Hello, friends!
We’re aiming to send you a new letter on the first Saturday of each month. This introductory edition is arriving outside that schedule as we get The Bulldog Dispatch started.
For the first issue of The Bulldog Dispatch, I want to go back to the beginning. Before Fattitude Bulldogs, there was Gabby.
A Bulldog Face and a Beagle’s Hunting Skills
In 2015, I got my first Bulldog from a coworker. Gabby was a Beabull—part English Bulldog and part Beagle. She looked exactly like an English Bulldog, but she had some of the hunting skills you would expect from a Beagle.
I grew up on a three-acre property just outside Akron, Pennsylvania, bordering approximately twenty acres of woods. Gabby’s favorite pastime was hunting groundhogs. Her looks might have said English Bulldog, but her interests told the rest of the story.
A Difficult First Litter
When Gabby was two years old, we had her bred, and she had nine puppies.
We were not prepared for how difficult raising Bulldog puppies could be. We lost seven of those nine puppies.
Going into it, I had assumed that because Gabby was part Beagle, her mothering instincts might make things easier. Boy, was I wrong about that assumption. We had much more to learn than I realized.
That first litter was a difficult beginning. It is part of our story, and I want to be honest about it. We came away with a much better understanding of the work involved in raising Bulldog puppies.
A Saturday Trip to Virginia
After I married in 2018, I decided to use what we had learned and begin raising purebred, AKC-registered English Bulldogs.
One Saturday afternoon, I went to Virginia and brought home a beautiful lilac English Bulldog female. She was just over a year old and had never had puppies. That trip was the beginning of our next chapter—and where Fattitude Bulldogs really got started.
Making Room for Family
At our largest, we had six English Bulldogs that we were raising puppies from. Then, as our children came along, we realized something needed to change. We were spending too much time on the Bulldogs and not enough time with our children and family.
So we cut back.
Today, we have Willow and Gigi, our two purebred, AKC-registered English Bulldogs. They enjoy life on our three-acre farmette in Akron, Pennsylvania, and our family has a smaller group of Bulldogs to care for.
There is a simple reminder in that decision: ask God for wisdom about what belongs on your plate, and be willing to make room for the people He has entrusted to you. For us, that meant recognizing that our time with our children needed more attention and making a change.
That is where we are today. The Bulldog Dispatch will be a way to share a little of this life with you: our dogs, our family, and the stories along the way.
We’d Love to Hear From You
We’d love to get to know the people reading along. You’re welcome to email us at dispatch@fattitudebulldogs.com and share your name, town and state, and a favorite pet photo.
Thank you for reading our first letter and getting to know the family behind Fattitude Bulldogs.
Until next time, Jamie and the Fattitude Bulldogs family
A Bulldog’s idea of compromise: you move over, and he gets the whole couch.