On a spur of the moment one evening in November, we decided to eat at a nearby Vietnamese restaurant. Vince, my husband, started another conversation about getting a dog, but not just a dog, a bulldog. He even had a name for it already. Marine. Mr. Jiggs. Yeah, just like the USMC mascot, a bulldog named Sergeant Jiggs. I started opening up to the idea. And of course, my daughter, Amanda quickly chimed in. She's been singing this tune of getting a dog since she could speak. Lo! And behold! Someone else heard the tune.
"You want a bulldog? I have one." A man distinctively added while eating his Pho. He's a regular customer, whom we've seen eat there several times. It turned out that he breeds bulldogs and bull terriers.
"Bulldogs are good. If you want you can come to my place and meet him." He insisted.
"How much do you want for him man?" Vince asked
"They usually go for $1,500 to $2,500." The man replied
"Oh that's too much." I said
"Just come by and see him first. I'll make you a good deal. Just remind me what I said. Okay?" He said.
My husband looked at me with such an excitement on his face and then looked at Amanda. Amanda was thrilled and I was just surprised and speechless, as if it was meant to be. With just our look, Vince responded: "Yes! I'll call you next week to set up the date and time. By the way, I'm Vince. This is my wife, Filipina and my daughter, Amanda. What's your name again man?"
"John." The man replied "I'll give you the directions when you call." John added.
With not much information about English bulldogs, except that they are great mascots, that they are adorable and docile and that my husband wanted one since he was in the USMC; we agreed to see the man's only bulldog. "Oh no." I thought. Deep inside I knew there was no turning back.
Upon getting home, I immediately looked up the breed online. I didn't realize how many dog breeds there are, let alone bulldog breeds and an English bulldog is just one of them. Although my husband was adamant about getting an English Bulldog (a.k.a. British Bulldog), I couldn't help but check out the other breeds. Little did my husband and daughter knew, I always like the big and/or furry dogs like Lassie, a Collie, or like the Golden Retriever in the 90's sitcom, Full House, or a Saint Bernard like Beethoven, or a German Sheperd like Charlie or a Siberian Husky like Balto. But I knew this was just wishful thinking, besides having an allergic reaction to furry dogs, I also knew that these breed of dogs are no match to our personalities and lifestyle. My husband got it all figured, a less hairy dog could mean no allergies and a docile breed like a bulldog will be more compatible to our not so active lifestyle. So as determined as the English bulldog, we followed my husband's eye for this bully.
Vince and I went to see the only English Bulldog named Rocco that John from the Vietnamese restaurant talked about. My husband was so sure Rocco will be his Marine. I opened my heart to embrace Rocco but for some reason, my gut tells me not to adopt him. I felt bad about the big rash on his upper back, reasoned out why he's not as sociable as we anticipated. "Oh he is just shy." "But Rocco is almost 2 years old and John had other dogs, why did he look scared?" We really never got a straight answer.
"Here, I will give you these 2 books about English Bulldogs with your purchase so you can learn more about them." John reassuringly said. Somehow we got into agreeing to adopt Rocco by mid-December after saving up for it.
Keeping an open mind, we continued to get acquainted with Rocco. Vince and I visited him another time and then even took Amanda and her boyfriend to see him the week before Thanksgiving. We were enthusiastic but something just did not seem right. Vince did not want to back out.
"Honey I gave the man my word." He explained passionately.
"But the rash is not getting better. Can we really take care of him? Can we afford it?" I said while thinking something seems fishy and I can't put my finger on it.
I continued my research. It took hours, days, even weeks for us to get a better understanding of what to do, after all, it took me years to warm up to the idea of adopting a dog. I fully immersed myself to anything that will teach me about dogs and bulldogs. It realized it will not just be about getting a pet, it is a huge commitment for us to keep throughout the life of the dog. We wanted to do it right, right from the start. We also had so much fun along the way; it was definitely another family activity we can do together.
We also solicited some advise from our friends and family in Facebook. Everyone seem to have their own opinion, some are just funny and some more helpful than most. We heard from a Veterinarian that English Bulldogs are a pain with their health problems. Too costly! She even suggested to get the best pet insurance. She also said that she gets allergic reactions when she come in contact with them during treatment.
We also got some real good advise that lead us to seek out another Bully Breed. I posted an update status in my Facebook profile asking: "Does anyone know how much is a reasonable amount to pay for a pure breed English Bulldog Male Pup up to 18 months old?"
Our friend, Heather responded: "Dozer is an Olde English Bulldogge (OEB) and we got him at the age of 2 for $500 with his shots updated and all. How much are you being asked for? Be careful too if you get a puppy some come from puppy mills and those tend to have even more health problems..."
