Bulldogs

So I recently adopted a baby bulldog. This is Atticus in the picture. I have had one in the past, but he was unfortunately not bred properly. Because he was my first, I had no idea the homework necessary to be done before purchasing. He was fairly cheap in bulldog standards. But it was a present from my Dad and the location was close to my hometown. When he was about 3 years old, my mom told me the breeder had been shut down. We don't know the details, but if there were more like mine I can understand and they deserved to be shut down. By then we already knew something was not quite right. He was mean and aggressive. I absolutely loved him though and went to great lengths to keep him away from situations to where he could hurt someone.

I was on assignment in New Orleans when he had his first seizure. It was slight, but I am an RN and was certain he was having seizures. He was diagnosed with epilepsy and I had to put him to sleep about 6 months later when it was too obvious he had something more than epilepsy. The meds weren't working anymore. One Friday night I came in from a concert and he didn't greet me at the door. I'd left the TV on for him so I thought maybe he hadn't heard me come in. I found him on the floor in my bedroom so I laid in the floor with him and tried to pick him up on to my stomach when he let out a scream that made my heart stop. I figured out something in his neck was hurting him so I carefully placed him in the bed and we slept the rest of the night. He was moving better the next day but I took him on to the vet.

The vet decided to keep him over night to do some tests and watch to see what his seizures looked like. He called me the next day and was beating around the bush, trying to break something to me easy. I told him to just tell me straight up and he said he was sure it was a large tumor in his brain. They could see that it was growing down his spine. I asked if I could bring him home for one more night.

The vet shot him up with dexamethasone and gave him some morphine. We ate ice cream and sat in front of the TV. I was crushed. I cried all night and held him. My mom was visiting that weekend (Thank God) and she drove us back to the vet. She prayed during the injection. My heart has never felt such a loss. I have lost before, but this one was so different. That was 3 years ago.

But now I have another little man. We are getting along just fine. I had let myself forget how much I love having a baby around. He was born the end of March and currently we are getting better at potty training and awaiting his final vaccination/rabies shot so we can begin socializing with other doggies. Puppy class begins end of August. I hope we don't flunk out!!