Martim Weinstein

Bolt was born on the 1st of May and pups need to be with their mother until they are 2 months old, time at which they get their 1st vaccines and have been slowly weaned from mother’s milk and on to a good complete ration. At 2 months they are generally ready to move to their new house. It’s a good idea to have things ready when they do. This means I could get him on July 1st if everything went well. This gave me about a month to prepare.  Good timing. I also delayed Bolt’s arrival to the 4th of July, which had nothing to do with the independence of a country and more to do with my son’s birthday. Bolt would arrive on his birthday.

Where will he sleep? Taking into consideration that puppies rarely come house broken and that they WILL go to the bathroom anywhere but, unless that’s where he’ll stay and that as soon as his teeth start growing he’ll be chewing on ANYTHING he can get his teeth into, my advice is to pick a spot that’s easy to clean, aerated and that won’t get too much in the way. If you have a garden, well, that’s that, otherwise: think of a place that you won’t mind if it get’s dirty or is easy to clean, you don’t have too much for him to chew, except his toys and where you won’t mind spending some time to keep him company unless you take him elsewhere. My choice? The kitchen. I am fortunate to have a big enough kitchen so that his stuff isn’t in the way. It’s also easy to clean (marble floor & tiled walls) and I spend some time in there as I like to cook. It’s also got 2 big windows that I can leave ajar to avoid smells. Once the place is out-of-the-way it’s time to get him a bed. I’d advise a plastic bed adequate for his adult size and some sort of pillow or rug for comfort. Buy comfortable but inexpensive. He WILL destroy it during his puppyhood.

Where will he go to the bathroom? Believe it or not it is possible to get a little cat behavior out of your bull. At least I did out of mine. I got a low rimmed tray that I cover with impermeable small-sized under bed sheets and that’s where he does his stuff. His aim isn’t always perfect, but he get’s within a 30 cm target range. I say not bad. At least you don’t have to clean everything all the time… at least until he steps on it and walks all over the place. Yes, this will happen.

Where & what will he eat? Where: Next to his bed. I recommend stainless steel bowls for water and food: easy to clean, don’t get chewed and will last a lifetime. I also have them on a stand that I can regulate the height as he grows so they’re not on the floor. For my former Great Danes this was imperative. I think it also adds comfort. It’s not that much more expensive. What? That’s an easy one. Ask the breeder what he’ll be eating when he get’s weened off his mother’s milk and go with that. At least for the 1st month. Any change in diet should be gradual, so if you do want to change it, add bigger and bigger portions of the new stuff to what he’s already eating until it’s 100% the ration you want to give him. For his 1st year I’ll be pampering him and will give him the best I can afford. When you get to the top names all rations are good and similarly priced, so go for the one that is available close to you and at a decent price. Then I’ll slowly change his ration for something more economical, but not cheap or low quality. Also, Bulls have a tendency to get fat if overfed and under-exercised. His first year is the most important: his bones, cartilages, skin and fur are all growing. They need to grow well and healthy. If the ration you or the breeder chooses is good, he needs no extra supplements. Supplements might even be bad for him.

More stuff? He’ll need a collar and leash. He’ll need toys. He’ll need treats. He’ll need car stuff if you plan to drive him around. I’ll get to this on my next post.

Choosing a pup can seem daunting since it is a lifetime decision. At least his lifetime. With so many possible problems it should be a careful choice, one that isn’t based solely on looks or the 1st one that comes to greet you when you go see the pup’s. This wasn’t going to be a problem for me since I wasn’t going to see the pups anyway. So I had to do some research and ask a ton of questions and make some decisions.

My first decision would be: male or female? I had some doubts, females are usually smarter and calmer but have a PITA problem: heat. Males are usually more aggressive and energetic which would mean I had to be more carefull around other dogs and take him out more. It would also mean he’d probably take longer to learn stuff and be more stubborn. I decided upon a male mainly because of not wanting to deal with heat. I’d had a female Great Dane and heat was truly a PITA. I couldn’t take her out when she was in heat because I’d quickly gather 20 dogs behind me, some of them aggressive. She’d drop “blood” all over the place or else I’d have to make her wear a diaper plus she’d be glum and inactive during those times. It isn’t easy dealing with it, but I guarantee she was much smarter and picked up on things quicker than the 2 males I had after her. Also, I wasn’t afraid to let her socialize with other dogs because males aren’t usually aggressive to females.

So male it was.

Second decision: color. No, it wasn’t really relevant. I preferred the pirates: all white with a black eye, but it wasn’t a “must be”. I was more interested in an easy going temperament than the color. If you can go and see the pups you basically choose one that isn’t deaf, blind, aggressive, too passive and that looks good and healthy to you. The books and sites tell you to not pick the loudest one, but also not pick the quietest one. Go for the regular joe that reacts to you and maybe even comes to greet you. If, however, you can’t go see the pups, like me, then you ask questions. Lot’s of questions. Which is the biggest? Which eats/ suckles first? Which one comes to investigate a strange noise? Which one greets strangers? Order of birth? I basically tried to put into words the most amount of things I would be looking out for if they were right there in front of me. I got the breeder to describe them all to me and how they behaved… who was the first suckling, who would wait, was there any dominance, etc. By the descriptions the breeder gave me I was looking at getting one of the a striped colored ones.

Time to get the family involved: I showed my 5-year-old son and my wife the pups and asked which would they choose and fortunately for all of us, both of them chose the same one. Done deal. He seemed easy-going, although not too submissive and active enough to keep his siblings busy. Puppy chosen! Now to name him… I came up with a few names but none my son agreed to. So finally my son came up with a name: Bolt! One of his favorite carton movies of the month. Yeah… I like the sound of it, and if my son likes it, well, it’s a good start!

Bolt it is!

Next: preparing his arrival

With the decision made it was now a question of finding a breeder with a recent or coming litter. I started by contacting the national dog breeders association for a list of registered breeders. I got the list and I think I contacted about 5. Two gave me no reply, 1 told me he was planning a litter in 2012 (let’s not tell the wife about this, she only wanted one next year), another asked 1500 EUR for a male dog and only had a pure white one left and finally the last breeder I contacted had a 10 day old litter and had a few choices available. So after a few mail exchanges I decided this is where my puppy would come from: the price was right, I still had choice on the color, the breeder was more interested in the well-being of the puppies and mother than letting strangers visit but had no problems sending me photos and telling me what was going on with all the pups. This also gave me 2 months to prepare the arrival of the new family member.

Usually all the sites tell you to go see the puppies, test their hearing by clapping behind them and testing their reaction and see their social skills etc. This breeder was different. She told me off the bat that I would only see the pup when she came to deliver it. She would only deliver it to make sure the puppy was in capable hands and the right home. She would have the puppies given the Campbell test when appropriate (had no idea what this was, but duly investigated) and that she would send me at least weekly reports with photos of my chosen one. This was non-negotiable. I tried.

The breeder had a nice site with all the pups, the mom, the dad and all their history. There was general information on Bulls on the site. Puppies would be delivered tagged, registered, vaccinated everything. So I took the plunge and decided to commit to buy with this breeder. I guess at the end of the day the most important thing is that you are confident that you’re getting the best you can and although nothing beats meeting your future pup up close and personal, the confidence a breeder transmits wins. I was confident I’d be getting a good dog and I was sure the breeder cared about her dogs.

So now to pick one!