The Bulldog's Beautiful Face and Head

The 'brick' look, the 'flat' forehead, the round face, the 'rocking-chair' jaw bone, and the lists goes on and on. But all you need to worry about is the size of the head, the teeth alignment, the color and set of the eyes, the nose and the ears. The rest will come together naturally if these five features are correct. And the 'rest' are just special features that will make your own Bulldog unique and all the more lovable. The head should be large. Male Bulldogs tend to have larger heads than the females so you must always keep gender in perspective. The age of the Bulldog will also need to be taken into consideration. Newborn pups always seem to have large heads, just like with human babies. At six or eight weeks, you should be able to see the marked differences in head sizes among litter-mates. Between four and nine months you may see what appears to be a small head on a large body because the body grows faster during these months. (some start earlier and some end later) As the Bulldog reaches full maturity you will see the fuller head, and the true head shape. Just go for the larger headed pup, don't worry too much about the older pup if you have seen the sire and dam and know they are 'nice headed', and for the older adult you can see what you will be getting.

Teeth alignment is one thing so many people tend to overlook in pups. A severe under-bite, or over-bite, is very undesirable and will lead to future problems such as the Bulldog not being able to chew and eat properly. You want to see six little teeth between the lower two canine teeth and all set in a neat straight row. And the lower row of teeth should set just in front of the upper teeth when the mouth is closed. If these six little teeth are curved or rounded outwards toward the front of the mouth, you could end up with an under-bite.

The color of the eyes should be dark brown or black. In very young pups, the cornea remains bluish color for quite a while and this will turn whiter as the Bulldog ages but the iris will be its true color by the age of six weeks. The eyes should be clear with no excessive tearing, and no signs of entropion, the most common congenital defect of the Bulldog's eye. Entropion is the condition where the eyelids turn into the eye and the lashes, or lid itself, constantly irritates the eye. The only way to correct entropion is by surgery and then the Bulldog cannot be shown, and should not be bred. This condition can be found in the upper and lower eyelids. entropion is another condition you want to avoid. This is where the eyelids roll outwards from the eye and leave the eye exposed to irritation. Bulldogs seldom suffer from entropion but it can happen.

The eyes should be deep-set and wide apart, just above the nose. Here again, in young puppies the head and face are not mature and this can be misleading as to the set of the eyes.

The nose should be black. No other color will do. Young pups may not have completely black noses by the ages of six or eight weeks, but the pigmentation should be well on its way of blackening the nose. Check the nostrils to be sure they are nice and open, and not collapsed to slits. These collapsed nares will make breathing difficult for your Bulldog during activity and as he ages.

Ears - ideally you want to see puppies with their ears 'naturally' rosed and not needing to be glued. Some pups ears will naturally fold and 'rose' by six or eight weeks, and some may take months. An ear, or both ears, standing straight up is undesirable, as well as longer, floppy ears. If you are looking at a puppy whose ears have not rosed yet, ask the breeder whether the sire's or dam's ears were glued. Some breeders pay close attention to breeding in the correct ears, and some do not since they rely on gluing. It does not seem to matter because either way, the ears are acceptable in the show rings.

Remember, there is no Bulldog face that you cannot love. Just try to choose the best one for you before you become totally 'in-love' with it.

Problems You May Encounter in a Litter of Bulldog Puppies

1. Anasarca - also called the 'walrus puppy' or the 'water puppy'. This condition and its causes are not entirely understood. Some females tend to produce these unfortunate babies and many articles have been written on the condition and thoughts go from the female having a thyroid condition, or retaining water from too much salt in her diet on to all sorts of other reasons. One stud I know was the sire of five and all were water puppies, and also the sire of one water puppy in a subsequent litter of four pups. Someone called me long distance concerned about the five water pups her female produced last year, then this year, using the same stud and dam, another litter of five water pups resulted. So much thought and blame has been put to the females when, perhaps, the stud dog is the one to be considered as relaying this condition onto his pups.  And the fault may result from the combination of a certain stud and the female he is coupled with.  The fact is, no one seems to be able to come up with the answer as to why this condition happens. The pups are born weighing up to three pounds and they are so bloated with water that they can hardly move their legs or head. This water retention is both internally and under the skin. Most are born live and then struggle for life until the day they finally die.

