The story of how you got your bulldog ...

[kazzy220]

So here is my story of how we got Maggie ....

Tom (hubby) and I had already decided we should steer clear of anywhere that had puppys ... rescues and pet shops ... cos we are suckered into going home with one EVERY time.

So one saturday Tom and my daughter, Juliet, go into our local pet shop for hamster food and come home with pics of an english bulldog puppy on Juliets phone.

The following Friday they are back in there for some other stuff for the hamster and toys for the dogs. This time however they get this EB puppy out cos she's still there. As he leaves the store, Tom says he looked back at the puppy who had been put back, and she was sat with her back to him but looking over her shoulder at him and watched as he left. This is now a Maggie look - she does it so often.

Later that Friday, we all went as a family to our local family-run Mexican restaurant which is fantastic. They all know us in there cos we go so often. My husband orders me a jumbo strawberry margherita .. and tells the owner to give it an extra shot of alcohol. I laugh .. until I get it .... ... but it was SO good ....

As we leave, Tom suggests we go visit the pet store again and see the puppies. I say OK .. he says "If we go there we will be leaving with the english bulldog puppy". I laugh in my jumbo strawberry margerita haze. After all, we'd both decided that there were to be no more puppies. We were not even supposed to be puppy window-shopping!!

So we enter the store, and get the EB puppy and get to play with her in the petting bit. One and a half hours later of haggling and bartering (my husband seriously can't buy anything at the original price ..... I refuse to go car buying with him cos we are there for HOURS) ..... we end up walking out with our EB puppy.

I think Maggie may be here because of a jumbo strawberry margerita....


I do have another story about how we got Daddy ... but it will be interesting to see everybody elses stories!

 

[KMARINO]

[MENTION=959]kazzy220[/MENTION], , well at least it was a puppy!! My second son who is now 23 is the results of Margaritas!!

I got re-married after being divorced for 14 years a year and a half ago, when my husband ask me what I wanted for a wedding present I said English Bully!! He had no idea about the breed I THOUGHT I did, I knew NOTHING until I found this site and Vegas was ate up with yeast and allergies. We got married in Sept. and we adopted Vegas in Oct. Vegas was 4 1/2 months old when we adopted him from a previous owner that worked 12-14 hours a day and poor Vegas was crated that long every day. What a blessing. I still am in contact with the previous owner and send him photo's we are both grateful for what each of us did for the benefit of Vegas.

 

[Bailey McCandless]

After the wife and I had our 4th child I decided 4 was enough for me so I go to my dr and get "fixed". After our baby turned 2 my wife starts seeing all theese pregnant bellies and says I want another baby. I said if I really wanted another child I would not have went and got the procedure done. She even starts talking about adopting. Once again I told her if I wanted more kids I would not have went to the dr. I joking w/ her said we can get a dog, but it has to be one I pick out. For weeks we look and talk but always just kinda laughing it off. Then I came across some people that breed bully pups. I told my wife this is it. So i called around and just didnt never feel right. Then I found a site to a breeder. There I found the pup I had always wanted and after just starting out being a joke I went and put a deposit down on my baby. We have now had him for going on 4 weeks and I already want another one. LOL . But that is how I came across my "Baby Blake".

 

[Daphne]

I got my first bully Molly in 2004 much the same way you did!!! the stories are eerily similar but Molly passed away in 2009 just shy of her 6th birthday (kidney failure). Just before Molly passed, I brought her to visit my mother in the nursing home and befriended one of the supervising nurses there who brought her bully to work with her every day, turns out she is also a bully breeder. Molly passed away (unexpectedly) a month later and my new found friend said I could have pick of her next litter. A "litter" did not occur after waiting 9 or so months but she put me in touch with the breeder she "sires" from and that's how I met the breeder whom I acquired my baby Daphne from in October 2010. Mom has since passed away also this past November, but because of her I was able to connect with the right people to get Daphne. Daphne is almost 7 months old now and is the absolute love of my life.

 

[Chunksmama]

My husband has wanted a bully since he was about 4 years old (His mom says it's because of his big brother's bootcamp graduation in the marines - there was a bully there and that's all he wanted was to see him! He ended up getting to meet him and just loved him.). So we've been researching and researching since we started dating; and literally ALL of our friends knew we wanted one.

