American Bulldog Cross

Bonnie – 1 year old female American Bulldog Cross

Being her carer has been, and continues to be, quite a steep learning curve; she’s challenging. She’s enthusiastic, bouncy, vocal and can be quite demanding. She absolutely hates not having her own way and sometimes gets in a strop when her attempts to push the boundaries don’t get her anywhere. She will bark to tell you off, to demand attention or simply because she can. Admittedly there have been times when I’ve doubted my ability to cope with her, but patience and consistency do pay off in the end.

Bonnie is very bright and likes to be busy, although she is learning (slowly) that sometimes she is expected to be calm and relaxed. She seems to get the hang of some things really quickly but other things don’t seem to sink in. She is very food-motivated so this helps enormously with training. She’ll sit, lay down and come when she knows there’s a food treat. At dinner time she’ll sit while her food is prepared and wait until she’s told she can have it. You can measure her hunger by the amount of saliva she drips. She’s not a slobbery dog and doesn’t drool, just drip-drip-drips like a tap. The quicker the drips the more hungry she is!

She’s an angel at bedtime, going straight to her crate when she’s told “bedtime Bonnie”, and once laying down inside she gets a treat, we say goodnight and cover her crate then she settles down for the night (you can often hear her from upstairs, snoring like a water-buffalo!) She now also knows to go to her crate when she’s told she’s going to get “nom-noms?(!)”. We do this if we have to go out and she can’t come too. She knows the difference between us wanting her to go in her crate because it’s bedtime and wanting her to go in because we’re going out, and she doesn’t really like being left so at one time she refused to go to her crate when she knew it wasn’t bedtime! But again, patience and consistency have won, along with the use of nom-noms.

A crate is essential for Bonnie as, left to her own devices, she will be destructive. She likes to chew and she’s not fussy what. She will happily pinch items of laundry (clean or dirty, she doesn’t mind!) from the linen bin or off the washing line, cushions, cuddly toys and shoes. Being so food-motivated means that she will scavenge, counter-surf and bin-raid. I discovered recently that I mustn’t, even for a second, leave a glass of Baileys unattended on the coffee table because before I knew it she was happily slurping my evening tipple! She has taken wooden spoons, roasting tins and a colander from the kitchen counter! You only have to turn your back for a nano-second and she’s up there seeing what she can find. She will, however, “get down” when told and if you’re aware enough to pre-empt her won’t jump up at all when told “no”. It’s all part of her learning what’s acceptable and what isn’t. She will let you take things from her mouth so retrieving items is fine, although she does sometimes think it’s a game and runs off. And believe me, it can be quite tricky telling her off when you’re almost crying with laughter because she’s racing round the garden with a pair of underpants she’s pinched off the line! That’s the trouble with the Princess; she has you tearing your hair out with frustration one minute and laughing uncontrollably the next.

Bonnie is such a friendly girl and she absolutely loves to meet people and other dogs. This started to get a little problematic when out on walks as trying to curb Bonnie’s enthusiasm at meeting a potential new friend was a bit tricky. She would lunge and bounce, sometimes leaping up and spinning mid-air so that it became almost impossible to hold her; although young she is big and strong. Her behaviour has never been aggressive, purely exuberant. Although she knows the “sit” command, once excited in that kind of situation she went a bit deaf. We’ve been using a Dogmatic headcollar for a couple of months now and it’s helped enormously – no more lunging and spinning, so coming across others when we’re out for a walk is now a much more relaxed affair. She walks beautifully on the lead, happily trotting along and not pulling.

Because Bonnie is so friendly she gets very excited when visitors come to the house. She wants to leap into their arms and smother them with kisses but she is (slowly) learning that this is not acceptable. She’s learning to sit when we open the door and to not bounce at the visitor. She does respond to a firm “no”, and you can tell that she’s trying really hard not to bounce (she’ll do a sort of a “sitting bounce” where she’s in a sitting position but bouncing ever so slightly, just managing to keep her paws on the ground – and all the while wiggling her bum!) but sometimes she just can’t help herself. She’s getting much better though and it’s taking less time for her to settle once the visitor has come in.

All in all life with Bonnie is never dull; she’s hard work but she’s learning and improving all the time. She’s like the little girl who had a curl, from the nursery rhyme? when she’s good, she’s very, very good but when she’s bad she’s horrid! She has the sweetest nature and will more than happily give and receive many, many cuddles and kisses (given half the chance she will sit on your lap to do this, and she’s no light weight!) and when she’s tired she loves nothing more than to fall asleep being cuddled. She’s very pretty, very loving, very big and a right royal pain in the backside at times. But then, she is the Princess?

