‘Obi’ the American Bulldog finds his forever home:

The EDDR voluntary run helplines receive enquiries every week concerning the training, welfare, rescue and rehoming of American Bulldogs and American Bulldog crosses. The breed has become very popular over the past couple of years but seems to be without an established breed rescue, which leaves the larger all breed rescues or smaller groups to do their best and help dogs as they arrive either through private owners or local authority dog pounds.

Some rescue centres have no experience or knowledge of the breed and appearances can sometimes be daunting, but as this story shows appearances are often deceiving and the American Bulldog, just like any other large breed deserves a fair chance based on his personality and not any label which may have been given by someone unfamiliar with his true character.

Few dogs do just land on their feet and end up in loving homes without the need to enter a rescue/kennels, meet ‘Obi’ the American Bulldog who couldn’t get a rescue place anywhere as everyone was either full or not too keen on the breed, but in the end he won over the hearts of his foster family and now has his forever home, he owner Debbie writes:

Eight weeks ago we took in an American Bulldog as a tempory home for three days until his new

owners were able to take him home. Unfortunately that home fell through so we decided that he could stay until a new one could be found. As you can imagine going from no dog to an American Bulldog was a huge step. The dog arrived with his belongings and a huge crate that filled the kitchen, after a re-shuffle of the house Obi moved in, that’s when I came across EDDR, their team was on hand to provide help and support when needed, unfortunately I have never had the pleasure of meeting them, a good thing for Obi – as he was not to need a rescue placement after all !

He arrived a nervous shy dog but even then had that something indescribable that had captured my heart, all along I kept telling myself that whatever we did for him would benefit his new owners, so along came the new bed, the expensive bones that are ‘ indestructible’ - believe me he could shred a toy in minutes!

We went for long walks to our local reserve, the walks got longer and more enjoyable each time, we introduced Obi to many new things that he hadn’t encountered before, bikes, prams, people, carrier bags, shadows at night, day by day he gained trust in us and confidence in himself, for the first time in his life he was trusted to run free off of his lead and not once did he make any attempt to run away. Our family became happier, healthy, and eager to go on new walks, I didn’t believe I would ever hear children ask to go on a walk with the dog.

People were coming to visit - to meet Obi!!

We spent many evenings discussing the "whys and what ifs" remembering we never intended to home him. But the inevitable happened, he had worked his magic, this shy nervous dog had changed into a confidant very caring gentle giant, proving himself with a litter of kittens from our cat, I couldn’t imagine something so big could play so gentle and soft with tiny bundles, from a dog that chased cats to one that would gladly move over or off if necessary to allow kittens to share his bed. He had his teeth examined by our youngest son (6 yrs) played football and fetched sticks with the others (10 and 11). We made one of the biggest decisions of our life - Obi was here to stay.

I couldn’t believe the response I received from new friends I had made whilst researching his breed and family members that had also fallen in love with this big softy, everyone was chuffed and I was even told " it was meant to be, he was sent for you" and somehow I believe he was.

Never would I have ever considered and American Bulldog, truly I knew nothing about them, hand on heart I know that I have had the privilege of allowing such a wonderful dog to share our lives, we don’t have a huge house with a six foot fenced garden, just a dog that trusts us enough to stay within his boundary.

He he no longer spends his days in a crate, he has learnt not to chew and be destructive, so it goes to show you can teach and turn a dog around if you give them love, training, time and patience.
If you are thinking about homing an American Bulldog then I hope this story helps in your decision, they are gentle, kind, loving and very loyal to their owners, and not in any way aggressive to human or another animals once properly socialised and cared for.

You know most of our story and every day it grows, I forgot to mention that Obi's real age is 2 half years and not 18 months

Thank you EDDR for being there with friendly advice and giving me the escape route should I have ever needed it, I really hoped I never would and time has proved this.

Obi’s owner - Debbs in Herts.