Well, one day our friend Shane (whom we both worked with when we started dating) calls and says, "I'm gonna make your dreams come true." Turns out his friend had to get rid of Chunk because her and her bf broke up, neither of them could take care of them on their own. This was a Friday, Shane said he'd get him Monday for us (she wanted one last weekend with him, plus it's an hour and a half away so he would get him on his way home from work). All weekend I worried and worried - what if she changes her mind? What if he doesn't like us? What if we can't afford the care that he needs? We kept the secret from Julia so as not to disappoint her if things didn't go through. Monday came and so did Shane with Chunk! I was instantly in love with my "husband's dog" ... who's now MY baby.

I believe he came to us at the right time for us and him. I still talk to his previous owner and she plans on coming down to visit him this spring! He is so so so loved. He knows it and uses it to his advantage! :D

 

[LisaMarie]

The story of Mocha ~~~~

So my daughter has always been an animal lover and when she was 11 started campaining for a dog. i mean this girl had lists of the things she would do with the dog all typed and very professional.Everyday when we would get home from work she would start her campaining over the reasons why she needed a dog.

So I said to Her -Go online and search for a breed that is not hyper, that requires the minimum amount of exercise, that does not bark constantly,that is not a big animal and that is a loving dog-. So she searches for days comparing breeds and comes up to me with a list(english bulldog on the list) She then starts looking for a rescue on line and came up with a french bulldog and a basset hound. My job now was to convince Scott about the idea of having a dog. He did not want one at all. We go to the shelters and both adoptions fell through because our yard not being fenced all the way. One day a friend of mine comes over and tells me that her friend who has a bulldog has 4 english bulldog puppies for sale left.I called and told her the amount I had set for the sale. She said no, to low. So I was sad but I understood. A few weeks go by and I get a call from her saying, if you want the puppy come and get her now(She has little kids and I guess it was to much for her) i get in the car with Scott(whom was not that happy) get to the house and walked inside the house to find the 4 puppies all wagging there tails and Bella the momma. I leaned over and picked one up and the lady says to me-That is the one that I told you about- i was in love and so was Scott!!! (oh and its not my daughters dog is mine)Josephine soon discovered that it is hard work owning a puppy and quickly it became Scotts and my job to take care of her. Glad to say Scott loves her so much and its always bragging about her to anyone that wants to listen(or not)

 

[Bella'sMom]

How we got Abby. I had a bulldog growing up, so I knew the breed.
We had Sophie (our Belgium Malanois) for a year and she had become "Terri's Dog" she slept next to Terri, she sat next to Terri, she adored Terri. I wanted a "Me" dog. So just before my birthday Terri said she would get me, yes ME, a dog of my own. I wanted a Bulldog. I had to agree to cleaning up all the slobber and drool, because she "wasn't going to deal with all that"
So I started looking, searching the internet and looking via breeders, some local, some within Fl and Ga. I finally found a Bulldog puppy listed in the Jacksonville paper....$600, Yeah right. We agreed to go look and she her. She was sweet, living in a trailor with cages floor to ceiling. The owner said her sister bred Bulldogs in Ga and she bred Hound dogs and they would split litters to sell. Dad was there but mom wasn't. We had a close friend come with us and she kept saying...This isn't good, this is how they say you shouldn't buy a dog. Terri and I agreed, at that price any dirty red-neck would pick her up and make her a yard dog. I didn't want her to get in the wrong hands. The "breeder" agreed to let us get a vet check before deciding. So we headed straight over and she checked out fine. We paid for her and brought her home. We considered that we rescued her from a probable bad situation and if she had any issues, we had the funds to take care of her.
I can't tell you enough, she is MY dog. She is by my side every minute I am home. Now with Bella there is competition to sit on my lap etc...but they work it out. Terri has since fallen in love with the breed and the slobber and drool. Yes even she will clean it up.

Bella, I was just ready for a baby in the house. But by this time I talked to other owners, including members of the local meet-up. Everyone I came into contact refered me to the same breeder. Ha, "Breeder" , I will explain later. I watched his puppies via the internet and when I fell in love with one, I contacted him. That dog had been sold. About 2 months later I ran into him at the Ga/FL game and he had some pups with him. I jokingly said to him "if you take Credit Cards I will get one from you" He said he DID. About an hour later he was at our RV With pups. I loved the tan boy, He said that that was one of his favorites also, I looked at Terri and said, I want another. She stated "if you buy, I am fine with it, I bought the last one" So I decided on the boy, however, Terri had other thoughts, she only has had Girls and only wanted a girl. The Breeder did warn us that too many girls is not a good thing at times, but she wanted a girl and the only one there....Bella. Well the rest is history. For those who know, Bella got real sick and was sick for months. We figured out the "Breeder" was actually a importer and has been reported to the city as a mill. But we think of it as Bella coming to us for a reason. If someone else had had her, there is a huge chance she would not be here today.

