I would strongly advice to request your vet to have blood (plasma) ready if you intend to do any kind of surgery. After surgery is done look at your dog closely and check color of gums. They should not be to pale. If gums are getting white call the vet immediately because there could be internal bleeding. If your vet has blood ready they can do a transfusion and save your dogs life.

While a dog can be spayed during a c-section unless there is a problem with the uterus at that time it is not advisable. For one thing her milk will dry up very fast and you will have to bottle feed.

Another risk is that the vessels are so swollen at this time that it can be dangerous and lead to internal bleeding.
While it seems like a good time to do the spay, your dog will have a much harder recovery also.

Talk to your vet about it but I would wait until the puppies were weaned and her milk dried up before she is spayed. The dog and the vet will both have a much easier time of it then.

* your puppy cries and screams a lot

* your puppy is bloated and because of that is cramping and in a lot of pain

* your puppy wants to void his bowels (poop) as soon as he finishes eating

* your puppy has diarrhea or is constipated
(I know, that sounds contradictory…)

* your puppy has more than the usual number of ‘poop sessions’ during the day (easy to know what is “more” when you still have a complete puppy litter to compare with)

* your puppy is not playful: looks sad, panicky and cries

* your puppy has seizures (take it to the vet immediately!)

Puppy colic means usually that there is too much gas in the puppy’s system. This gas appears because your particular puppy has a problem digesting particular food or the mother is not stimulating the puppy enough to move stools.

Puppy colic happens a lot in big litters because the mother is not stimulating certain puppies. Very young puppies cannot go to the bathroom without some stimulation to their private areas, which should be done by the mother using her tongue.

You can compare puppy colic to baby colic: this gastronomical disorder normally comes as easy as it goes by changing the diet, yet seeing your puppy in pain can be heartbreaking.

Remember that colic is a puppy disease. When your puppy grows older, his digestion system becomes stronger.
Puppy colic will normally no more appear when a puppy becomes 1 year old. Of course you need to act faster than that!

With very young puppies “you have to imitate the mother’s stimulating tongue behaviour”: use a moist warm wash cloth and stimulate the belly and private areas: use a different cloth for both anus and genital area.

Use the following techniques with puppies that are already eating puppy food:

* always make sure your puppy has access to lots of water, and monitor his drinking

* always try to burp your puppy just like you would burp a baby: any gas that escapes with burping will be a relief for your puppy

* help your puppy’s bowel movements: massage
his belly and make sure he gets enough walks

* give your puppy different puppy food until your puppy gets better. Experiment to find out which food is good for your puppy and which food causes puppy colic.

* feed your puppy with prescribed puppy food for dogs with weak stomachs. This is basically food that’s easier to digest. Ask your vet which food to recommend. Hill’s I/D food has worked for one of our puppies in the past. First change the diet to a complete I/D menu. Then slowly introduce other food and find out what causes problems and what not.

* if your new food doesn’t help, change again to other food! What works for one puppy doesn’t have to work for another…

* feed your puppy smaller portions over more regular intervals during the day

* when nothing helps: try feeding your puppy plain yogurt or plain pumpkin - it gets rid of loose stools

* make sure your puppy feels safe and sound with you. Don’t be upset that there is puppy poop all over the place suddenly. Be aware that your puppy just after eating wants to go to the toilet.

Make sure you adjust your potty training times to ‘the new colic’ habit: train your puppy on the litter box or take him out for a walk or let him outdoors… right after your puppy has eaten!

Remember your puppy can’t help it either, it has to do with what you are feeding him and how he reacts to it…

* stay away from painkillers as much as possible: painkillers cause constipation

* if the problem continues: go and see your vet (they could give “gas drops”: a medicine to expel gas easier)
You can try a little bit of baby colic drops like OVAL but make sure you do not give to much to your puppy.

Experimenting with a new diet and having your puppy aging daily, you should be able to rid your dog from puppy colic.

Sometimes puppy colic comes from internal worms that produce a lot of gases - make sure you deworm your puppy properly.

Around the age of 7 american bulldogs enter their ‘golden years”. The decisions you make about your american bulldog’s nutrition and exercise will have a great impact on your older american bulldog. You can help make the rest of your pets life healthier and happier. Although your american bulldog may not appear different at the age of seven, his or her nutritional and physical needs have changed enough that the feeding and excerise routine you have grown used to may not longer be ideal. You can reduce the risk of health problems and help your older pet live longer with regular vet care and nutrition that’s specifically designed for older dog.

