Ruki Asleep

Over-Tired Puppy

I'm not sure if Ruki's getting enough sleep... I realized, and researched, that there's a "condition" called "over-tired puppy." Yesterday, I walked her... A LONG WAY. Let her play off-leash in the park with a ball and stick. And then, on our way back, she was just CRANKY.

I also wonder that when I pull her out of the crate--not literally, but I open up the crate door and "encourage" her to come out so I can take her out during her scheduled pee times--why she's so stubborn. I think she's just cranky because I woke her up. And she's tired. And then when I take her out, she's still stubborn and cranky.

I think maybe I have to figure out how to readjust her pee schedule to her nap schedule.

Keeping Myself Disciplined

I started loosening up on her schedule when I'm at home all day with her. But I've quickly learned that--no matter what--when she wakes up from a nap, and I let her out of the crate, she *must* be let out. Twice, I decided, "Oh, let her play a little bit--she needs to wake up," and lo, and behold, there was a spot of pee that I had to clean up in a few minutes.

Walking the Stubborn Walker

I've started adjusting my techniques in getting Ruki to "walk well" with me.

First off, I have to understand that she's just a puppy--and on top of that a bulldog. She can't walk that far. So when I go around the block, I should expect that every quarter block she's going to stop and stand--to rest--or stop and sniff around a bit. It's not her being stubborn, it's her being a bulldog puppy.

So it all takes some time to go for the walk.

If she pulls, I only resist--I don't pull back. And once I feel that she's no longer pulling but just standing with the tension of the leash, I let go and give her slack. When she wanders off to the side, and I think it's not a good time, I keep the leash tension tight; and then slack when she's no longer pulling. At that point, she's usually at attention, listening or sniffing; I give her a few seconds--I even count up to 5--and then pulse or call her to "come" and she'll trot right along.

I'm also working on training her to walk either beside me or slightly behind me. I don't want her to walk me. If she gets ahead of me the leash is taut; whenever she's being good by being beside me or slightly behind me I keep the leash slack and upright--right above her head so there's not pulling at all.

Bulldog Won't Walk - Just Sits There

Ruki, at 13 weeks, can definitely get cranky about walking. When I bring her outside of the courtyard of our apartment, she goes right for the shrubs or, worse, will just sit and not budge. Here's a mixture of techniques that seem to work in getting her to get going:

1. Keep on walking. Once I get her going, I keep up the momentum and don't stop. If she turns or stop I keep on going. I also don't make eye contact, don't look at her, give her the silent treatment. After a few stops, she picks up and just follows.

2. Keep on walking. If she stops, I walk back to her, circle around her--she'll usually turn with me--and then turn back in the same direction I was originally heading. If she doesn't get up after a turn or two, I'l start shuffling into her, and then turn and go.

3. If she sits, I put a hand under her belly and ask her to "stand." This gets her up, then I have to figure out how to keep her moving.

4. If all else fails, I hoist her up and take her about a block away. (We live in the city.) I think being too close to home is too distracting to her. But when I get her far enough away from home, she trucks along just fine--presumably just so she can make it back home. :)

Over-Excited? She Needs a Nap!

Puppies go crazy nuts a few times a day, just because they're puppies. But I've noticed that later in the night, maybe around 9.30 - 10 p.m., Ruki will go a little more extreme on the nuts side. Play-stance, pouncing, running around, chewing everything, tossing things, and sometimes even growling and barking.

And then she'll pause, put her cheek down, head to the side, and rest. And then back to crazy.

My theory is that when she's really tired, she'll have these crazy bouts. When she's crazy enough late at night, it's time to hold her tight, and "pet her down"--pet her and sooth her until she's calmed down. And then crate her for the night.

House-Training Update

So house-training seems to be going well. At 3 months (as of yesterday!) and with her being ours for two weeks, she can hold it for at least 3 hours and pees almost immediately when she gets outside.

So if you were as frustrated as we were last week, things improve drastically over a week!

She still has problems if I don't walk her after 10:30 p.m., or for the afternoon stretch from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. So today we started having a dog-walker to come in for the 12.30 - 1.30 p.m. stretch.

Links on Crate-Training

• American Dog Trainer's Network - How to Successfully Crate-Train Your Puppy.


• Housetraining Tips - curiously, recommends scolding a dog to prevent barking in the crate.

Links to Conversations on Bulldog Cherry Eye

• Cherry Eye


• Some discussion on the costs of cherry eye surgery and "popping" it back in - from $90 to $1200 for two eyes.


• More discussion on the costs of cherry eye surgery

Keeping on Schedule

So we're learning that she's starting to keep to her schedule now that she's 3 months, and we've had her for 2 weeks. I can't yet tell if her barking is signal that she has to go--sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. But I've resolved to "allowing" her to have accidents. It's OK. I just take a deep breath, clean up, and keep on sticking to schedule. I can't let her rule our lives based around whether she's having accidents or not.

No Soy for Bulldogs?

So I seem to recall--and have found a few small mentions on some pages--that bulldogs must avoid soy products.

From the best I can discern, it appears that bulldogs are susceptible to soy allergies.

I was curious about this because several bulldog pages mention that they shouldn't eat kibble with soy; you shouldn't use soy oil to add to their food (use canola or corn). (See the Bulldog Club of America.)

But there's a chewing toy from Nylabone--the green ones I think?--that contain soy product in them. I don't know if this enough to warrant avoiding them.

Update: There seem to be stories about dogs dying from choking on Greenies... And bulldogs, specifically, choking on them and barfing them up in chunks. So definitely avoid those!

