You may not know, but our family bred American Bullies and they were the best family dog. We have met so many great people along the way that own our productions and have become apart of their families. Breeding wasn’t easy. It became very tough at times. People may think that it is literally putting two dogs together and then having puppies. I am going to break it down to educate people on how much time, how much money goes into breeding. I hate when people try to put down dog breeders. Not everyone that breeds is “a backyard breeder” that just doesn’t care about the environment they are born in and how they are raised.
Whelping A Litter Of American Bullies
I did a ton of research on how to whelp a litter, vet costs in case of emergency, vet care, paperwork, etc. Our first litter in 2017 we had a litter of 9 American bullies. I actually took four weeks off of work to whelp this litter. I was up every 2 hours to make sure that they were being breastfed by mom and since it was kind of a big litter I had to put them in two groups to be fed. I know some breeders will just let the mom stay with the puppies 24/7, but I didn’t feel comfortable with that. I wanted to make sure the mom didn’t accidentally lay on the puppies. So, I made sure to set an alarm for every 2 hours for the first three weeks to make sure they were being fed.
I also had to make sure their bedding stayed clean because when they are under 6 weeks of age and haven’t had their first set of shots they cannot go outside. You never want to put an animal outside on the ground without their first set of shots. So, we went through lots of dog training pads, towels, blankets, etc. You also have to invest in a heat lamp so the puppies can stay warm for the first 2-3 weeks. They do not know how to regulate their body temperatures. A heat lamp is a must from the moment they are born.
Supplies Needed To Whelp A Litter
Here is a list of supplies needed to whelp a litter:
- Blankets or towels
- Training pads
- Gloves (always wear gloves when handling puppies without vaccinations)
- Bulb syringe (in case a puppy comes out and needs fluid sucked out)
- Heat lamp and bulbs
- Container or whelping box
- Nail clippers (I clipped the puppies nails at least twice a week)
- Colored collars (so you can keep track of growth when puppies look alike)
- Bowls (for food and water)
- Dog food
- Vet (need to do your research on a good vet BEFORE the puppies are to arrive)
- Camera (we took all of our own pictures weekly of the puppies)
How To Vaccinate An American Bully
Our puppies went to the vet at 2 weeks, 6 weeks, & 9 weeks for check ups. At the 2 week checkup the vet would start to check for cleft lips, heart murmurs, and start their deworming. Dewormer was given every 2 weeks (2,4,6,8,10 weeks). The 6 week and 9 week checkups were for continue check for heart murmurs, abnormalities, and vaccinations. Yes, you are able to sell a puppy at the age of 8 weeks, but we at Bullies Of Greatness chose to wait until 10 weeks so we knew our puppies had 2 sets of vaccinations before they went to their forever homes. After that, per our contract (yes we had a contract), the new owners needed to take their puppy to the vet within 48 hours of receiving their puppy. This way they could get their puppy on the vaccination schedule their vet recommended and also to show their puppy was free of any issues.
American Bullies Registered ABKC & UKC
We have American Bully puppies located all over the world. We have them here in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Our puppies and dogs were registered with ABKC and UKC as American Bullies. We screened every person that called and were interested. It was important that we placed our puppies into good homes that were going to take good care of them. We didn’t want our puppies to be chained up in their backyard all day long or eventually put into a shelter. Per our contract that if an owner was no longer to care for the dog, they were to give the dog back to us. We did not want any dogs in the shelters.
We did decide to walk away from breeding American Bullies. As much fun we had doing this and meeting some amazing people, this chapter has closed. When you do have dogs and puppies it does make it difficult to travel or pretty much leave the house for a long period of time. Our kids are getting older and we want to take on new adventures. All of our dogs are placed into good homes and the great this with social media is we get to see pictures of them all the time.
If you want to see more about our American Bullies check out our website http://www.bulliesofgreatness.com