Bull Terrier Questions and Answers (FAQ)

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Find quick information about popular Bull Terrier and dog topics in my Questions and Answers (FAQ) section. Feel free to contact me ask me questions on topics on my blog. I will try to answer them as good as possible and include them here.

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Should I cook vegetables I want to feed to my Bull Terrier or any other dog?

This is a question someone who actually used my Low starch, grain-free homemade raw food recipe for dogs to produce his own homemade dog food has asked me.
 
The answer is: YES, you should cook vegetables you want to feed to your Bull Terrier or any other dog.
 
It is said that dogs are not able to digest raw, uncooked vegetables properly.
Although I feel like the frozen green beans and the pieces of baby carrots I feed to Mila raw during our training sessions seem to get digested, I think it is a different story when they are part of the daily food serving in larger amounts.
 
I have learned more about that on my own with one of her previous food batches:
In that batch I had used dried lentils and just did not cook them long enough to really get mushy. For the next 6 weeks I found the uncooked lentils merely unchanged in her stools – well, I did not really examine them, but they looked intact, which for me confirmed the digestion theory on vegetables and dogs.
 
This is why I recommend to cook them.
 
Cooking them to mush is especially important for legumes, because of the reasons given above.
For carrots and other vegetables it is sufficient to cook them until you are able to squeeze them with your fingers in order to work them into the meat dough and distribute them evenly when preparing my Low starch, grain-free homemade raw food recipe for dogs. They don’t have to be completely mushy.
The shorter vegetables get cooked, the less vitamins they loose during the process.
Therefore like when preparing food for humans, I also try to use as few water as possible in order to avoid flushing out all of the valuable water-soluble vitamins. So the cooking water almost completely goes into the veggis during cooking and there is only a very small rest of water remaining to pour away. You can also steam the veggis, if you have the tools to prepare such large amounts that way. That is even better to preserve the vitamins.
 
Have fun cooking!

How much does it cost to feed raw food to my Bull Terrier or any other dog?

This is only a sample calculation based on the food prices in 2014 in SW Florida with food supply for 45 days and for a 50lb dog:
$122.- for 30.5 lb Bottom flat meat (at BJ’s with BJ membership card, 3.99/lb)
$17.- for 10.5 lb chicken hearts/ liver (at Walmart)
$7.60 for 8 lb carrots (at BJ’s)
$8.- for 4 lb broccoli (at BJ’s)
$3.25 for 3 Bags of split dried green peas
$3.25 for 24 eggs (at BJ’s)
≈ $2 for 1/2 garlic bulb, limestone powder
(add $3.- for 1/2 bottle organic ACV (with mother!) if you use that)

≈ $3.60/ day (without added vitamins, yogurt and fish oil)
≈ $110/ month

How can I calculate the daily food for my Bull Terrier or any other dog?

The daily food intake of a dog is measured in percentage of body weight.
Note: This is a calculation for RAW food, not kibble!
Also these values are only for reference. Please adjust the daily amount depending on your dogs situation and condition. Just like humans, very active dogs may require more food than the average dog, for example.
2% of bodyweight for overweight dogs
2.5% – 3% to maintain the current weight

More % to fatten a skinny dog*
Please talk to your vet, if you intend to feed your puppy a raw diet. Puppies have special needs and require up to 10% of body their weight in food each day.
Calculation example for Mila: Mila weighs ≈ 50 lb. She has an average level of activity with some more active days sprinkled in. She also gets her homemade treats and a daily amount of yogurt, salmon oil and vitamin supplement.
All of these aspects lead to a daily amount of 600 grams (≈ 1.3 lb) as the perfect amount of our raw dog food mix.
*I have researched these values on the Internet. Please do your own research to confirm the correct amounts. I do not take over any responsibility for the published values.

How can I calculate the calcium requirements for my Bull Terrier or any other dog?

A dog’s daily requirement of Calcium is calculated in relation to its body weight*:
25 lb dog needs about 800-900 mg Calcium
50 lb dog needs 1600-1750 mg Calcium
75 lb dog needs about 2600-2700 mg Calcium
*I have researched these values on the Internet. Please do your own research to confirm the correct amounts. I do not take over any responsibility for the published values.

Why is it important to watch the Calcium intake of my Bull Terrier or any other dog when feeding raw?

