Sampson
New member
- Jan 24, 2013
- 29
- 3
- Bulldog(s) Names
- Sampson
Yesterday we took our dogs on a walk (about a mile). Our 5 year old bulldog couldnt finish the walk (we had to carry him back). We went on the walk during the evening when the weather was rather cool. We feed him a raw diet and keep him lean (55-57lbs). At his recent check up our vet (who is a bulldog specialist) was more than pleased with his health.
Today Sampson is limping a little and he really doesnt want us touching his paws. We checked them for any debris and cleaned them just to be sure he didnt get anything in there.
It seems in the past 6 months he just hasnt had the energy level he had before, and I am starting to think he is just slowing down. However, do you think he could also be out of shape even though he is trim, and that we just need to keep taking him on walks to build his strength more?
I want to make sure he is getting exercise but I also dont want to push him too far and end up negatively impacting his health.
One other thing that we have noticed is when we talk him on longer walks he will start to breath REALLY loudly and the sound is really hard to describe, but it only happens when he starts to "burn out", the sound is almost as though he has phlegm build up in his throat or something. It just is alarming to us because the couple times it happened we really didnt think the walk would be that hard for him, since we had often taken him on much longer walks before. We always make sure to keep him hydrated, we dont walk him when it is hot outside, we walk at a mellow pace, and often take little breaks.
Since this is our first bulldog we dont know if this is just a normal thing for a 5 year old or not. We have a 15 month old italian mastiff and they play together every day, obviously not as long as the mastiff would like lol, but at least we know that the bulldog is active everyday so I dont feel as though he could be that out of shape.
Here is a picture of them
and here is a better picture of Sampson's body to judge his weight
Today Sampson is limping a little and he really doesnt want us touching his paws. We checked them for any debris and cleaned them just to be sure he didnt get anything in there.
It seems in the past 6 months he just hasnt had the energy level he had before, and I am starting to think he is just slowing down. However, do you think he could also be out of shape even though he is trim, and that we just need to keep taking him on walks to build his strength more?
I want to make sure he is getting exercise but I also dont want to push him too far and end up negatively impacting his health.
One other thing that we have noticed is when we talk him on longer walks he will start to breath REALLY loudly and the sound is really hard to describe, but it only happens when he starts to "burn out", the sound is almost as though he has phlegm build up in his throat or something. It just is alarming to us because the couple times it happened we really didnt think the walk would be that hard for him, since we had often taken him on much longer walks before. We always make sure to keep him hydrated, we dont walk him when it is hot outside, we walk at a mellow pace, and often take little breaks.
Since this is our first bulldog we dont know if this is just a normal thing for a 5 year old or not. We have a 15 month old italian mastiff and they play together every day, obviously not as long as the mastiff would like lol, but at least we know that the bulldog is active everyday so I dont feel as though he could be that out of shape.
Here is a picture of them
and here is a better picture of Sampson's body to judge his weight
