Bull Terrier Character

Bull Terrier Character – Kids in a dog suit

Bull Terrier Character - Mila jumping after a ball in our yard

That’s the Bull Terrier Character – Mila eagerly jumping after a ball in our yard

Bull Terriers are often referred to as “kids in a dog suit”. If you have lived with one of them for a while you will probably approve this saying.
These Dogs have a sweet and fun-loving disposition. They are energetic, agile and playful.
English Bull Terriers are intelligent and eager to learn. Some say they are “thinkers” and have to figure out things their own way.
This is why they are often considered harder to train than other dog breeds.
Also this facet of the Bull Terrier character may be the cause of their reputation as stubborn individuals.
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Dog Training

Dog training is key, if you wish for a well behaved sidekick

Why Dog Training? - Mila in her training session

Mila doing her training

Imagine your puppy as an empty can ready to be filled with whatever is to come.
Not doing dog training with your dog in other words just means that you will just miss the chance to influence its view at the world and its desires and fears. Instead of you, environment and your dog’s best guess will take care of the “training”.

Thus no dog training, of course, will very likely lead to several undesirable results for you.
No, not because your dog was born as a “bad person”, simply because he doesn’t know better.
Besides what his instincts tell him, he does not know about attributes like “right” or “wrong”, “good” or “bad”. Continue reading

Dog Dental Care

Dog dental care is part of the basic dog hygiene

Dog dental Care / Tooth brushing

Dog Dental care - Mila brushing

Mila during tooth brushing

Brushing your Dog’s teeth frequently is a good idea. Like for humans it is advised to do it at least twice daily. This is because basically the same rules of nature apply for a dog’s teeth as for human teeth.
To support your teeth cleaning efforts, there are a lot of chewy treats available that will not only entertain your dog, but also help with the dog dental care by mechanically cleaning the teeth during chewing.

However, please note that neither kibble nor chew treats are able to replace proper dental care! That would be the same as just chewing Xylitol sweetened chewing gum as a human and believing that this replaces all of the brushing, flossing and use of mouthwash we do every day. It doesn’t!

Also just in case, I’ve sparked some strange ideas here: NEVER feed Xylitol to your dog – it’s toxic for dogs! Chewing gum is not made for dogs either.

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General Bull Terrier toy information

Here is some general Bull Terrier toy information about sizes and other facts worth to consider

General Bull Terrier toy information - Mila with her Kong soft toy

Mila is playing with her Kong soft toy

Be prepared to spend some money on toys for your pooch, because English Bull Terriers need diversion or pretty soon they will be up to mischief. If you own a Bull Terrier for the first time, it will not take you long to find out that although they need plenty of exercise, just walking them will not be what can really please or exhaust this breed. In fact, many English Bull Terriers do not even like walking very much.

Chasing after a ball until they drop – well, that’s a whole different story.

Also many of them are (excessive) chewers. This is why you can’t just give them any toy. You will have to make wise decisions and likely have to look for toys in the upper price range.
In general, and this is especially true, if you have a dog with a dismembering habit or a puppy, you should never leave your dog completely unattended and without the possibility of your immediate help (for example in case of choking) while it is playing with toys. Also with most toys ingestion of larger pieces could cause trouble to the point os surgery. Therefore ingestion is something we want to avoid as owners.
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The special treat – dog treat balls

Stuffed dog treat balls are a very special treat …

Dog treat balls - Mila with her treat ball

Puppy Mila loves dog treat balls

… and will keep your English Bull Terrier busy for some time. There are some dog toys on the market that are prepared to be stuffed with treats. Some only offer the possibility to stuff in very tiny amounts and some allow only one kind of treat to be stuffed inside. Many of those toys also have edges and slots that will encourage the Bull Terrier to rip and chew on them to get the treats out of them. I don’t consider this kind of stuffable toys a wise choice – I think the reasons are obvious.
I like to use hollow balls for stuffing them as dog treat balls. Continue reading

Bull Terrier toys – Balls

Balls are a great choice as Bull Terrier toys.

Bull terrier toys - Mila unpacking

Mila unwrapping her Christmas toy – a brand new Kong Extreme ball

As for my experience with EBT’s, just an example – the following situation with Mila:
Bully arrives at dog park, beach or any other place where different dogs are around. Bully can choose between playing with ball or other dogs – If lucky the other dogs get a quick “Hello” from Mila, who then sinks into her own world with the ball, ignoring everything around her from that moment on.
Fancy would also play with her ball for hours, the thing had to go everywhere with her – even potty! And I know of other examples from other EBT-owners and have seen Bullies in animal shelters, who would have given everything for a ball. Continue reading