Calcium is one of the most important minerals for a dog’s body, required in fairly high amounts for the bones, muscles, nerves and blood. In addition, the Calcium – Phosphorous ratio is a very important parameter in the nutrition of your dog, because those two minerals work together in the skeletal system.
If you do not feed bones to your dog or another source rich in calcium, you may want to supplement Calcium in your dog’s diet, when feeding raw. This is also true for Low starch, grain-free homemade raw food recipe for dogs, because it does not include bone.
While Phosphorous usually is automatically fed in sufficient amounts just by feeding meats in a raw diet, Calcium may need to be added to balance the ratio, which should be 1.2 – 1.3 parts of Calcium per 1 part of Phosphorous.
Both over and under supplementing can have health consequences for your dog. Therefore it is advisable to calculate the Calcium requirement of your own dog and supplement appropriately.
You will find more information on how to calculate the ratio in my Low starch, grain-free homemade raw food recipe for dogs or in this FAQ section.

How can I add Calcium to my Bull Terrier’s or any other dog’s food when feeding raw?

One way to add Calcium is feeding bone, as it contains a lot of calcium.
Many people (myself included) do not feed bones to their dogs due to the involved risks (internal injury from sharp edges, choking). Or they do not want to grind bone or don’t have the means to do so (requires special grinders).
Therefore sometimes other sources need to be found.
There is a pretty easy way to add Calcium to a batch of raw food without using bone:
I simply use the egg shells from my Low starch, grain-free homemade raw food recipe for dogs and powder them in a porcelain mortar.
Note: Egg shells should be ground/powdered to aid absorption of the Calcium, because whole egg shells cannot be properly digested by the dog.
One egg shell weighs about 6-7 grams and contains about 37% Calcium*.
Meats do not deliver considerable amounts of Calcium, nor do innards. Vegetables deliver variable amounts of Calcium, wich can be taken into consideration.
Calcium that cannot be sufficiently supplemented by egg shells and vegetables can be increased by use of food grade limestone.
Food grade limestone contains 75-90% available Calcium*.
There are also other calcium sources that can be used as additive.
*I have researched these values on the Internet. Please do your own research to confirm the correct amounts. I do not take over any responsibility for the published values.

My Bull Terrier constantly licks and bites her paws. They look red. Should I be worried?

Excessive licking definitely is an alarm signal. Licking can have several causes:
Boredom
Injury like cuts and scrapes
Itching
When your Bull Terrier licks her paws excessively this can become a problem, because at some point the licking will cause the skin

How should I feed my Bull Terrier? Once a day or use a schedule?

While there are some dogs that are able to control their intake well by themselves, in general it is wise to use a feeding schedule for several reasons.
First of all, giving the food to your dog every time strengthens the bonding. Also dogs love routines – knowing what’s coming up makes them feel secure und comfortable.
If you are housebreaking a puppy, a feeding schedule will also make it a lot easier for you to do your potty training, because you will more likely know when the dog has to go … after eating.
Some dogs that have access to a nonrestricted amount of food all the time, can also develop obesity.
It is also a good idea to calculate the amount of food required daily – measured by the weight and size of your dog.
You will find a calculation example here in my FAQ’s under “Homemade food and treats”, question:”How can I calculate the daily food for my Bull Terrier any other dog?”
Note: Many people use plastic dishes which often come in neat designs to feed their dogs.
Unfortunately many plastic materials are porous and easily attract bacteria. Varnished porcelain is one good alternative, because it’s easier to keep clean and it’s usually heavier than plastic, which makes the dishes standing more stable. However, they  can crack or break, if handled too rough – which bears a risk of injury to you and your dog. The best choice are stainless steel dishes. While they usually don’t come in such fancy designs, they are easy to keep clean and they can’t break.

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Homemade raw food recipe for dogs
9 years ago

[…] Bull Terrier Questions and Answers (FAQ) […]

troy
7 years ago

i just got a puppy 6 weeks . will these floppy ears stand up? they are laying down now

troy
Reply to  troy
7 years ago

yes it is bull terrier

Dorothea Cornelius
Admin
Reply to  troy
7 years ago

Hello Troy,
one thing you can do is feed your puppy some gelatin (available granulated in the grocery aisle). This will help the ears stand once they start getting up.
Some Bull Terriers however need a little more help to get their ears to stand. It’s a good idea to start as soon as possible and use the “taping method”. This video of Bull Terrier breeder Steve, owner of http://www.bulliesofnc.com shows how to do it and which things should be taken into account:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12HCmMSto8M

