My grandparents had a pet shop and dog kennel when I was a little kid. Next to your grandparents having a candy shop or ice cream parlour, it is hard to imagine anything cooler for a grandparent to have. Not suprisingly, we always had dogs or cats when I was growing up. I like a variety of dogs, and while Golden Retrievers will always have a special place in my heart, I cannot deny that ever since I was a little kid, I always wanted to have a Bulldog.Particularly after I house sat a delightful Bulldog named Humphrey back when Ian was little, right before Rachel was born. If you have ever tried to price a Bulldong, you know they are not cheap. For an English Bulldog puppy, you can expect to pay in the $1,000-1,500-or MORE for a Bulldog. Even a dog lover like me cannot rationalize laying out that kind of money for a dog.
As luck would have it, I worked with a lady named Tammie at United Health Care who raises Olde English Bulldogges. It’s a bully breed, but does not have quite the number of health issues that an English Bulldogs have. She knew how much I loved Bulldogs, and when her female had a large litter, she saved the runt of the litter. He was born with the sack still on him, and he was not breathing. Showing that dog lovers really will do ANYTHING for their animals, Tammie did mouth to mouth on the little runt puppy. She called him Buddha. At work she told me that she had THE PERFECT Bulldog in mind for me, and that I should come over and meet him. When me and my daughter Rachel went over to Tammies, we met Buddha, and we were smitten. We had a chance to meet both the father and mother, and both dogs were nice, muscular, solid, friendly and LOVED kids and other animals…We were sold. Luckily, Tammie knew I had a tight budget, and sold me Buddha at quite a discount for what she could have gotten for the brindle bundle of joy.
We liked the name so much,that the moniker “Buddha” stuck. He was SUCH a cute puppie. When I would bring him to Metropolis Rugby games or practices, very young, stunning women would approach me and Buddha and say “OOOH! Your puppy is SO cute…Can I hold him?” If I had been a single guy or a rogue, I could have done VERY well meeting women with Buddha. As it was, I got to meet some nice people.(“Honest Becky, it NEVER got past talking about the puppy”)
Well, Buddha is a year and a half now. He has dragged our elderly Golden Retriever, Rambeau, kicking and screaming into canine geriatric fitness. He helped make Rambeau more fit and fighting trim for an oldy Goldy. Buddha just LOVES our cats…
That’s Buddha with our Calico Emerald. Buddha loves kids, adores company-when people visit, his little bob-tailed butt just wriggles and writhes with Bulldog joy. He’s just 80 pounds of love…
Like having kids, cats and AFS exchange students, it is hard to imagine what our lives were like “BD”, or Before Bulldog.
i love your blog, great !