Your bulldog will enjoy a good brush with a bristle brush and you will need to care for him in other ways too. He will need his wrinkles wiped daily with a damp cloth or unscented baby wipes. Make sure you dry the folds carefully, adding a tiny smear of sudocrem as a barrier and to prevent infection. If your bulldog has a tight or screw tail, you will also need to give this a careful wipe with a clean cloth or baby wipes, debris can collect here so this is important. Afterwards, dry carefully. If your bulldog’s nose looks dry or cracked, dot a little Vaseline on and it will be good as new in no time. Make sure that the ears are clean and that his eyes are bright and clear, tear stains can be combated with a daily wipe over with Optrex Eye Lotion and cotton wool, not only is this safe for his eyes but Optrex contains Boric Acid that will lessen the stain!
This sounds time consuming, but in fact once you are used to the routine, it will only take a few minutes a day-your bulldog is worth it after all!!
One of the best things you can do for your bulldog, just as with any other breed of dog, is to fully research the breed before buying to make sure a bulldog is for you.

Exercise

Yes, bulldogs DO need exercise, but they do not need much. A half hour walk a day is minimum and don’t take no for an answer! Many bulldogs don’t like going for walks and can be very stubborn, so if you really can’t get yours to leave the comfort of his own home-and you are confident your bulldog’s lack of interest is not due to illness- make sure you make use of the garden to give him a good run about.
By nature, bulldogs are stubborn and although much healthier than their past cousins, can on occassion develop breathing problems or structural faults simply due to their genetic make up. So-always get him checked out by the vet if you are in any way unsure.Bulldogs are no longer fighting dogs and haven’t been for nearly 200 years. Your bulldog thrives on lots of human company so does not like being left alone for hours on end.

Health Problems

All pedigree dogs will have some potential problems associated with the breed, in fact any dog can be struck with problems at some point-some individuals more than others. It is important you take the time to research bulldog health fully so you have a good basic understanding. Here at Saxongold, we choose healthy dogs to sire pups from our girls, who themselves have a clean bill of health from the vet. Each puppy has a vet check before they are re-homed, so we are as sure as we can be that your bulldog puppy is fit and healthy. However, all dogs have the potential to develop problems later on and bulldogs are no different. Here are some possible problems to be aware of:

Cherry Eye

Where the gland under the third eyelid protrudes and looks rather like a cherry in the corner of the eye. Your vet will need to remove the gland (some prefer to tuck but it's not recommended). Occasionally removal of the gland causes dry eye, but dry eye is a very common bulldog problem anyway, regardless of if the dog had cherry eye surgery as a pup

Entropian:

Where the eyelashes have turned inwards and are rubbing against the eye, again surgery may be required. Don’t confuse this with stray eyelashes that are just growing astray, these can be plucked with tweezers (you may prefer your vet to do this). Entropian needs surgery - if left the in-turned lashes will scratch the cornea and the result will be a severely damaged, ulcerated eye, at worst blindness or loss of eye.

Elongated Soft Palate and other airway disorders:

Every bulldog has an elongated soft palate to a certain degree, this is because of the shape of their heads (ie: brachycephalic - short nosed). In most cases this causes nothing more than snoring, but in severe cases may cause your bulldog difficulty in breathing. Heat and exercise will cause loud, gurgly breathing, (commonly known as "roaring") and your bulldog may appear to be "lazy". The severity can range from loud breathing when excited, during/after exercise to total exercise intolerance, regurgitation of food to permanent breathing difficulties. The condition can be corrected with surgery and you need to be sure that the vet you chose to carry out this surgery totally understand brachycephalic breeds.

Tear Stains

If your dog has a white face you may find that over time the tears from his eyes cause his face to stain red. This may be attributed to the red colouring in the food he’s eating but this is not always the case, some bulldogs produce red tears and some don’t, those with white faces will have these stains more than dark coloured faces. A daily wipe with "Diamond Eye" eye wash will help.

Sore Wrinkles

Looking after a bulldog involves daily care of the face and the deep folds. Wash their faces on a daily basis with either a soft cloth and water or unscented baby wipes. Be sure to dry the face properly and then apply sudocrem to the folds, extra care is needed to the nose roll which in some bulldogs can be very deep.

Development Problems:

Because of the bulldog’s rapid growth it is very important that you keep weight, play and exercise properly managed during the first year, early joint damage could be permanent and may lead to osteoarthritis. Irregular growth in the long bones is very common and is almost always only temporary as the dog usually grows out of it by the time the bones fuse at about 9 months to 1 year of age. Hip/elbow dysplasia is genetic but can be encouraged by environmental factors (ie: slippery floors, jumping, overweight etc). Any puppy that shows lameness should be rested as it is not unusual during a rapid growth spurt, try not panic if your puppy becomes lame and don't ever allow surgery to be undertaken on growing bones - no firm diagnoses can be made until he is at least a year old anyway.