The most important thing is to start early with this measure and to find the middle between the tape being too loose, so it comes off or the tape being too tight, hindering the bloodstream in the ears.
If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask here or turn to Steve’s forum at https://www.bulliesofnc.com/BTforum/discussions

Ricky
6 years ago

Hi, when I was 24 yrs old my wife and I got an English Bull Terrier. There was no internet at the time, mid 80’s, so all correspondence was by phone or mail. We found a breeder in Canada who sent us a pic of the puppy she had, we traveled 4 hours into Canada, we live on the border U.S. side, went to her house where she bred the dogs. It wasn’t really the nicest place, there was a barn with the dogs in it and a barbed wire fence surrounding it. She brought us the puppy but it wasn’t the one in the pic that she had sent us. Also the puppy’s front paw was bandaged, she said he had got it caught in the barbed wire fence. We ended up taking the dog and fell in love with him. He slept in our bed, we pampered him and took very good care of him. We’d heard English Bull Terriers were good with kids and soon we were expecting our first child. We named our dog Solomon George and he was part of our family. When he reached 6 to 7 months old he started becoming aggressive, he’d start growling at things. Like when he was in bed sleeping and we bumped him accidentally while one of us rolled over he’d start growling real low and it was kind of scary. It got to the point where he’d just snap for no reason at somebody. Once my wife and another time my brother who were sitting on our couch just playing with him. Once he bit my hand and drew blood. It was like he’d snap and then calm right down. I called the breeder, she said to put him out in the garage by himself as punishment the next time he does it. We hated to do it but the next couple times he snapped or started to growl like he was ready to snap we put him in the garage but it didn’t seem to help. I’m disabled and usually in a wheelchair but sometimes would get on the floor to play with Solomon. A couple weeks before our son was born my wife and I were sitting on the floor of the room we were fixing up for our baby. Solomon was in there, everything was great. We were talking about what things we had left to do fixing up the room and what it was going to be like having a newborn, thinking about the future. I gave Solomon a hug and all of a sudden he started to growl, I lifted my arm off him. Fortunately he didn’t shoot straight ahead at my wife but turned and came at me. He bit my face, ripping down through my nose up through my chin and locking on my top lip. I grabbed him by the neck holding him close to me so he wouldn’t pull back and rip my lip apart anymore than it already was and squeezed as hard as I could. He opened his mouth and I pushed him back still holding him tight as he was in a rage trying to get to me. Then just as quickly as it started he calmed right down. My wife called the ambulance, I went to the hospital and had my face stitched up. 30 to 40 stitches later I was back home I still didn’t want to get rid of Solomon but my wife and family that lived nearby convinced me, saying. If Solomon snapped and went at the baby what would happen, he’d very easily kill our baby. Not wanting to have him put to sleep we set up a meeting with the breeder at the border for her to take him back. She pulled up in her car got out, saw my face, she turned and said I don’t want that dog. I said hold on, she said “sue me” and off she went. We had him put to sleep, we buried him out back of our house. Sorry to make the story so long but I’d really love to get another one. Seeing the clips online of how friendly they are and what great pets they are, I don’t know what went wrong with Solomon but my wife is scared to death thinking of me getting another one. Thanks for reading this,peace:out.

Dorothea Cornelius
Admin
Reply to  Ricky
6 years ago

Once people went through such trauma, decisions become solely emotional and no longer rational. I can understand that. Who would want to go through such drama again. On the other side I am amazed that you have obviously not lost your faith in the breed, despite the injury you’ve suffered. I am pretty sure that there was something wrong with your pup, probably a mental issue. Maybe even something hereditary I don’t know the breeder you purchased the dog from. But your story doesn’t sound like she really cared about crossing individuals of good temperament and health only. From the stories I hear and my own experience I get the feeling myself that some Bull Terriers just are a little mouthy, even when older. But my experience also tells me that – if not disease is involved – this behavior is pretty well manageable by training and consistency.
In terms of disease, there is a phenomenon called “SOA” (Sudden Onset Aggression), which is rare but occurs more often in Bull Terriers. However, very characteristic about it is that dogs with SOA often attack from their sleep and do not seem to be aware of what they did after it happened and they regain consciousness. This is very special because in those cases the aggression is not really a conscious behavior. I am not saying that’s what your dog was suffering from. I am just talking about some possibilities.

