Before you purchase a bulldog, please make every effort to find out as much as you can about the breed. The Bulldog is not a dog that should be taken on lightly, puppies are cute but they can take up to two years to mentally mature and he will require daily attention to his face and maybe under his tail too. By nature, Bulldogs are stubborn and although much healthier than their past cousins can on occassions develop breathing problems or structual faults simply due to their genetic make up. Also, despite what you may have been told previoulsy, he will require a daily walk of approximately half an hour. He is not a fighting dog and adores human company, he is not a dog that likes to be left alone for hours on end and is therefore not suitable for working families as they can be destructive if left alone for too long. Be sure you know as much as possible before you buy, read every book you can find, visit every web site you can find and join your local bulldog club and a few on line bulldog mailing lists. Make the effort to attend a few breed shows and talk to as many breeders and bulldoggers that you can. You will be given much conflicting advice, but common sense often allows you to decide which advice makes the most sense. The more you know before hand the better equipped you will be to deal with situations should they arise. So many bulldogs end up in rescue because the owners weren't aware of just how much was involved in owning one, make sure yours isn't one of them.

If you are looking for a puppy you can contact breeders through the Kennel Club's list of puppies for sale. Alternatively contact your nearest breed club so see if they know of any breeders in your area. Don't buy the first puppy you see, look around and talk to the breeders, don't be afraid to ask questions. Make sure you see the puppy with his mother and that he, his litter mates, mother and living quarters are clean. Remember too that the dam may not be looking her best at this point. Don't buy from a pet shop, because for every puppy sold another will take his place - these pups are often from puppy farms from overbred bitches and often from poor living conditions. If answering an ad in the paper make sure that you visit the home of the seller, don't make arrangement to meet half way or for them to come to you and trust your instincts. Be sure your breeder gives you a feed chart, a record of his vacinations and the date he was last wormed along with his KC papers and pedigree.

In general bitches are usually that bit smaller than the males who tend to be more muscular and larger in both structure and size. Males are maybe slightly more dominant in personality and maybe that little bit more stubborn. Bulldogs pups take upto 2 years to mentally mature much of this time is hormone influenced, boisterous behaviour is quite normal for young bulldogs, they tend not to become the stereotypical couch potatoe until they are adults. Bitches will come into season around 6 to 9 months old and then every 6 to 9 months after that. Often after her second season you will see a change in her personality and she will begin to calm down. Males have a testonerone surge at around 9 months old, this hormone surge can sometimes make them more boisterous as they learn how to be a "man" dog, but once the hormone levels have settled down he will then begin to calm down also. If you already have another dog, aim to get your second dog of opposite sex, usually the bitch will become the boss in a male/female relationship.

Try not to castrate your male until he is at least 18 months to 2 years old as they need their testosterone surge. Castration on a young boisterous male bulldog rarely calms them down and if done too early can sometimes make boisterous behaviour worse. Try to let your bitch have her first season and then aim to spay mid way between that and her next season. Humping behaviour is rarely curbed by nutering, humping is more likely to be associated with dominance or nervous behaviour than anything sexual and breeding him/her is not the answer either (see below). A nutered dog obvioulsy will never contract testicular cancer (males) or pyometra (females). Pyometra often occurs around middle age and can be fatal. The risk of mammory tumours are also reduced in a spayed bitch.

Did you know that should your dog escape or be stolen and he ends up in a shelter or with a rescue, that you only have 7 DAYS to claim him!!! Microchipping your dog is the most efficient way of ensuring that your dog isn't one of the many dogs rehomed because the owner couldn't be traced. A microchip is approximately the size of a grain of rice and is inserted just under the skin at the scruff of the neck, the proceedure is quick, painless and will last a lifetime. Visit our Theft Prevention Tips page for more information

Aim to buy only from a reputable breeder, preferably somebody who is breeding for the show ring as it is these breeders who will have done their homework - after all they want a good quality dog to keep for the ring! Avoid puppies that are priced too low, breeding bulldogs is hard work, time consuming and very expensive - if they can afford to sell the pups cheaply they've either not done it properly in the first place, the poor thing is stolen, or it's not even a bulldog!!! (see below). Avoid breeders that do not show or claim to only breed pets, they will have little knowledge on how a correctly put together bulldog should look as it is the breed standard that dictates how a breed should look and the show ring that ensures the breed standards are adhered to.

Sometimes adult dogs are rehomed once they have finished their show careers, this kind of arrangement is often the best solution for everyone and these dogs make great companion animals.

Or contact rescue, many adult dogs pass through here for many different reasons.

It's not necessarily good for your bitch to have puppies and it's certainly not a good reason so the children can have a litter of puppies in the house. Breeding the bulldog is hard work, very expensive and time consuming, the pups will require at least 3 weeks of 24 hour supervision and care once born. There's no money to be made from it and at the end of the day it is a possibility that both the bitch and/or the pups could lose their lives. If you want to breed, do it properly, ask yourself why you want to breed as breeding should only ever be considered for the betterment of the breed  - NOT because you want a return on the bitches purchase price. Bulldogs cost that much to buy because it costs that much to breed them!

Ensure your Bulldog actually looks like a bulldog and that he/she carries no obvious genetic faults, enter him/her in a few breed classes and see how they fair in the ring. The show ring is vital for the breeding of correctly put together bulldogs as all dogs are judged against the Kennel Club Breed Standard.

Research the pedigrees, find a suitable, compatible stud dog (this probably isn't the one closest to you). Get your vet to check your dog over for any obvious health problems, including heart and eyes. Ensure your dog is of sound temperament and be prepared for heartbreak.

Breeding your male will NOT stop him humping - humping behaviour is usually associated with nervousness or dominance and often has nothing to do with sex. Showing him what it's for or assuming you are giving him the opportunity to "get it out of his system" will not cure him - IT WILL MAKE HIM WORSE!

If you bought your bulldog as a pet please make sure your breeder agrees with the mating, some breeders place endorsements on the KC registration to prevent breeding, if they think they have sold you a pet it is unfair to breed with out their opinion or approval.

Please don't kid yourself that you are only breeding for the pet market - this is back yard breeding and will do nothing to improve the health of the bulldog and in fact could bring issues into the breed that will take years for everyone else to breed back out again. These are the matings that produce unhealthy and unsound dogs and give this breed it's bad name regarding health.

Make sure that every single home you sell a puppy to is suitable, keep in touch with your pups and be prepared to take them back if it doesn't all work out. Be sure you have plenty of breed knowledge and know what faults could be thrown from the lines you have used, if you are the one on the end of the phone to a worried owner you must either have the answers or be in a posistion where you can find out.

Why not see how you go on a "virtual breeding" before attempting to undertake it for real?