The Big H!

Huey as a baby ... look at that face!

Wendi, a teammate from WKU, asked an interesting question the other day. She wanted to know if our English bulldog, Huey, can run and jump with other dogs. She has a dalmation who is very active and ran into another English Bulldog at the dog park the other day that held his own.

The answer ... YES! Huey is, by far, the most active english bulldog I have ever seen. He is a bit tall for his breed (maybe an inch), but is incredible with his strength. My mom has a hard time walking him because he wants to go so hard, so fast. (He has already broken a leash!) He has leveled off at about 70 lbs, but he can't come to terms with it. I firmly believe that he thinks he is a 15 lb lap dog. Those who have been around him can verify this. I lovingly refer to him as a "billy goat" because he loves to climb. He starts at the floor and then proceeds to make his way to the highest point of the room that he can manage. Like a cat, he gets on the back of chairs and the sofa and scales his away across the tops of them. One morning, I was getting ready for work and came out to the kitchen just in time to watch Huey climb onto the kitchen table!!!! There was a chair pulled our from under the table and he proceeded to climb onto the chair and then onto the table. At the time, he was probably about 50 lbs, but still!!! He is incredibly nosey too!

Huey now as a Big Guy!

He loves to go for walks and run and play. We don't let him loose in dog parks with other dogs because he would never stop. He likes to run and run and run and he sometimes can't figure out his limits. He will start to pant when he is tired, but he will just keep on going. So, we try to refrain from letting him go long times with other dogs. Eric is great at walking him and when it is warm (no rain and and above 30), I too join in the festivities. We can be found around the neighborhood quite often on excursions! We have a fenced in back yard, but Huey loves his leash and loves to be walked. In addition, he loves to be in control on a walk. If he wants to stay in one spot for awhile, he will put his entire body down to the ground and "bare down." He can be impossible to move so you have to get some tension on the leash and give it an old heave-ho to get him moving again.

Having grown up around English Bulldogs all my life, I have been accustomed to raising them this way because it is best for their health to keep the active. Many people think of fat, lazy, wrinkled dogs when they think of the breed, but ours have never been that way. We keep them quite active and they have better lives because of it. I love reading Wendi's stories about Scrubs (the dalmation) because you can tell he is truly part of the family. Huey is the same way. Just last night, we spent a great deal of time together on the couch snuggling. Huey will get up with me and lay his head on me so that he is close and can be petted. Here recently, he has taken to my belly and wants to put his head on it. (Must be those keen senses that he knows something is going on in there).

He cannot stand to be left out and wants to be with us and much as possible. If Eric and I are on the couch, most likely Huey is on the couch. If we are going on a trip, he will get MAD if he gets left. One time, I was packing for a bball trip. I made the mistake of leaving my suitcase on the floor and leaving the room. When I got back to the room, there was my suitcase with no clothes in it ... only Huey. He had proceeded to pack himself :) We have gotten smarter and now put our bags on the bed when we pack, but he still knows. Many times he will go climb in his crate and turn so his backside is facing us. When you try to get him out, he just looks at the wall. Or if he is really mad, he will go somewhere in the house and pee (thank goodness this doesn't happen often).

So, to answer your question Wendi, yes, Huey is incredibly active. I don't have any recent pics of him here at work with me, but I will try and post some of him in "action" for you when I get home. He is a great pet and I am so glad that we added him to our family.