Reduce Risks to your American Bulldog’s health

Some signs of disease may escape your observation or require sophisticated testing in order to be detected. Other signs are more easy to notice in the pet’s normal environment. To help your american bulldog to avoid the disease it’s a good idea to understand the signs associated with those disease conditions that are common in older american bulldogs.

SIGNS OF KIDNEY DISEASE:
-Loss of appetite
-Increased thirst
-Frequent urination
-Rare/no urination
-Poor hair coat
-vomiting

SIGNS OF HEART DISEASE:

-Coughing
-Difficulty breathing
-Shortness of breath
-Reduced exercise tolerance
-Noticeable weigh gain or weight loss

SIGNS OF OBESITY

-Joint problems
-Heart disorders
-Breathing difficulties

SIGNS OF URINARY TRACT DISEASE

-Frequent urination
-Straining to urinate
-Blood in in urine
-Weakness
-Loss of appetite
-Vomiting

Sometimes when you try to have a nice garden and an american bulldog the conflict is created. But there are some steps that you can take to make having a garden and a bulldog a possibility. Dogs have specific needs - reading breed description will give you a hint what your dog may do with your garden. Working Group dogs which american bulldog is a part of were historically bred to perform draft work like pulling or to guard. Some of the most basic questions concern american bulldogs are lawns. Turf is a toughest ground cover available, but even grass can’t withstand too much paw traffic in to small space. If you have little ground and american bulldogs your lawn will probably suffer. All you can do is to use good organic practices to keep the lawn as healthy as possible, and over seed frequently. And don;t expect to have that perfect lawn so popular in North American landscapes. Another problem are yellow spots created by dog urine. this one has some solutions. One effective solution is to rinse the spots with water after your american bulldog eliminates. Diluting urine changes it from the harmful substance to nitrogen reach fertilizer. You do not have to add water immediately you have several hours to do so before damage occurs. Humans learn to potty in particular location and dogs can do the same.Choose an area which will be your american bulldogs bathroom. It could be lawn, wood chips or any surface that your dog will accept. It should include some vertical surfaces for males to mark.A scented long blooming bush can be good and can mask the odors. If your dog was free to pee anywhere in the yard some retraining will be required. As when you were house training you need to take your dog on the leash go to designated area and wait for results . Remember to reward any elimination in the desired location.
Next problem is digging - from our experience american bulldogs are not diggers but if yours is try to give them space for digging. You can provide actual digging pit, choosing an area to fill with a combination of sand and dirt. Make this area as at least twice as long as your dog. Make sure it has good drainage and provide the shade. You need to make digging in the box reinforcing. Bury treats and toys in the sand. With your dogs observing go to the box and dig out the toy and share with the dog. If you ve been yelling at your dog for digging it may take some time to encourage him to dig in designated spot. If you see our dog digging anywhere else go to the sand box and dig out a treat.. Encourage and reinforce a wanted behavior.
Other potential problems like rolling in the plants may be avoided with a better choice of the plants
Good Luck and have fun in your garden with your american bulldog.

Based on

If you are going camping with your american bulldog it is important that your american bulldog is well behaved. Your american bulldog should be well socialized. You should know your american bulldog and recognize which situations will provoke aggression.
If you did not take your american bulldog to classes make sure that you change that. Training will make your american bulldog more obedient and will make you a better owner.

If your american bulldog is friendly to other dogs and animals it will make your life easier.
It’s not easy camping with american bulldog that is dog agressive, but it can be done, through a great deal of caution, sensitivity to surroundings and responsibility on the part of the owner.

CHECKLIST:

1.American Bulldogs have to VACCINATED - your american bulldog will encounter wildlife while camping - making sure that s/he has all shots is your responsibility before you go camping

2.Training classes - know your dog - know what makes him bark, what makes him scared, what makes him agressive - know the body language of your dog.

3.Keep your american bulldog on the leash at all times. Even if s/he is friendly they may come across an agressive animal

4.harness (for the seat belt)
You may be a wonderful driver, but many people aren’t. Plus, driving on poor and/or curvy roads can send your dog all over the insides of the car, if not through the windshield. I put my dogs each in a dog body harness, then run a seat belt through each harness. American bulldogs can sit or lay down, but can’t be thrown around the car. It also keeps them in the back seat, which is the coolest place in the truck, when I have to run into a store or something.

