Expert: English Bulldogs ( Marie ) e-mail me at mpmaltese@gmail.com - 5/22/2011

Question
hi there ,
my boyfriend and i bought a three year old olde english bulldogge
we've had him for a week & we've just fallen head over heels for him. Leo , is , truth be told , the best dog my boyfriend & i have ever come in contact with. we just have some questions & figured here might be the best bet , without going to the vet. anyways,
a) our leo has some problems at night . he'll relax in the yard with us all day but as soon as it gets dark he feels the need to run off , or bark consistantly . might this be protection of some sort?
b) hes absolutely wonderful with his food . he'll wait for me to say okay after putting him in the sit stay position . hes fine with leaving his toys . bvut we recently bought him a busy bone and he growled and snapped at my boyfriend after he went to take it away . i havent seen him do this with anything else. my boyfriend leaned down and he just snapped.
c) hes been licking his paws . like a crazy man . might this be a yeast build tup or what? and his eyes are also really red all the time ?

sorry to bombard you with this . but if you could answer those , that would be just fantastic. we feed him beneful chicken . which is what his previous owners fed him , so we just continued with it :)
thanks so much ,
tianna , leo , and anthony

Answer
HI Tianna and family; I can help with the licking of the paws... The other 2 questions can go to our behavior experts.  

The Excessive licking may be habit, anxiety or the allergy (yeast) build up.
Here is my post of this subject - some good help is found here:

Valerian for OCD licking:
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Boston-Terriers-3377/2009/9/Excessive-licking-boston-...

(the NuVET product can be shipped to Canada, call for more info)

The other quetions I am sure are EASY to fix -  I would rather the Dog trainers give you advice:
SEE our Dog Experts/ Trainers here:
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Dog-Training-3333/


HOPE this helps!

Marie Peppers LPN MA
My Healthy Pet  Blog/ NEW info often

http://bulldogvitamins.blogspot.com/