 

[speechmom53]

WOW LisaMarie...your story sounds a lot like ours!

My daughter, who is 11, started asking for a Bulldog puppy. We are constantly on the run and I kept telling her that we can't get a dog......mainly because I knew I would be the one taking care of it. She kept bugging and bugging, so I finally told her that if she wanted to puppy it was going to be her responsibility (waking up through the night, feeding, cleaning, etc.). As all kids who want something, she said "ok". I told her she was going to have to do all of her research on the breed before I would consider it. I bought her 3 different books that we both read. We both did research online and started looking around online for breeders. If we were going to get a dog I needed it to be a puppy. We found a wonderful breeder about 2 hours from us and 2 weeks after the litte was born we went to visit. This was the end of October 2010. My daughter just thought we were going to see the puppies, not actually get one. When we got there we instantly picked our little guy up. It was meant to be. He was the fattest and laziest one out of the bunch and his coloring was beautiful!. I handed him to my daughter and asked her if she liked him and she said "yes". I asked her if she was sure she liked him, when she said yes again I told her "happy early Christmas!" Her face lit up and was surprised that we were actually getting a puppy. We got to visit him 3 more times until we actually got to bring him home. My brother, who is in the Army, is stationed in Alaska and we went there for Christmas this past year. Our breeder was more than happy to hold on to our little guy until we returned when we took the 4 hour round trip after a 12 hour trip from Alaska because we couldn't wait any longer to bring him home. As LisaMarie mentioned about the responsibility, Tubs has become my baby boy! My daughter plays with him and takes him out when I ask her to, but that is about it. She is a little upset that he comes to me more than her, but he's no dummy, he knows who Alpha is in this house! LOL.

I grew up in a Lab household. My dad is a hunter and says that if you can't use a dog for anything then they are "waste of time dogs". I would never have picked a Bully if it weren't for my daughter, but I have absolutely fallen in love! My dad picks on him, but he doesn't hid his love for him very well! He even went up to the breeders with us to our 2nd visit and held all of the puppies and played with mom!

I do have to say that our Tubby Boy has also filled a void in my heart. I had my daughter when I was 19 and didn't find my husband until I was 28. We just got married last January. I have always wanted to have another baby. I loved being pregnant and I wanted to have a baby with my hubby. This past year I had some medical scares that could have affected me having kids and my hubby has a family history of a genetic disorder. We are not sure if he has it, but he could pass it on to an childern we would have. I was in a dark place realizing I wouldn't have anymore children. This little guy has warmed my heart and has eased that void. He is my baby boy! I have to laugh too because my daugheter never slept and I say he is the baby I never had because that is all he does!

I would love to get another bully, but he deserves all of our attention now. Plus I am afraid that our next bully won't be as good as our Tubby Tubs. I was not expecting him to be this good!

 

[reallyrob]

I had been wanting another English Bulldog to replace my male that had passed away a few years earlier. I wanted a puppy, but could not justify spending that much money in this bad economy.
I had just purchased a house where I grew up and I went into town to go to PetCo. When I got there, I saw a friend and she asked me if I was there to adopt a new pet. I told her NO! The next pet I get is going to be an English Bulldog..
After I told her that, she said, "So you really want a bulldog?". I told her I did and she got on her cell phone and made a call. She then hung up and told me her son wanted me to come by his office. I went to his veterinary clinic and when I got there, he had me come into the back. The first thing I saw was Bertie! She was such a gorgeous little puppy, then I saw the other two little males. These pups were 12 weeks old. I was then told that a lady brought the mother in for a C-Section and after the babies were delivered, she never came back to pick up her dog or the pups. When she dropped off the mother, she left her breeder book with the AKC papers for the pups. We all think that she knew she couldn't afford the C-Section and the maintenance for this breed and thought it would be best to leave them at a vets office.
Anyway, I got my precious Bertie just for the cost of her first shots, which cost me $40. The Vet spayed the mother and kept her and he found homes for the two males.
It's funny how things happen!

