American Bulldog (Medium Risk Brachycephalic Breed)
The American Bulldog originated in the UK and descends from the Olde English Bulldog, a Mastiff type dog, rather than form the smaller English Bulldog and does not share a lot of its foundation with other American bully Breeds. There are two distinct lines or types known as the Johnson or Scott lines. The American Bulldog was not recognised as a breed in the US until 1999 and is still not fully recognised by the AKC.
The American Bulldog is a Brachycephalic Dog and does suffer from Common BOAS issues however, being a larger dog is not affected to the same degree as the smaller English bulldog and not all dogs within the breed are affected to the same degree. We class it amongst the Medium risk breeds for our purposes. Its not a breed we have seen common issues with and this may come down to their relatively stress free nature as compared to some bulldog breeds. Stress is a major contributing factor, along with heat, in the incidence of a Brachycephalic animal suffering Airway obstruction and any dog that is prone to stress or anxiety due to separation from owner, meeting new people, being caged etc should be considered at high risk during any form of transport even if they are typically relatively heat tolerant.
Like all the low & medium risk Brachycephalic breeds as they age or if they are overweight they tend to be less tolerant of heat and when stressed or anxious they have extra risk during transport so we therefore ensure that owners are aware that we will make transport decisions as best we can based on the information provided by the owners rather than requiring veterinary checks and that there are additional terms & conditions they need to be aware of and accept.
Along with BOAS American Bulldogs also share some other common health problems such as a number of eye issues, respiratory tract disorders and heart conditions with other Mastiff based breeds.
