. Georgie travels extremely well. She sleeps most of the time, but does like to look out the window every once in a while. Whenever we go to hotels, getting room service, playing bed hopping, and just sniffing out a new place are some of her favourite things.

Health

Unfortunately, this will be the biggest section. As I got her from a pet store, there's no family history of health issues. All I can say is I swear by Pet Insurance. We're with Pet Plan and I'm surprised that they haven't cancelled Georgie yet. Every 6 months, they assess each policy. If you're found to be claiming much more than average, they will cut down the percentage they will cover and Georgie is now at 50%. As a puppy, she had rashes all over her belly. Vets called it "puppy acne". There were pretty bad tear stains, but those cleared up after changing to Wellness food, using stainless steel bowls, and just wiping her face every day. When she got spayed at 6 months old, they also worked to unblock her tear ducts. Over the next couple of years, it was found she had hypothyroidism, patellar luxation (about a grade 2), an ingrown corkscrewed tail, and allergies. She's also had a few minor ear and eye infections, had kennel cough once when she was still a pup. For the hypothyroidism, she's on Levothyroxine 600mcg per day. A blood allergy test showed she had mild to moderate allergies to all sorts of things. Chicken, white fish, sweet potatoes, oatmeal, cotton, several moulds and lots of other things have to be avoided. I switched her food to Natural Balance Venison and Rice, and she's on Vanectly P for the summer allergy season. She's had interdigital pyroderma for the past year, and I just try to clean her feet every night, and apply Surolan whenever they get flared up. I go through more baby wipes than the average mom! Once, she had an anal gland infection and had to get them infused 3 times, and then put on antibiotics for it to totally clear up. After that, her glands had to be emptied by the Vet (not groomer), every other month. Probably her biggest problem has been her tail. Under her tail, was a socket that went in about an inch. Every night I would clean that with Qtips, and it would take 6, both ends to get under there relatively clean. There was a lot of waxy, slightly stinky buildup and even trying to wash the area with soap wouldn't keep it clean for long. She was always itchy, and she would oftentimes scoot on the rug or grass to try to relieve it. To save the bump of her tail from getting rubbed raw, I would massage the areas around her tail and that seemed to give her some relief. After 4 years of trying everything I or the vet could think of to control the itching, I finally decided to get the vet to operate and remove her tail altogether. At the same time, we did biopsies on her paws to see if it may have been mites in the skin, and corrected mild entropion in both lower eyelids. Some good news though, when they xrayed her tail, they found her hip joints to be in good shape. They also somehow managed to reposition her anus, so now it seems that her anal glands empty on their own. The day she went in to get her stitches out, she had developed severe hives all over her belly, limbs, chin and top of her head. Poor Georgie didn't know what to do with herself, and she kept running around as if trying to run away from the itch. At the vet's that day, she got injections of Benadryl and anti-inflamatories before anything else. The most recent issue has been stiffness in her right rear leg. Most likely arthritis developing from the patellar luxation, so she's on a joint support supplement called Wellflex. It doesn't seem to slow her down whatsoever, and she's still running around like a madwoman. A typical Bulldog is prone to breathing problems too, but so far, Georgie has none of those issues.

As of October 2006, I tried home cooking once again. Beef and potatoes are the base, supplemented with lots of good stuff. Bone meal, evening primrose oil capsules, multi-mineral tablets, kelp tablets, choline tablets, probiotics and digestive enzymes. Her flatulence has gone down dramatically, although not totally. I got some good news at her last thyroid level check....she's down to 450mcg (from 600) of levothyroxine a day. Since October 2006, I've also weaned her off of Vanectyl P, and she's had no rashes, plus her interdigital pyroderma is just about gone. I'm hoping that next summer, she won't have to go back on the steriods. We moved into the country now, so while there is probably much less pollution, there will be a lot more weeds and other plant allergens.

