So tell me, please, why DO Bulldogs cost so much??
If your first question and highest frustration with wanting a bulldog, is why we have to charge so much for our puppies, I personally would have said a long time ago that maybe this is not the breed that you should be looking into. I was wrong..and I have learned that lesson the hard way. This is also why I let you pay out your puppy so long now, its not about how much t is, its about what you get over the life of the dog.
I thought for a long time that if a person could not afford to buy a bulldog with cash in hand, and wants to adopt one, or asks for one for free.. you could not possibly afford to own one in its lifetime if you feel what you pay was too much. I know now, that as a responsible breeder and lover of the dog, I was kind of wrong in thinking that, because the truth is, most folks with a home and central heat and air, can afford to own a bully. As long as they have a good breeder that cares about their dogs and their bully family.
BEFORE I DO GO ON
I will say for certain that you should not go looking for a bulldog in a pet store; they are extremely over priced there, and you have a teenager or someone that does not have a bully and has no knowledge of the breed selling you a dog. You don't know the breeder, you don't know the parents of the puppy, so you have no idea what your dog will look like as an adult, what or how good your pedigree is, or continuing help from anyone but the vet, which accumulates outrageous bills for simple tummy aches.. after you have made that purchase.
The most important thing to owning a bully is being able to know immediately when something is wrong, because most of the time its something simple that only requires a simple, but fast, fix, that with one call to your breeder that kept in touch with you can be taken care of. If you have no one but a vet that demands to see your dog for a tummy ache to talk to that has any knowledge of the bully and what allergies and ailments are normal to a bully, or you yourself had one but have not had one in a while and forget your tips and tricks to owning a bully, it can be hard and expensive to care for a bulldog, as they are not wash and wear as they appear.
Besides your constant care and continued help with your bully after you take it home, there is so much that goes into your baby even prior to his conception!
There is a great deal of time, effort and expense involved in breeding, whelping and raising a Bulldog litter. It can truthfully cost me anywhere from $1500-$3000 sometimes to breed, deliver (whelp) and raise a litter of just 3-4 babies and get them to 8 weeks of age, and this is all without consideration for my current dogs I care for, my time and heart that I have invested, the smells my family endures while I raise them, with good luck, nothing goes wrong from conception to going home with you, and then after that, to be sure you do what you need to do to make sure he gets no illnesses or injuries past puppyhood. (see vaccines page)
The average litter size for a bulldog with any kind of true English blood (Oldie or no) is normally 4-5 puppies. Typical Oldes (which I DO NOT HAVE) have been known to have as many as 11 or more in Olde English because the breeds are mixed with larger Americans someone in the bloodline. My largest litter has been 8, and it ripped her uterus.
The female of the breed is usually artificially inseminated when I breed them, because this is more reliable and exact to me than natural breeding. I know that sounds crazy, but we all know ladies can be nutso, and they don't alwasy know what they want...counting days has been proven to be over 95% accurate for artificial insemination. This requires knowing the exact day she will be ready by paying close attention to her heat cycles. I document each and every heat, and in that heat,every odd action she makes, every day, knowing when she begins her expected heat to an exact day and counting very specifically to the breeding date. Not to mention the expense for the stud service which for your average breeder costs $500 and up, depending on what bloodline of dog the breeder chooses to conceive with, obviously, as with Witten, the more fabulus your male, the higher your stud fee will be. Lollipop Kennel and I have a super tight relationship, and Karie and I keep all of our studding in house, between she and I alone. We don't outsource any longer, because we know what we have in our studs,and we know with confidence how the other takes care of our dogs and how healthy they are, and we know what our boys produce, and what we can expect from them during artificial insemination.
We then hold our breaths, not knowing if the breeding took or not. It takes 4 weeks to be able to get an ultrasound to determine pregnancy, which requires a visit to our friendly vet in Alvarado. Then by day 58-59 of a pregnancy, its then time for x-rays, and sometimes Karie and I have to make multiple vet trips for x-rays. Reason being is because the actual conception date can be anywhere from 1-5 days after the female is bred, each time she is bred, and even if our count is 100% correct from that very first breeding, there is no way of knowing what day the conception took place, day one, or day five, day three? NO one knows for certain, and sometimes when you make that trip to get x-rays, the puppies are not far enough along to judge if they are ready, and a day can mean the difference in a hairless puppy with no teeth, or lungs, to a healthy fat plump baby, so we have to come back if the doc says so.This step is very important in knowing what day we will go in for our C-section if we need it, which if determined on xray day is needed, has to be timed exactly right as well. Special diets for the momma dogs, of cottage cheese, yogurts, puppy food blends, formulas, rices..and constant monitoring for 63 to 65 days. Knowing exacty when we start taking temperatures of the females daily, then 3 times a day, and then hourly to monitor when her water will break and when she should begin pushing. The stress then of wondering if she can or will deliver them naturally, or if a vet trip is needed on a weekend, in the middle of the night, or in my case, on THANKSGIVING..no joke
Then its finally puppy time. All this time we have been taking care of momma, we have also been getting the nursery ready with heating pads, emergency bottles, blankets, medical supplies, puppy pads, milk replacer, puppy scale, towels, thermometers, and everything we need to bring a baby into the world takes time, money and effort. Female bulldogs should produce only 3-4 litters in their lifetime. Regardless of what you think you know about a bulldog, this is a special breed (whether Oldie or English) which requires the help of humans to bring a litter to a healthy 8 weeks of age. In spite of their chunky appearance and tough exterior, as a newborn puppy, a bulldog is extremely fragile. Keeping the litter alive requires constant monitoring of the puppies (and by constant, I do not exaggerate saying 24 hours a day, 7 days a week without fail by video monitor, baby monitors, and for the first few days I do sleep in the floor next to my bullies and have the smallest of the litter as close to my heart as possible to keep them warm and happy). Bulldogs do not make the best mothers, as they do lay on a puppy on accident and being as big and thick as they are, they do not even realize it, killing the puppy by suffocation in seconds. This means I, as the breeder, cannot leave my house without having someone sit for me, for at least the full 4 first weeks of life. My puppies are wormed at 6 weeks, again at 8 weeks, and also given puppy shots. It is a breed that requires the MAXIMUM amount of effort on my part to make sure that all the puppies turn out healthy, as the loss of just one bully is detrimental to me to say the very least.
The whole procedure is VERY costly. You will find that most breeders range their pet bullies around $1500-$3000. Now you know why.
Beware of cheap puppies; they may cost you a lot more in the end - not just money, which is ever so important in these times, but heartache too! Do your research on your breeder; ask for references before you buy your Bulldog puppy. This is not just a dog you are purchasing, it’s lifestyle, its a delicate dog that requires your utmost attention to keep healthy, and as a family member, and you want to be sure your baby is in good health, right?