Link Suggestions for English Bulldogs

Here I'll keep a running list of links that I visit and read often to learn about care of our English bulldog:

• The Bulldog Club of America (BCA) - Basic Care for Your Bulldog


• Bulldog General Discussion Forum


• http://thnlnk.com/bulldogdomain/General.Health.Discussion/543


• http://thnlnk.com/bulldogdomain/Immediate.Health.Issues/408


• http://thnlnk.com/bulldogdomain/Bulldog.Feeding.Issues.and.recipes/408


• Fantastic post on bulldog temper tantrums. Read Reply #3 from Lynn King.


• Good post on a bratty bulldog.


• The Human Society on Crate Training - we don't follow the "feeding in the crate" advice, but some clear tips on handling whining in the crate.


• PetLovers.com Question and Answer Forum


• Training the Bulldog Puppy - I wish I would have found this a bit sooner! Or maybe not--maybe I wouldn't understand the wisdom the article contains before going through a lot of the trouble myself!


• Another good article on leash-training a dog called Shut up and walk away!.

Barking in Her Bed

Ruki has an artificial sheepskin bed where we put all her toys and towels to wipe her off when she's wet from rain or drink. She loves it there; that's her "safe space." She gnaws on her toys, pulls at the sheepskin, pulls at her towels.

She also loves to bark and growl there. While I know it's fine and natural for dogs to bark when they're excited, I don't want it to become habit, get out of control, or get her "too excited." And I don't want to reward her with attention by trying to get her to stop.

So I came across part of a technique in the My SMART Puppy book. When she starts wildly barking, move towards her and stand in her space, which is just to stand very close to her, or even step right next to her in the bed. Don't make eye contact. Just stand there and show her that you're in her space. And she stops.

I'm not sure if this is "right"--if it's behaviorally proper, or if I'm following the logic of the space treatment right. But it seems to work over the past two days.

Raising Hell

I have to admit today and yesterday I've fallen a bit off her schedule. I chalk it up to trying to figure out what her "signals" are: whether her barking means she's got to pee, or she's just bored.

Today was the second "false alarm." Off-schedule (11:30 a.m.), she woke up, started whining, and then resorted to some furious barking. I started thinking, "OK, barking means immitent pee-age." So I waited until she stopped, and then swept in and opened the crate door.

She leaned out, and then rested her head on the edge of the crate. No mad stumble to do business. Fooled again.

I think that even at 3-mo and having her on a schedule for almost a week we might have the schedule down. She'll go on schedule and the occasional accidents really are that: accidents.

First Vet Trip, Update on Cherry Eye

We took Ruki to the vet this morning for the first check-up. Total bill? Over $400. We got most of her second round of shots. We also got heartworm medication and Frontline (though I initially resisted this--I wanted to try a natural solution, like tea tree oil). Lastly, we got the microchip implanted since female English bulldogs are a high risk for dog-napping. (For $400, she's a real princess! Though a princess would react more to the pea-sized chip we implanted between her shoulders...)

I have to say I was proud of her in the doctor's office. Only one or two yelps, even with all the shots.

Regarding the cherry eye, the doctor basically said that it's fine and normal. Even though this morning Ruki held that eye shut until she was totally up. He mentioned the surgery options, but that we wouldn't explore them for at least 10 days.

He told us that we can irrigate the eye with regular human saline solution to remove mucous and keep it clean. It's OK to clean with a paper towel for wet mucous, and the dry stuff with the irrigation above. He then gave us an eye solution with antibiotics and steroids--to bring down the swelling--to administer three times a day for the next 10 days.

We're still worried because there's some blood; I'm worried that she's scratching. But, again, he said that this is fine. I wish there was more we could do!

Bulldog Cherry Eye

Though the bulk of this blog in the beginning will be retrospective, the latest news is that Ruki has cherry eye!

Cherry Eye is Not as Scary as It Looks!

I called the vet this morning, and the office manager seemed to say that it's not that bad a thing, either. I asked if it was something that we had to worry immediately about, and she said, no. Most people freak out about it because it looks weird, not because the dog is in danger.

The vet doesn't treat cherry eye, but can give us a referral to someone who may or may not do surgery. In the meantime, the doctor will probably give us some antibiotics, probably eye-drops.

For now, we're just clearing any mucous build-up when we see it. (It was green this morning! But now it just gets sticky and white.)

I tried a warm compress--by wetting a paper towel and putting it in the microwave for 8 seconds. Ruki doesn't like it, but at one point I inadvertently pushed the swollen tissue back in! It was pretty amazing; I put the compress on, and all of a sudden the cherry eye was gone! But then when I put the compress on again, it popped back out. I'm not trying it again.

The Ride Home and the First Night

We've had Ruki for almost two weeks now. We picked her up in Brooklyn and drove her to new home in Boston at night. We had her in a crate with a papered bottom. She had a rough ride. Whining, crying, and barking, eventually poo-ing in the crate. We managed to stop just north of New York City, stopping at a K-mart to buy cleaning supplies and get some new paper. After that, I think we were pretty clear up until Boston.

The first night, we crated her in our bedroom with paper on the bottom. She cried and cried and cried. We initially resisted her, but I'm pretty sure I took her out for a walk around 3 a.m.

We let her sleep in our bedroom for about 5 days, after which we moved her to the living room, which is where she has been since. We've also since removed the paper from the crate, as well as any t-shirts or blankets we used to put in there.

The Value of Crate-Training

One of the cutest moments: We were playing a "trick" on Ruki. We left her out of her crate. We went through all of the motions of leaving the apartment, and stepped out and closed the door. Then we listened. All was quiet for about 3 seconds, and then...

Gnaw, gnaw, chew, chew.

We had left her by a chair, and that chair leg was quickly becoming her replacement parent. This is one of the values of crate-training: preventing destructive chewing.