I finally added up her vet bills to date. She is currently 5 years 4 months, and I've spent approximately $12,500 including taxes. Most of that amount was accumulated in her first 4 years. I got back maybe as much as half of that through Pet Plan insurance.

March 2008, Georgie is now just over 6 years old and still doing well. Her diet has been changed. She was erupting in these scabby sores all over her body on a totally home cooked diet. She did slim down to 40lbs and she looked amazing! nice and fit. Now, she's on Canidae Lamb and Rice canned. I had tried her on 1.5 cans a day, but that was too much so I dropped to 1 can a day. A dog her size and activity level should be taking in a lot more calories, but still she didn't lose any weight. Got up to almost 46lbs! Currently, i'm feeding her 1/2 can in the morning, and a fairly small amount (<200g total) of cooked lamb and rice for dinner. Supplements are down to 1/2tsp bone meal powder, evening primrose and Sasha's Blend for joints. She's still on 450mcg levothyroxine a day. Her skin is about as good as it gets now. Since she doesn't like to walk all that much, i bought a treadmill. I think this was a very wise buy. Most days I have her on it for 15 minutes, and she does about a half mile of walking, incline and running. Perhaps this type of controlled exercise has strengthened her leg muscles enough, I can barely detect any limping from her patellar luxation, and there's next to no stiffness. In the spring of 2007, she got mauled by blackflies, probably 50 bites on her belly. That was the only time I put her on the Vanectyl P in a year and a half, and it was only for 4 days until the redness faded a bit.

Everybody loves Georgie Girl

Up until Georgie was 2 years old, she loved everyone! After that, she's very picky with her friends. People will try to pet her, and she'll walk by like they didn't even exist. I just say she's a snob and so they get to pet Taro who can't get enough of people right now. Once she decides you're a friend though, you wouldn't believe you were talking to the same dog. Since she has no tail, her whole bum wags. You can tell clear as day that she's simply overjoyed to see someone. She's also never hurt anyone or anything in her life. Once she even had a rabbit as a friend, and she's always gotten along with cats and other dogs. As a puppy though, she was picked on quite often, and I would have to go in swinging as the other owners seldom took any action. She's without a doubt the most athletic bulldog anyone has ever seen. Not only does she beat even dogs more than twice her size in tug-o-war, but she can outrun Labs if she wants the ball badly enough. When she runs flat out, I marvel....something that short and stumpy shouldn't be able to move so fast! And she can fetch a ball again and again, even when the humidex is 40C. She wrestles with her brother too, and sometimes ends up on top of him, biting him in the ear so he won't get up. When I bring the dangling cat toy out, I bet she would try to run up walls if I held the toy close to one. She's extremely "game", but when she catches the toy, I just have to tell her to leave it, and she does. We play tug-o-war with sticks sometimes, or I hold the stick at the level of my chest (about 4 ft), and she can jump up to get it. She can also swim a short time without a life jacket, but I keep her in one most of the time around water.

5 year old

As of January 2007, Georgie is now 5 years old. She weighs only one pound more than when she was a year old, and I'm wondering where she's still getting her energy from. Even with a new puppy in the house, Georgie dominates any game I instigate. I have a wooden broomstick, a thick piece of string about 4ft long, and a rubber chicken all connected together to form a sort of fishing rod. When I start to swing that thing around, Georgie is on it with a vengance. Sometimes I pull it off the ground and into the air to escape someones' jaws, and she can still do backflips (ok, maybe half a flip) to get at it. Then there's her favourite little squeaky ball (actually Taro's favourite too). While I'm on the sofa, I'll throw it down the hall (about 40ft), and her and Taro play fetch. After a while of constantly losing to Georgie, Taro just sits and watches. One night, I threw the ball countless times, practically non-stop for an hour and a half. I had to stop the game. Georgie kept going and going. Even with her stiff back leg, she doesn't seem to take any notice of it.

Questions, comments? sdyke@hotmail.com