If you have a truck with a bed and don’t allow your american bulldog in the cab (which, in my opinion, is ridiculous, but…), please purchase a dog carrier and put your american bulldog in it when he or she travels with you; the carrier should offer your dog just enough room to stand up and turn around in, but no more. Dogs die from falling or jumping out of the bed of a truck, from being thrown against the cab during a sudden stop; even leashing them to something in the bed of the truck is no protection, as dogs have also hung themselves while trying to jump out. A dog carrier is the ONLY humane way to travel with your dog in the bed of your truck. Padding the floor, ceiling and sides offers even better protection.

You may have taken your american bulldog in the bed of your truck, unprotected, a dozen times, or even a hundred times, and never had any problems. So have all the people who now have dead dogs from riding unprotected in the bed of their trucks.

Pet photography is not as easy as people think - it is hard work. There is few rules that if followed will make your pictures to stand out. In photography lighting is very important - watch the lighting if you want to make good photographs.

OUTDOOR LIGHTNING:
The bets time to make a picture of your bulldog outdoors is early in the morning or in the evening - that’s when lighting is best for outdoor photography. Full sun in the middle of the day creates very heavy contrast and shadows. If you have to photograph in the middle of the day watch for overcast days or work in the shadow - this way you will avoid the dramatic shadows and pictures being overexposed.

INDOOR LIGHTING:
A lot of people uses flash when photographing their american bulldogs - this often makes eyes to appear red or green. Try to locate your dog by the natural light source and take pictures then - the results will be a lot better.

Even with great equipment and lighting conditions getting a good shot of your american bulldog is challenging - dogs move and do not hold their ” beautiful” positions for as long as we need them to. I shoot as many pictures as I can and do not try to frame it perfectly for to long because u may never have a chance to get it again. There is a lot of “chance” in photographing pets.

Patience is huge - if you get frustrated with your dog s/he will become nervous and will move even more often or their expression will say - look I am not sure what u are doing but I don;t like it

The pros needs assistants to handle all sorts of things. If you can get somebody to hold a squeaky toy your dog will have a great ” alert” expression and will look the way you want it to look.

if you will take a picture from dog’s eye level it will create more intimacy and the dog will look more proportional. Also make sure you zoom in this creates intimacy as well.
have fun and good luck getting great pictures … and hopefully sending them to us to post on the blog

Few of my favorite photos:

Based on Article by Jeff Grognet, DVM Dogs in Canada 2008

Heart worm was recognized in North American over hundred years ago.Since then a lot of progress was made but vet’s still find patients with this disease. Some dog owners do not implement prevention programs.If their dogs become infested then the whole dog population is in danger.
Heart worm are eight to ten inches long spaghetti like worms. they feed of nutrients from blood. The larvae are found in mosquitoes - they are ready to infest the next mammalian host. The larva then enters the bloodstream and starts migration process eventually becoming a heart worm in a blood vessel. They can live up to six years. Only few heart worms are actually living in the animal’s heart most of them live in blood vessels in the lung and heart passage. They do not completely block the blood flow but they are obstacles - the heart has to work harder to pump the blood so the result is a heart failure.

A few worms in the artery do not normally trigger symptoms, however if the number rises the dog can have a cough, be reluctant to excersies, may fatigue easier. A heart worm infested dog is thing and has poor muscling and scruffy coat.
Vets use blood tests to determine if the dog is infested with heart worm. If the dog does have a heart worm treatment is complicated and expensive. The options for heart worm prevention are tablets that are give monthly. We used Revolution - that also works well in the light Demodex cases.

* Topical once-a-month parasiticide for dogs.
* Provides systemic treatment against a broad spectrum of external and internal parasites.
Approved Uses
Revolution® (selamectin) is approved for:
* Use in dogs 6 weeks of age or older against the following parasites: adult fleas, flea eggs, heartworm, ear mites, sarcoptic mites, and American dog tick.
* Killing adult fleas and preventing flea eggs from hatching for one month, and indicated for prevention and control of flea infestations (Ctenocephalides felis).
* Prevention of heartworm disease caused by Dirofilaria immitis.
* Treatment and control of ear mite (Otodectes cynotis) infestations.
* Treatment and control of sarcoptic mange (Sarcoptes scabiei).
* Control of American dog tick (Dermacentor variabilis) infestations.
Key Features
* Revolution is a prescription-only medicine, not a pesticide.
* Broad-spectrum protection against most internal and external parasites.
* Kills adult flea and their eggs.
* Fast, simple and easy to use.
* Because of the low-volume dosage size, the solution can be applied in one spot.
* Non-greasy, quick-drying preparation.
* Bathing pet 2 hours after application does not affect efficacy.
* Available in 6 convenient dosage sizes in no-drip disposable tubes