 

[cadillactaste]

We've had bulldogs for 20+ years...The best story though is how we came to get Sarge. It's the one I share most with people so I'll share it with you today. We had just put Butchie our collie/shepherd mix dog down after 16 yrs. of a good run at life. My youngest who was in preschool was having the most hardest time coming out of the grieving process. We lost Butchie a week before Thanksgiving. And I was NOT...I repeat NOT going to train a winter pup. I had my heart set on spring...when there is NO snow on the ground. That set...I put out my feelers. And got in touch with a few breeders who were known and respected. Some had puppies currently. And I stated..."No...I'm looking for a pup come spring". And continued with my search. One couldn't promise me anything...but put me on their call list.

So my husband had a doctors appointment and we're an hour from home...on the highway and had a motorcycle pass us. And he says like always..."He could SOOOO see us on doing that." [I came upon an accident of a friend on a motorcycle...I would NEVER ride one and am quite vocal about it] But years have passed and I'm used to his lil' comments. And I countered it with something I never said in my life of being married [16 yrs. at the time] I look over at him and say ,"Honey the closest thing you'll ever have to owning a Harley is if you get a dog and name it Harley." I thought it such a cute statement that I laughed at myself...

That night...I go online to check my emails...and the one breeder I had contacted...Sent me an email. He had a pup...he knew I hadn't wanted one just yet. BUT...he knew from talking with me that my son was really struggling with his grief over our senior dog who had passed. And...that I could say no. That he didn't have the pup at his place. But the breeder had used his stud...HARLEY!

I responded back...that at his website there is no stud named Harley...and he said...Oh forgive me...That's not his registered name. We just call him that.

I told my husband...WE HAD TO HAVE THIS DOG! I didn't care what color it was...or anything. Only that after 16 yrs. of marriage I had NEVER made a silly comment about naming a dog Harley...after his teasing of wanting a motorcycle. And that it was FATE. Called the woman that night. He had been the pick of the litter...And possibly a show pup. But something with the woman's taxes and she wasn't getting back what she first had thought. She no longer had the funds to purchase the pup in full. I explained..."I was looking for a pet...not a show dog" She said...she had talked with Mac [The breeder who was her mentor and who she has used his stud dog for this litter] And that she felt that this puppy was meant to come to our home to comfort our son. So for us to wait a couple years...before neutering to make sure we wasn't wanting to show...and then if at that time we still wanted only a pet. We could neuter him. She also had another call to put out if we chose to pass. Because she had to leave town and this pup was to be gone already. But due to the woman not being able to take him...was still there. So she was going to call the other person if we chose to pass. But she had to leave beginning on the next week. [This was a Friday] So we said..."WE'LL TAKE HIM"

So my spring pup...came in the winter...as we headed out in our Jeep Liberty...calling for 14 inches of snow...we headed to the other side of Mansfield,Ohio. And...when I saw him...my heart melted. He was just what my son needed at the time. But he's so much my baby now. What's funny is...he had this HUGE nose rope. And I honestly thought I wasn't fond of thick nose ropes. But I love them! How can I not? It's part of who he was...

He's been the healthiest bulldog to date...not even an ear infection with this one. And he's now goodness...five years old!

 

[Mike Blaylock]

