Never Ever

Never ever get an English Bulldog! Don't get me wrong, we love Harley, but he is such a pain! When we talked about getting a dog about 5 years ago, I told Matt that the only way we could get a puppy was if it was an English Bulldog. WHAT WAS I THINKING?? Before we bought Harley, we read a lot about the breed. One of the first things I read was the English Bulldogs were special needs dogs. I thought that was perfect for me since I work with special needs kids, I could handle a special needs dog!

Just to name a few "special needs" that they experience include:
1. Breathing problems
2. Heart problems
3. Joint problems
4. Gas problems
5. Skin problems
and the list could go on and on!

We have been really lucky with Harley for the most part, and have really only had to deal with the GAS and the breathing. If you have ever been around Harley for very long, you know that his gas can clear a room! and his breathing/snoring can get so loud that you cannot hear yourself think!

You may be asking what has prompted this random e-mail about English Bulldogs? First of all, we took Harley to the vet last weekend for his annual check up and vaccinations. He had gained 14 pounds since last April!!! We decided that we better cut back on the food and get him to exercise a little more. So we took Harley and Tiger to the park late this afternoon. It was in the mid-sixties and felt great! We only planned to walk a very short distance since Harley tires out so fast. We were at the park for about 15 minutes and Harley started breathing so incredibly heavy. We got him in the car and seriously did not know if he was going to survive the 10 minute ride home. His throat was closing in and he just could not breath. His tongue was turning purple and he was drooling like crazy! When we finally got home, it took us over 30 minutes to cool him off. We had to put ice packs all over him and pour water on him before we calmed down. (Now you know why you see UGA laying on his bag of ice at all of the football games!) This was in SIXTY degree weather! I cannot imagine how the summer heat is going to effect him! I guess we are going to have to put him on a treadmill in the house to get some of that weight off!

Tiger is a different story, he is an OLDE English Bulldog and does not have ANY of the issues that English Bulldogs have.

If you are looking for a new dog to join your family, think long and hard about which breed you choose! Again, we LOVE Harley and think he is one of the cutest (in an ugly way) dogs ever! Just thought I would share!

Here are some of our pictures before the difficutly breathing really started!