How Much Do I Feed My Puppy?
Be very careful about overfeeding large-boned, large breed puppies. Doing so causes irreversible damage to vulnerable developing joints. The damage is always made worse by feeding raw or any other highly calorically dense food since these foods will accelerate growth even if your pup is kept lean. This is why I always feed Purina Puppy Chow until 12 months of age.
The skeleton takes a huge amount more time to mineralize on large-boned breeds than it takes to add mass and substance. Rapidly putting mass (fat or muscle makes no difference) on a developing puppy’s joints is a recipe for disaster, particularly on a breed that has been proven to carry approximately 85% hip dysplasia rates. Feeding foods with low caloric density allows your pup to feel satiated by eating relatively larger quantities of high filler food while still allowing the proper skeletal development necessary to support the heavy mass of a bully breed properly.
Always adjust food quantity based upon your pup’s body condition. When your pup is standing and facing straight ahead, you should clearly see where the rib cage ends, and the waist should have a nice defined tuck. You should not be able to count individual ribs nor individual vertebrae, but it should be getting close, and when the dog turns slightly to the side, you should be able to see individual ribs on the opposite side.
If the dog is getting too fat, reduce food 10% for 2 weeks and re-evaluate. If the dog is getting too lean, increase food up to 10% for 2 weeks and re-evaluate. I have been very actively breeding and x-raying dogs for a decade and a half, and I can tell you that keeping your pup in the right body condition makes a huge difference.
KEEP YOUR BULL BREED PUPPIES LEAN!!! Unless, of course, you want to risk your poor dog falling apart when it should be in its prime. There is plenty of time to pack mass on your dog after it is over a year of age and the majority of skeletal development is complete.
Here are two pics of my boy I produced named Evolution’s Smash. One pic is 12 months old after nice slow and steady lean growth, and one at 4 years of age. You are not limiting your dog by growing him slow and steady and keeping him lean. You are doing your part to ensure that your pup grows up healthy and has the best shot at long-term mobility and longevity. Your pup will still reach his full potential—no need to rush it.
Why do I see some breeders making crazy colored Bulldogges?
Bulldogges were never most of the “rare” colors you see in Bulldogges today. These are the result of unscrupulous breeders cross-breeding in other breeds of dogs just to introduce color. This means they have brought in all the problems not only associated with that color but also many unknown genetic traits which will be coming to light in the near future, as these crossbred dogs further permeate this breed.
The trend with bulldogs has always been degradation. Originally they were the Alaunt de Boucherie – a massive powerful murderous beast of a dog. That degraded to the original butcher’s dog, which in turn degraded to the smaller sporting dog of the bull-baiting era. Post ban, the dogs were eventually (not including the short period of Philo-Kuon dogs) bred down even further into two even smaller groups – the pit fighting dogs and the sour mug dogs who severely lack function. David Leavitt brought back the real bull baiting era dogs, and it has been a mostly downhill slide ever since.
The registries involved with the Olde started out with strict disqualifications, and over a very short period of time have become more and more lax and allow dogs with clearly non-bulldog blood crossbreeding into the pool of papered dogs. It will continue to slide downhill into the worst, most worthless, trash assed “bulldogs” of which anyone has ever conceived. The trend with bulldogs has always been, and will always be to go to shit.
The only recourse we purists have is to breed for excellence with function at the forefront of every decision we make in our breeding programs. We can only control our own yards and continually strive for a truly capable working dog while the rest of the Bulldog world melts into worthless slag around us.
You will never see these crazy colors at Evolution Bulldogges. I am a purist and have the highest expectations from myself as a producer of Bulldogges. I stand behind my lifetime health guarantee and would not be able to do that if I chased colors instead of quality.