Minnie – 9 month old female American Bulldog Cross

Please meet Minnie our 9 month old American Bulldog cross. Minnie is still a puppy and certainly behaves like one!! She has bundles of energy and loves exercise, playtime and generally being made a fuss of – it is very hard to wear her out! As far as we can tell, Minnie hasn’t yet had any training, so she is looking for new owners with lots of time to dedicate to starting this and lots and lots of walks!

Minnie will be fully vaccinated and up to date on her flea and worm treatment. We will offer a voucher towards her neutering if she is homed locally. If you are interested in offering lovely young Minnie a home, please contact Becky on 0208 669 8877 or email on riversiderehoming@btconnect.com.

Roxanne – 5-6 year old female American Bulldog Cross

Roxanne is a 5-6 year old American Bulldog Cross. She is a lovely, big, strong girl who loves cuddles and long walks. Roxanne is OK with some dogs but not with others, and will need a family who can give her the exercise she needs for her size. She is very affectionate and well behaved – she will sit and give her paw on demand. Roxanne has been in kennels for over a year now and would love to find a new family who can give her the home she deserves. Carlton Forrest Kennels, Worksop, Notts open 1.30pm till 4pm everyday for viewing. Please call Trudie on 07597049231.

Star – 10-15 month old female American Bulldog Cross

Star/White Fang is a female, 10 – 15 months, female, American Bulldog Cross girl. Very Strong girl who is still a pup full of energy! She’s not an extreme case and does settle after a good walk, but enjoys to engage in play, with a like minded canine. This girl has been: Vaccinated, wormed, micro-chipped,neutered and de-flead. Currently living with 10 other bull breeds and children, she shows no bad ways towards them. A very special girl, and learns very quickly. If you are interested, please contact us.

07853235843 info@walkerscreekrescue.co.uk

Eddie – 18 month old male Staffordshire Bull Terrier cross American Bulldog

Eddie is a handsome 18 month old Staffordshire Bull Terrier cross American Bulldog. He is good with older children and other dogs. He is on foster in Redditch but we home across the UK. Eddie was taken from a vets last year – he was next on the list to be put to sleep because he had aggression issues. An extremely kind soul saw past his problems and took him out the back door.

One of our fosterer’s heard about this and took him in. She observed that from his behaviour when he first arrived, he had been beaten, starved, given very little access to water and was kept confined most of the time, giving him some issues that needed dealing with. He was also a testosterone fuelled maniac who displayed both fear and anxiety aggression, and who had severe trust issues with men. Wow, I hear you say. Well, everything changed for Eddie the day he was castrated – he went to the vets hating the world and came out later that day a completely different dog. I have never seen such a change in a dog in a matter of 6 hours – in fact, my friends call Eddie my neutering poster boy because they remember him as he was. He went back for his post op check, and the vets exact words to me were ‘He’s a lovely dog – he’s just a bit nuts’.

Now Eddie is a much calmer dog, although he likes to have what his fosterer likes to call a ‘Springer’ moment, and has a mad half hour where he runs around, but generally he’s chilled. He still eats quickly but he doesn’t guard his food bowl anymore – he prefers to eat in his crate as he likes the security. Eddie is crate trained, and can be left for up to four hours provided he is crated. He will chew beds with fluffy fillings, and likes wood but hasn’t been destructive in the house – he keeps it to his crate or the garden. His fosterer has to limit his water – he drinks like he isn’t seeing it ever again and he will make himself sick if he drinks to much, so his fosterer monitors how much he drinks, and just offers it to him more often. He is still a little unsure about men, but tends to back off rather than switch to ‘eat’ mode since being parted from his testicles – he loves women, and will be more of a woman’s dog. Doggy friends should be either at least his size or chunky, and he likes to play rough – he’ll have a go at dominance with ther other foster dogs in the home but backs off if one of them gets in his face. He should go to a home where his new owners have had bull breed experience – he needs a firm but affectionate hand, discipline and a steady routine. Eddie is housetrained but will occasionally leave a little present during the night – we think there may be a behavioural reason for this, and understandable given his past. This boy needs patience, understanding and love, and we know the right person is out there for him.

Given his past, Eddie has come a long way and deserves a forever home. If you’re interested in adopting Eddie, please read our adoption guidelines and procedure; http://friendsoftheanimalsrct.org.uk/animalsforadoption.html
Before completing a pre-adoption form; http://friendsoftheanimalsrct.org.uk/dogadopt.html If you have any questions then please do ask