"We have been asked to pay more than doubled that amount!!!" My husband replied
"English bulldogs are expensive, I would keep looking, but if you are in love, well you are in love! hehe we found dozer on petfinder.com check it out!" Heather added
"Thanks Heather:-) I have been looking on petfinder and all over. English bulldogs pups are so expensive. The others are too old. We are looking for a specific personality. We were starting to get attached to the one Vince is talking about. He is almost 2 in Jan but he has skin problems and too expensive. You are right...when you are in love you are just in love:-) We shall see. We appreciate your input. Thanks again." I responded
An old coworker and friend, Mandy, suggested the same breed. She said:
"Hey Filipina....10 years ago Todd & I also were interested in an English Bulldog pup, but then they were $2,000+ and after we looked into the breed found that they have so many health problems (i.e. cherry eye, breathing and skin problems, etc.). We did more research & talked to some people and found out about the Olde English Bulldogge. Not an AKC breed yet - but are registered with the CKC. We got our Ziggy from a breeder in Mississippi for $800. He turned 10 yrs. old in Sept. Here's more info if you're interested. :) http://www.dogbreedinfo.co
We got good advise. Most say it' is like raising a kid. My husband's friend, Ed, warned him: "Don't do it! Don't do it, man! You are empty-nesters now! Why would you want to start over?" This is an advise coming from a married man with 2 almost teenage kids and 2 dogs. That's what we thought too in the beginning, but somehow, something changed our minds. My brother told me to check out The Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan in National Geographic. And I did just that and got addicted to it. Nat Geo became my favorite channel and watched anything and everything about dogs.
As we continued to learn more about the breed and about the dog, we also got learn about selecting the right breeder. The more we learned the skeptical we got about John's dog, Rocco. We checked out the Humane Society Organization's web page and read up on how to find a good dog breeder. We learned that the best way to obtain a dog is from a reputable breeder or from the animal shelters or Breed Rescue organizations and not from pet shops. Our friend suggested that we also check out the Petfinder website but we were very careful in what we saw online. We responded to some adoption ads but turned out to be a scam, asking for $500 in advance and that the puppies were sold to a priest in Nicaragua but he will be delighted to sell them to us since he can;t tend to them while doing his mission. We also went to local pet shops and pet supply stores to check out the dog supplies and see if they have any puppies for adoption. We found that Petco and PetSmart do not sell puppies or kittens. They usually have adoption days where a local shelter comes in to showcase the pets open for adoption. They do not support puppy mills and only sell dog supplies. We learned however that a small pet shop in East Brunswick called Puppies and a big shop in Edison called Animals and Things had cages of puppies for sale. We did not know that pet shops get their dogs from puppy mills until we read up on it. Puppy mills produce so many litters in a year just for the profit. Operators of puppy mills do not pay interest in the quality of life and breeding the their litters have especially the parents. The parent dogs usually stay in the cages for most of their life and they do is produce while the litters stay in the same cages moved to another cage in a pet store until they are adopted. These dogs are not well socialized and they live a very unnatural and unbalanced life. (For more information about puppy mills, check out the videos and links below.)
Finally we knew we had to make another decision. Quick! Although John maybe a good breeder in his own right, and the English Bulldog is what we originally wanted, we came to realize that Rocco may not be the dog we needed after all. Vince was heart broken about not getting Rocco. I admit I have gotten attached to him as well but then I deep in my heart I knew it would not be fair to Rocco if we just took pity on him and later couldn't take good care of him.
And so we released the idea and moved forward.
On to our search again... Vince still wanted a male adolescent bulldog to call Mr. Jiggs for Sergeant Jiggs. Or Gunny like Gunnery Sergeant Gibbs from the show NCIS. Or just call him "Marine". This was his way of remembering his service as a USMC.
I was convinced we will find "the dog" meant for us. Just before Thanksgiving, I heard back from Heather, through Facebook. She knew of a reputable breeder of Olde English Bulldogges in Connecticut who had 3 available litters and attached the link to a picture (below) of an almost 4-week old pup, with white body and fawn mask, minimal bully skin folds but adorable face.
My heart melted immediately. I looked at my husband as I read the message and told him: "Honey, this is the one!" I showed Vince the picture, with a slight hesitation, he took a deep breath and said: "He is cute! That's my Gunny! Call the breeder and see if we can come on Sunday to see him."
We were determined to get this bully.
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References:More about puppy mills from the Humane Society
Inside Puppy Mills, an episode from National Geographic's: Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan
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