We’ve waited to name all our babes, regardless of any rescue name, until we’ve had some time to spend with them. With our baby love, we had a list of a couple of names that “felt right” to us, but we waited a few days to a week (if I can remember) to officially decide his name. I’ve been food motivated and have had a food-based memory since I can remember, so it was no surprise that I wanted to name our boy Meatball. My comfort food is Albondigas, and I don’t know if I’ve met a meatball I didn’t like (cue another fave Khao Tom thai rice meatball soup). Our boy was my squishy meatball! However, every time I called him Meatball, my partner would crinkle his nose and squint his eye kind-of-look and exclaim that he was no Meatball, our boy was a “Rocky” most definitely. Even though deep down I completely agreed, at the time I couldn’t let go of Meatball, so we wrote his official name as “Rocky Loves Meatballs” on his AKC paperwork that to this day is sitting in a folder somewhere never mailed. Although I don’t recall it now, we also put “Rocky Loves Meatballs” as his official name on all his vet and insurance paperwork as well. I know this because someone manages to say his unofficial “official” name at appointments or I may see it written on documents and it always makes me giggle. My twenty-something year old self seems so silly to my current self, even though at the time of course “I knew everything.”
Fast forward twelve years and I couldn’t imagine my Rocky being anything but my Rocky Bear. Ok truth, I have SO many nicknames for him! In a recent appointment with our Death Doula, they asked what our nicknames for him were and I have SO many! Ok wait, maybe in my story I haven’t mentioned yet that Rocky recently received a terminal diagnosis. My baby boy, my protector, great love of my life. My love has been diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure secondary to Degenerative Mitral Valve Disease and he’s been given six months to one year from January to live.
******I interrupt your regularly scheduled broadcast for a random important message******
I’m a story-teller. I love details. I love explaining and analyzing and discussing. I’ve moved through life and connected in this way since I can remember. I’ve also been told by others on numerous occasions that I should “write a book” or “start a podcast” (once podcasts became prevalent). In the last few weeks I’ve received that message in abundance, so here I am, on this New Beginning. In addition to the urging and messages, I felt a call to begin writing so we’ll see where it takes us.
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I have a few goals with this New Beginning; to start writing, to share my journey with my companion animal and their terminal diagnosis in case it can help anyone else, and to document our beautiful history and commitment to making memories for however long we have left together in this sense of existence (totally other topic altogether, but will address in the future). Notice the descriptive words towards my love, Rocky. He’s not “my dog.” I don’t ascribe to the same ways of living many people in society do. I don’t follow all of the indoctrinated rules of society that I used to, and because of that, my Rocky Bear could never just be “a dog.” Rocky is my chosen family member. Rocky is my companion of another species. Major foreign concept alert: Rocky has bodily autonomy and I make decisions for his quality of life with that in mind. I’ve always been a self-professed “odd bird,” and the way our family lives and moves through life together is another example of that…with the caveat that it took us twelve years to get to this point.
Rocky is the quintessential “first child” although, I don’t treat Rocky like a human because, as a canine, his different species has different needs, but I am maternal with Rocky and I do show him love and care very similarly to that of any mother/child relationship regardless of species. It’s inherent to me to treat him this way, because as a canine living in a human world, our humanity dominates his species and the planet to a point where it would be impossible to know how his species would survive without human interaction/intervention. This is all outside of the fact that Rocky is also an English Bulldog; a human-made breed that requires human intervention for procreation.
The development of “Old English Bulldogs” can reportedly be traced back to 1210 when they were first used for bull/bear baiting. (Silver, 2022) In 1860, thirty-five years after bull baiting was banned, breeders began breeding bulldogs for show exhibition and temperament. In 1875 the Bulldog Club in England was incorporated and a health standard was established, and the Bulldog Club of America closely followed those same standards in 1894 and beyond. (Silver, 2022) Since 1894, Bulldogs of all kinds have been purposely bred with health goals and for the express temperament of being a family companion animal. Until humanity as a whole decides that puppy mills are not okay, we will keep seeing them, and they will continue to breed unhealthy genetics. There are breeders out there continuing to educate and do good work for this breed’s health and betterment; however, the reality is that this breed naturally has a lot of care needs to maintain good health.
Healthcare needs number one: wrinkles! One of the features of Bulldogs that many people love so much are the same thing that can be a source of discomfort and poor health. Let’s talk about yeast and bacteria! Yeast is a microscopic fungus consisting of single cells that reproduce, and are capable of converting sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide. Bacteria are a large group of single celled organisms that have the ability to cause disease and infections in humans and animals. Both yeast and bacteria can invade a bulldog’s wrinkles and create an environment that is uncomfortable, and if left untreated, can become increasingly debilitating. Think of a bulldog’s wrinkles just like you would a human baby or adult with beautiful fat rolls…they’re beautiful and we love them, but since the skin is the #1 barrier against infection in the body, we need to make sure the skin of those rolls stays healthy and happy! How can we keep that skin healthy and happy, you ask? Many ways! First and foremost, we need to ask ourselves WHY. If there is any Yeast or Bacteria overgrowth, oftentimes it can be attributed to allergies. Anyone who knows Bulldogs, knows allergies. In fact, I haven’t met a single Bulldog in my life thus far that didn’t have some variation of allergies and itchy scratchies.
Wow, I started out explaining my boy's diagnosis and here we are at the beginning with his allergies. Our allergy story is not unique, but is unique to us. Holy Allergy. WOOF. The body’s natural immune system process boggles my mind! I’m a self-professed “woman of science” and I love learning about how everything works, but the immune system and how it responds all willy-nilly with no seeming rhyme or reason, boggles my mind and can exhaust me as a family member and caretaker of a Bulldog.
Ok! That’s all we have time for today. I’ll write more when I can and we’ll see where this New Beginning takes us together! Thank you!
With Love & Kindness,
Your New Beginnings Nurse
Silver, C. (2022, October 21). Bulldog History: A Wrinkle in Time. American Kennel Club. Retrieved March 13, 2023, from https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/dog-breeds/bulldog-history-a-wrinkle-in-time/
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