Wow! Most of these stories are from dogs in Ohio......Hmmm? Maybe an Ohio romp is in the making here? Anyways.........I had just had my 50th birthday party back in 2005. It was the event of a life time......as well it should be because I saved 2 years for it......practiced with the band for two years.....invited all my in laws and out laws and friends.......had free beer (that always draws them in (even if they can't stand me) and pulled pork bbq. The band played......... with me playing my upright bass for over 6 hours and we where exhausted (and a little drunk).:bust: Anyways.......it was the high tide of my life. Things quieted down.......my wife's depression started coming back..........and we both felt a huge void in our life's. My wife had always been dead set against having a dog of any kind. Then her sister got a pug and she loved that dog. She started coming around to maybe a small breed wouldn't be bad.
Weeeeeeeeell, it was Memorial Weekend about two weeks after the big bash.......My friend lives down in Berea Ky. and invited me down. Normally I hate driving holiday weekends on I-75 but I needed a break.......soooooooo.........I went southbound and down. When I got there....he told me he had to go to Hazard Ky. tomorrow to rescue an English Bulldog. Weeeeeeeeeell, I wasn't crazy about the idea because Hazard was another 3 hours
across the bottom of the state. But.........I said okay, weeeeeeell, I drove (I reckon I knew that was coming) When we got there I met Duke. The elderly people who had him.......just were terrified that Duke was going to knock their grand children down the concrete steps in the front of their home. They had got him from a rescue shelter where he was dropped off after his short military career in the Marine Corps. The couple gave us Duke. Later...... on the way home...... my friend knowing a little bit about the breed (knowing they need constant care an air conditioned environment) and knowing he had no air conditioning down on the farm...... and knowing what a sucker I was........said, "He's yours iffin you want him." Weeeeeeeeeell, I definitely wanted him. Soooooooooo, I called the wife.......I told her he was a puppy and almost full grown, (Liar! Liar! pants on fire!) and that he was too small and lazy to ever get on any of our furniture. (That's more lieing that I ever did in all of our 25 years of marriage combined). Anyways.......she said yes..........So Dukeyboy came home. The first thing he did was jump up on to his chair! (He claimed it) To which the wife just looked at us both irritated. But he was good......he never had an accident in the house.......he slept (in his chair) most of the time.......so gradually he worked his magic on the wife.......and now she's the proud Momma showing pictures of her baby on her cell phone! She taught Duke how to sit. He brought her out of her depression and gave purpose to our lives. However........he kept growing.....and growing......and growing.....for the next year and a half. When he reached 2 years old he weighed in at 87.7 lbs....which is where he still is coming up on his 7th year. Making him one of the largest (if not the largest) English Bulldogs. I gotta add........I didn't know diddle squat about English Bulldogs when I got him........but because of his love and my commitment to him.......we have enjoyed each others company a long while.......and I'll forever love him. It was the best birthday present ever!!!!!!!!

 

[BruceP]

Gracie's story begins with me loosing my job Oct. 09. I headed a dept. and did all the purchasing for a large nursing home. It was sold to a company that specializes in nursing homes and of course there way of running things differed from our way so my dept. was basically eliminated along with my job. With the severance, personal time, and unemployment I didn't need to be searching too hard for a new job. Besides, I was 64. Who is hiring 60+ people these days besides Walmart for greeters... LOL. Anyway, I turning 65 Aug 3 and I went to social security to sign up... I was then officially retired. Lari said I needed a companion to spend my days with. I had never had or even cared to have a dog but had always said the IF I were to have a dog it would be an English Bully because I had a friend when I was a teen that had one and he was way kewl.
The search started for a bully. We contacted a rescue group that does only EBs but they were playing their power games (yeah, I know, its all about the dog.... bull) so by the time they got around to contacting us we had found HRH. She was a 3.5 year old breeder momma in MO. and we are in WI so we bought her sight unseen except for pix and had her shipped to WI. There are a lot of mills in MO from what we are told but for some reason we just trusted the breeder. Princess Gracie turned out to be every bit what the breeder told us about her and more. She absolutely RULES!!!!!!!!

 

[sheshistory]

Good topic!

My most interesting bulldog acquisition was my first dog, Bentley - mostly because I didn't want him. (I know, I know!)

When my fiancé (now husband) Dave and I bought our first home, he immediately started begging me for a dog. I didn’t want one at all. I was never a “dog person.” Blame it on being nipped as a child, but I never wanted a dog. But to be fair, I went with Dave to look at puppies and dogs faithfully for about a month at the Humane Society. We saw so many dogs but they were so big and so active and I wasn't sure. I sort of liked the English Bulldog's good looks and I found an ad for Bentley in the paper. The last of his litter, Bentley needed a home. He was four months old. So we went to see him and as soon as we saw him, I knew Dave wasn’t going to let me go home without him. So Bentley became part of our family.

It wasn’t long before I realized I had no idea what taking care of a dog entailed. Bentley was noisy, he drooled, he peed, he stunk, and he wanted my attention all the time! Besides, I was a neat freak and that doesn’t exactly work with having a bulldog. After a few days of crying, whelping, and being naughty, I reached my breaking point. I was trying to study for my doctoral exams at the time, which was tremendously stressful, when Bentley decided to slurp up some water and drool on my laptop then chewed up some of my papers. I had enough.