If you ever really decide to get another Bull Terrier I can only encourage you to look for a puppy from a reputable breeder. Not only in terms of temperament but also health-wise it is more important than ever to look for a puppy from a breeder, who considers these two aspects in breeding.
Thank you for sharing your story.

Imani
Reply to  Ricky
5 years ago

I agree with Dorothy. You did not get your dog from the right breeder AT ALL. The first indicator that she was not a reputable breeder was that she was willing to allow you to take home a six week old puppy. It is scientifically proven that dogs who are taken from their mothers and litter mates before eight weeks of age suffer socially and mentally later down the road. That’s why many states now have laws stating that puppies HAVE to be at least eight weeks old before they go home with their new families. The second indicator was that she wanted absolutely nothing to do with your dog and she was not remotely helpful in addressing your concerns regarding Solomon. Something that I would like to point out though is that based on what you’ve written Solomon was not an unpredictably aggressive dog that attacked just because. There was always a reason.

When he growled at you for bumping him that was the reason. You bumped him therefore disturbing his sleep and you likely scared him and made him anxious. You said he went after your wife and your brother while they were playing with him. Bull Terriers like to play rough and they love to tug and play with their mouths. There is a strong chance that he didn’t go after them due to aggression, but because he was hyped all the way up and he never learned how to play appropriately with people. That’s something that you HAVE to teach puppies early on or you’ll wind up with a grown dog that was indirectly taught that biting is an acceptable form of play and when they bite with their adult teeth you will feel the difference. Playing nicely with people is not something that most dogs are going to suddenly know how to do when they grow out of puppyhood. They MUST be TAUGHT. I don’t know the situation for why he bit your hand. It could’ve been food aggression or play aggression or overstimulation from being petted when he did not want to be petted. I know why he ripped your face though. You hugged him. Hugging is not considered a form of affection for most dogs. In fact, many dogs find being hugged equivalent to being forcibly restrained and potentially suffocated and it scares the heck out of those dogs. It is scientifically proven that the majority of dog-human aggression stems from anxiety. A lot of the incidents you described above in which Solomon attacked was because you made him feel anxious. Suddenly bumping into him startled him and made him anxious. Hugging him startled him and made him anxious. The fact that your dog started off with giving warnings and then seemingly very quickly advanced to nipping is suggestive that he wasn’t an unreasonable hyper aggressive dog. It was a combination of your and your wife’s lack of understanding of dog behavior and terrible advice given to you by a terrible dog breeder that lead to Solomon’s unfortunate demise.

Confining an aggressive dog to a small space does nothing but increase their aggression due to the fact that as I said earlier most aggression stems from anxiety and putting a dog in a garage when almost 10/10 they don’t know WHY they are being put in the garage makes them anxious. Dogs have a very narrow window of accountability. If your dog nips at you and you get up and walk to the bathroom to grab a spray bottle then fill it up with water and return and spray the dog with the spray bottle I guarantee you they have NO IDEA why you just sprayed them with the water bottle. If at the time you sprayed the dog they happened to be laying down while chewing a Nylabone, they will think that you sprayed them because they were chewing the Nylabone and it will be harder to convince your dog to chew his Nylabone as opposed to your furniture because in his mind you punished him for chewing the Nylabone. Aggressive forceful methods are NOT the ones to use with this breed. For one, because they have a freaky high pain tolerance and will easily ignore it and for two they are a stubborn independent breed. If you give a Bull Terrier a good reason for NOT listening to you and respecting you as their pet mentor, then they will not listen to you at all. However, if you use modern dog methods such as positive reinforcement you are giving them motivation to listen to you at all times. Bull Terriers are far more likely to thrive with positive reinforcement than with outdated training methods. Look into dog trainers like Zak George who use those methods and stay away from trainers like Cesar Millan who regularly practices forceful dominance training.

As long as you get your Bull Terrier from the right breeder or breed rescue, socialize them extensively, exercise them regularly and thoroughly, feed them the proper diet, commit to regular obedience classes well into your dog’s adulthood or senior hood if you get an adult dog, are consistent in what is and is not acceptable for your dog to do (which you and your wife NEED to come to an agreement on BEFORE you get your dog) and treat your bully nicely your wife has nothing to worry about from this breed.

Imani
5 years ago

Oh! I forgot to attach this to my other comment, but here’s an article detailing what you should look for in a reputable Bull Terrier breeder in particular so that you don’t suffer the same issues of having to deal with a trash breeder again. https://bulliesofnc.com/finding-reputable-bull-terrier-breeder/

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