Best Bully Sticks Spotlight on a Breed: American Bulldog & Boston Terrier
We always love getting tweets from our Twitter friends asking us to feature their dog or favorite breed for our Best Bully Sticks Spotlight on a Breed blog series. As always we are honored to oblige. Thanks @dog_milk for submitting your adorable pics of your furry pack, Lulu, the American Bulldog and Beans the Boston Terrier. Since they seem inseparable friends & family we figured it was only fitting for them to share the spotlight. Thanks for following our @bestbullysticks tweets.
The American Bulldog
Lulu the American Bulldog (pic by twitter friend @dog_milk
Height: Males: 22 – 27 inches; Females: 20 – 25 inches.
Weight: Male: 75 – 125 lbs.; Female: 60 – 100 lbs.
Coat: The coat is short, close, and stiff to the touch.
Color: White coat or any color pattern including black, red, brown and all shades of brindle
Appearance: The American Bulldog is a stocky and well built, strong-looking dog. Its coat is short and either white, white with patches, black and white brindle, fawn and white, fawn and white brindle or a combination of all of these. Some may even have what is called a blue patch. The color conformation is quite varied, but white must be somewhere in the coat for the dog to be confirmed in most ABD clubs.
The Johnson type is a larger dog with a shorter muzzle than the Scott type. However, many modern American Bulldogs are a combination of the two types. In general, American Bulldogs weigh between 60 and 125 pounds (27 to 57kg) and are 20 to 28 inches (52 to 70cm) at the withers. The American Bulldog is massive in comparison to both the French Bulldog and the British Bulldog due to the fact that the American Bulldog was never down bred to be a lap dog.
There are mainly five types of American Bulldogs:
*The Johnson type: This type is commonly known as the Classic or Bully type. These bulldogs are more aggressive and have pendulous lips, an undershot jaw, facial wrinkles and a shorter muzzle. Johnson’s famous American Bulldog, the Incredible Mean Machine had 30% characteristics of an English Bulldog, and forms the foundation for most of the modern American Bulldog.
*The Scott type: This type is also known as Standard or Performance type. Bulldogs belonging to this type are large, coarse, leggy and used to catch wild hogs and cattle. They have an athletic look and a long muzzle.
*The Painter/Margentina type: They were developed in late 70s by Joe Painter, Margentina and Tappe, and are mainly used in dog fighting. They are small in size and weigh about 25 – 35 kg.
*The Old Southern Whites type: These are the original country bulldogs. They served as a raw material for Johnson, Scott, etc, and helped them to develop advanced breeds of the American Bulldog.
*The Hybrid type: These are mainly American Bulldogs whose bloodline is a mixture of Johnson and Scott type. Some of the successful breeders of this type are Kyle Symmes, Matt Boyd, Grey Souza, etc.
Temperament: The essential characteristics of the American Bulldog are those, which enable it to work as a hog and cattle catching dog, and a protector of personal property. These tasks require a powerful, agile, confident dog with a large head and powerful jaws. The American Bulldog is a gentle, loving family companion who is fearless enough to face an angry bull or a human intruder; Good with children; Good with pets.
Health: The average lifespan of this bred is between 10 – 14 years, and their main health concern is the development of hip and elbow dysplasia. Regular joint health supplements can lower their chances of developing severe dysplasia. American Bulldogs are also at an increased risk for bone cancer, eye conditions such as entropion and ectropion, and enlarged hearts.
The Boston Terrier
Beans the Boston Terrier digging through the sands of time
Height: between 38-43cms (stands 15-17 inches at the withers)
Weight: Weight is divided by classes as follows: Under 15 pounds; 15 pounds and under 20 pounds; 20 pounds and not to exceed 25 pounds.
Coat: The coat is short, smooth, bright and fine in texture.
Color: The Boston Terrier is characteristically marked with white in proportion to either black, brindle, seal, or a combination of the three. Seal is a color specifically used to describe Boston Terriers and is defined as a black color with red highlights when viewed in the sun or bright light.
Appearance:
The Boston Terrier is a lively, highly intelligent, smooth coated, short-headed, compactly built, short-tailed, well balanced dog, brindle, seal or black in color and evenly marked with white. The head is in proportion to the size of the dog and the expression indicates a high degree of intelligence.
Boston Terriers are typically small, compactly built, well proportioned dogs with erect ears, short tails, and a short muzzle. The body is rather short and well knit, the limbs strong and neatly turned, the tail is short and no feature is so prominent that the dog appears badly proportioned. The dog conveys an impression of determination, strength and activity, with style of a high order; carriage easy and graceful. A proportionate combination of “Color and White Markings” is a particularly distinctive feature of a representative specimen.
Temperament:
Beans posing for some camera action!
Boston Terriers have strong, friendly personalities. Bostons can range in temperaments from those that are eager to please their master to those that are more stubborn. Both can be easily trained given a patient and assertive owner. The modern Boston Terrier can be gentle, alert, expressive, and well-mannered. They were originally a cross-breed between the Old English Bulldog and the English White Terrier.
Some Bostons enjoy having another one for companionship. Both females and males generally bark only when necessary. Having been bred as a companion dog, they enjoy being around people, and, if properly socialized, get along well with children, the elderly, other canines, and non-canine pets. Some Boston Terriers are very cuddly, while others are more independent.
Health: The life expectancy of the Boston Terrier is 13-15 years. Several health issues are of concern in the Boston Terrier: cataracts (both juvenile and adult type), cherry eye, luxating patellas, deafness, heart murmur, and allergies. Curvature of the back, called roaching, might be caused by patella problems with the rear legs, which in turn causes the dog to lean forward onto the forelegs. This might also just be a structural fault with little consequence to the dog. Many Bostons cannot tolerate excessive heat and also extremely cold weather, due to the shortened muzzle, so hot or cold weather combined with demanding exercise can bring harm to a Boston Terrier. A sensitive digestive system is also typical of the Boston Terrier. In the absence of proper diet, flatulence is associated with the breed.
Bostons, along with Pug, Shih Tzu and other short-snouted breeds are Brachycephalic breeds. The word comes from Greek roots “Brachy,” meaning short and “cephalic,” meaning head. This anatomy can cause tiny nostrils, long palates and a narrow trachea. Because of this, Bostons may be prone to snoring and reverse sneeze, a rapid and repeated forced inhalation through the nose, accompanied by snorting or gagging sounds used to clear the palate of mucus, but does not harm the dog in any way. Bostons are also prone to sensitive stomachs and intestinal gas.
Is your dog barking for his or her time in the spotlight?
We always love getting tweets from our Twitter friends & emails asking us to feature their dog or favorite breed in our Best Bully Sticks Spotlight on a Breed blog series. As always we are honored to oblige. Thanks everyone for submitting your dogs photo to featured and for following our @bestbullysticks tweet updates.
If you would like your dog spotlighted or want to recommend a dog breed you love for our next Best Bully Sticks Spotlight on a Breed entry please send us an email or tweet @bestbullysticks. Don’t forget to send over a photogenic pic of your dog as well.
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