2. Hydrocephalus - also called the 'water head' and 'water on the brain'. This condition is not usually noticed until the pup is around twenty-one days old. At this age you will notice that this pup is smaller in size than the other pups in the litter and its head has not taken on the Bulldog shape like the other pups. The skull will be domed, or rounded, and will appear large for the body and the eyes may appear to bulge out from their sockets. Another characteristic is a constantly runny nose, a clear watery discharge. Toy and brachycephalic breeds are the most often afflicted and this condition is being seen more often in these two breeds. As the pup ages you will find it has more and more difficulty walking and getting around, and it may appear retarded. The puppy pictured here was four months old and only five pounds when this picture was taken. She had been taken to the local Veterinary College at the age of two months and euthanasia was suggested. By this time we were so attached to the tiny little girl that we could not bear this idea. Eventually her front legs became so weak they could not support her weight and big head. When she was five months old and upon awaking one morning I discovered her eyes had bulged out their sockets. She had to be put down. Note: this little girl was not retarded mentally. She knew her commands, and her 'snuggle time' to the minute. We had just prolonged her suffering and our agony by keeping her alive so long.

3. Failure to Thrive - The little female pup pictured here had just been brought into the veterinary clinic for her first set of vaccines. She was six weeks old. Her littermates were bouncy and healthy and much larger. She could walk and get around but tired very easily. Her breeder allowed me to take this photograph of her still wrapped in her towel since she appeared cold. As you can see, her tongue, nose and inner ears were nice and pink. She had no problems with oxygen intake but she was just so weak. Her heart sounded fine. There were no obvious clues as to what her problem could be. She had simply failed to thrive. She ate well and her bodily functions appeared fine. She endured her examination, received her vaccines, and then died on her way back home.

4. Weak Front Leg Ankles - (wrists) The little fellow pictured here was about four weeks old when this picture was taken. As you can see, his left front leg ankle is bowed in the picture. He appeared to be 'double jointed' in this ankle. When he righted himself to walk, he did fine and the leg stayed straight, but the bones would slip back and forth when he sat up supporting his chest. It is believed this was caused by having to support the weight of his body and head on the weaker joint. By the time he was eight weeks old, he was no longer having the problem, and now at three years old, he is very hearty and strong.

5. The "Runt" - born much smaller than the rest of the littermates but is healthy andvigorous. The most common problem you have with a 'runt' is making sure it gets enough to eat and not being pushed aside by the larger pups. Most are healthy and strong; just the smallest in the litter. The pup pictured here at two weeks, is now two years old and a real beauty. Her black coloring at birth, turned to a beautiful rich red.

6. Blue Eye - The little one pictured here was indeed the prettiest and best quality of the entire litter. When she began opening her eyes at two weeks, a tiny speck of blue was noticed in her right eye. This blue speck continued to spread to the entire iris of that eye. She was taken to an eye specialist at the age of eight weeks and deemed to be in perfect health and physical condition and the eye was healthy and she could see fine out of it. This specialist informed the breeder that the blue eye most often showed up in dark coated animals that had the white coloring between the eyes. And that this pup should not, nor its littermates, be used for breeding since fifty percent of the pups in the litter most likely carried this blue eye gene.

7. Slow closing Font - At the age of eight weeks this pup still had an open font. When it did start closing, calcium deposits formed over the frontal opening resultingin surgery being needed to remove this flat, half-dollar sized growth. This picture was taken when the pup was around four months old and if you look hard, just above the little scar above her nose, you can see the beginning of this growth - in the center of her forehead just above the eyes. The surgery to remove this was not done until she was a year old. She has done fine since the surgery.