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This page was last updated: December 27, 2010
At Norcal's American bulldogs we strive to produce confident, social puppies that will excel in whatever their owners wish to do with them. We start by picking breeding stock that is genetically sound and will complement what we are trying to produce. We have a goal for each breeding and we pick parents that will genetically complement each other. Once the puppies are born we start imprinting them almost immediately with daily handling exercises. We expose each puppy to a small amount of non-traumatic stress; this small amount of stress if beneficial to brain development. With each handling exercise the heart rate raises causing a hormonal reaction in the adrenal-pituitary system making the puppies' immune system stronger. This helps them to become more successful in dealing with stressful situations later on in life. Puppies that are handled from an early age are more confident, people friendly, and outgoing than puppies that are not handled from an early age. At about ten days we start separating each puppy from the litter for a short period of time; this also helps with immune system development. At two weeks of age we start clipping the puppies' nails and getting them use to many different types of handling. We cradle the puppies on their backs; we handle their feet, mouths and tails. Again, all these exercises help the development of the puppies and help to create a much more confident and outgoing adult dog. As the puppies develop we introduce them to a multitude of ground surfaces (wood, gravel, grates, grass, cement,
plastic, etc), we start taking them on individual car rides,
crating them separately for short periods of time, introduce
them to other pets, dogs, and children, expose them to a
variety of sounds (vacuum cleaner, pots and pans, children's
noise makers, etc), and introduce them to water. When the
puppies are old enough to walk we introduce them to our
puppy sized agility course (tunnel, A-frame, teeter-totter).
We start teaching the puppies “sit”, “down”, and “come” as early as three weeks and by the time they go home each puppy will sit, lie down and come on command. We start bite work development around four or five weeks and get them comfortable biting on different material. We reinforce bite-inhibition with each puppy and teach them that it is more fun to bite and play tug with a toy than it is a hand or foot. We have an independent party come in when the puppies reach seven weeks of age to conduct temperament testing. We keep notes on all the puppies in regards to temperament from the day they are born and use this in conjunction with the temperament test. We are looking for things such as level of dominance, sociability, drive, recovery, stability, and environmental confidence. We sell our puppies in order of pick so if you put a deposit down on second pick you get the second pick after our first pick is confirmed. We do not allow owners to choose which puppy they want until after the seven week puppy test. In the end this seems to work out a lot better! The puppies will have VERY different temperaments and we don't want a HIGH drive puppy going to a pet home or a low drive puppy going to a working home. We want the families that take our puppies to have a good match. Raising each litter is very time consuming but the effect it has on the end result is well worth it; we produce well rounded puppies that develop into well-rounded adults.A little about our breeding program....
NORCAL OFFSPRING
Please click the links above to see our current puppies, planned breedings
and previous litters.
Puppies will be sold in order of pick; which means the first deposit we receive will have first pick male or female. However, as the breeder we reserve the right to refuse the sell of puppies to homes that may not be suited for that particular puppy's temperament. We are breeding for working (protection sport, obedience, agility) dogs and thus often have high drive, extremely active puppies. While it is not our goal, we will have pet quality puppies in every breeding. Pet quality puppies are puppies that will be better suited for the home environment (i.e. lower energy level, etc.). Our working puppies will drive the average family crazy because of their extremely high drive. They are even more destructive and hard headed then the average puppy and thus are not suited for pet life. These types of high drive dogs excel in homes where they will have a job thus these are working quality puppies. It is our responsibility as a breeder to ensure that we are best matching puppies to the homes where they will eventually live. Pet quality in no way implies that the puppy will not be suited for the conformation ring.
Many breeders will let you pick your puppy as soon as they are born (or sometime before six weeks of age). Usually the picks are based on color, size, etc., with little regard to the puppy's overall temperament. When we breed a litter of puppies we put hours of time into raising the litter and we know each puppy's individual temperament. We keep notes of the each puppy's development and progress. At seven weeks of age we have an independent tester come in to test the litter. The tester will look for things such as sociability, willingness to work with and for a person, prey drive, food drive and confidence. The results of the temperament test along with the notes that we have kept since birth will help to guide our puppy buyers to the puppy that will best suit their needs.
Picking Your Puppy
Please consider Adopting an American Bulldog from your local shelter! We occasionally have rescue dogs available for adoption for a small fee to cover spay/neuter surgery.