When Dave came home, I told him Bentley had to go – we were in over our heads, I said. Dave was resistant of course, but in the end, I was the one taking care of Bentley so I began to search for his new home. It wasn’t long before I realized that I need to get Bentley neutered before he found his new place as he had taken to humping my leg. So without a second thought, I made the appointment. Drop Bentley off the night before, pick him up the next day after 4 PM – no problem. Or so I thought.

The day came to drop Bentley off at the vet’s and I ended up having to take him by myself. So we went into the vet’s office, Bentley oblivious to the plan I had hatched against him. As we waited, I watched Bentley go back and forth between my legs, looking up at me and I felt a little something in my throat. This feeling began to rise and before I knew it, I was in tears. I didn’t want to leave him. I didn’t want to leave my little doggy.

By the time we got into the vet’s office, I was hysterical. Bentley hid behind my legs, sure that his mommy would protect him. Bentley went for surgery but I was positive at that moment that I’d fallen in love with him somewhere along the way. I didn’t want to be away from him ever again.

It’s not a thing I am proud of but it’s a story I like to tell whenever people think they cannot change or a dog cannot improve their lives. Bentley has improved mine in so many ways that the only way I could think of to say thank you, is to get him a brother and best friend to hang around with all day. Enter Linus!

Anyway, that's pretty embarrassing...

 

[kazzy220]

Good topic!

My most interesting bulldog acquisition was my first dog, Bentley - mostly because I didn't want him. (I know, I know!)

When my fiancé (now husband) Dave and I bought our first home, he immediately started begging me for a dog. I didn’t want one at all. I was never a “dog person.” Blame it on being nipped as a child, but I never wanted a dog. But to be fair, I went with Dave to look at puppies and dogs faithfully for about a month at the Humane Society. We saw so many dogs but they were so big and so active and I wasn't sure. I sort of liked the English Bulldog's good looks and I found an ad for Bentley in the paper. The last of his litter, Bentley needed a home. He was four months old. So we went to see him and as soon as we saw him, I knew Dave wasn’t going to let me go home without him. So Bentley became part of our family.

It wasn’t long before I realized I had no idea what taking care of a dog entailed. Bentley was noisy, he drooled, he peed, he stunk, and he wanted my attention all the time! Besides, I was a neat freak and that doesn’t exactly work with having a bulldog. After a few days of crying, whelping, and being naughty, I reached my breaking point. I was trying to study for my doctoral exams at the time, which was tremendously stressful, when Bentley decided to slurp up some water and drool on my laptop then chewed up some of my papers. I had enough.

When Dave came home, I told him Bentley had to go – we were in over our heads, I said. Dave was resistant of course, but in the end, I was the one taking care of Bentley so I began to search for his new home. It wasn’t long before I realized that I need to get Bentley neutered before he found his new place as he had taken to humping my leg. So without a second thought, I made the appointment. Drop Bentley off the night before, pick him up the next day after 4 PM – no problem. Or so I thought.

The day came to drop Bentley off at the vet’s and I ended up having to take him by myself. So we went into the vet’s office, Bentley oblivious to the plan I had hatched against him. As we waited, I watched Bentley go back and forth between my legs, looking up at me and I felt a little something in my throat. This feeling began to rise and before I knew it, I was in tears. I didn’t want to leave him. I didn’t want to leave my little doggy.

By the time we got into the vet’s office, I was hysterical. Bentley hid behind my legs, sure that his mommy would protect him. Bentley went for surgery but I was positive at that moment that I’d fallen in love with him somewhere along the way. I didn’t want to be away from him ever again.

It’s not a thing I am proud of but it’s a story I like to tell whenever people think they cannot change or a dog cannot improve their lives. Bentley has improved mine in so many ways that the only way I could think of to say thank you, is to get him a brother and best friend to hang around with all day. Enter Linus!

Anyway, that's pretty embarrassing...

Aaww ... that's such a nice story! Nothing to be embarassed about at all!!!

 

[mammyglicks]

We lost our Lab, I have a beagle and didn't want anymore. My son wouldn't shut up about a puppy and started doing research on EBs. A breed I wouldn't have chosen off the top of my head. Did my research, discussed with the hubby at length. Time of start of my research until we got Bear, about 1 month. Best decision of my life and I haven't had one bad moment with him at all.