As great strength of bone is greatly to be desired in Bulldogs, the puppies should be fed with a view to its increasing and strengthening in bone. Oatmeal is a bone-forming food of some value, but chemical analysis proves that its value as a bone food is not so great as is popularly supposed. If given to puppies, it must be thoroughly well cooked in the form of porridge, with a little milk. Thorough cooking is also essential in the case of rice or. any other grain, for if given in a half-cooked state the effect is irritating upon the tender stomachs of the puppies, and purging results.

A little finely shredded raw meat given occasionally is beneficial; stale brown bread soaked in good gravy, or a reliable puppy-meal with gravy, should form the staple food of the puppies, and now and again a little finely ground bone meal should be added to the food for the sake of its value as a bone strengthener and former, and if any puppy should be particularly weak in bone or be rickety, a little of Parrish's Chemical Food should be given it every day.

The motto for puppy feeding must be "A little and often" : six or eight times a day is not too often to feed freshly weaned puppies. The first meal should be as early as possible in the morning, and the last should be given the last thing at night. Good food, warm housing (but not coddling), and exercise in plenty are the three essentials for rearing strong and healthy Bulldogs. Puppies should be allowed all the liberty possible, and the more they have of it the better and the stronger they will be.

The Toy Bulldog has not been dealt with here. It will form the subject of another chapter.

The following description of the pure-bred Old English Bulldog has been compiled and adopted by the Bulldog Club (1875) as the correct standard type of excellence in the breed, after carefully comparing all obtainable opinions.

In forming a judgment on any specimen of the breed, the general appearance - which is the first impression the dog makes as a whole on the eye of the judge - should be first considered. Secondly should be noticed its size, shape, and make, or rather its proportions in the relation they bear to each other. (No point should be so much in excess of the others as to destroy the general symmetry, or make the dog appear deformed, or interfere with its powers of motion, etc.) Thirdly, his style, carriage, gait, temper, and his several points should be considered separately in detail, as follows, due allowance being made for the bitch, which is not so grand or as well developed as the dog: -

The General Appearance of the Bulldog is that of a smooth-coated, thick-set dog, rather low in stature, but broad, powerful, and compact. Its head should be strikingly massive, and large in proportion to the dog's size ; its face extremely short; its muzzle very broad, blunt, and inclined upwards; its body short and well knit, the limbs stout and muscular ; its hindquarters very high and strong, but rather lightly made in comparison with its heavily made foreparts. The dog conveys an impression of determination, strength, and activity, similar to that suggested by the appearance of a thick-set Ayrshire or Highland bull.

The Skull should be very large - the larger the better - and in circumference should measure (round in front of the ears) at least the height of the dog at the shoulders. Viewed from the front, it should appear very high from the corner of the lower jaw to the apex of the skull, and also very broad and square. The cheeks should be well rounded and extend sideways beyond the eyes. Viewed at the side, the head should appear very high, and very short from its back to the point of the nose.

The Forehead should be flat, neither prominent nor overhanging the face ; and the skin upon it and about the head very loose, hanging in large wrinkles.

The Temples, or frontal bones, should be very prominent, broad, square, and high, causing a deep and wide groove between the eyes. This indentation is termed the " stop," and should be both broad and deep, and extend up the middle of the forehead, dividing the head vertically, being traceable at the top of the skull.

The Eyes, seen from the front, should be situated low down in the skull, as far from the ears as possible. Their corners should be in a straight line at right angles with the stop, and quite in front with the head. They should be wide apart as possible, provided their outer corners are within the outline of the cheeks. They should be quite round in shape, of moderate size, neither sunken nor prominent, and in colour should be very dark - almost, if not quite, black, showing no white when looking directly forward.

The Ears should be set high in the head - i.e. the front inner edge of each ear should (as viewed from the front) join the outline of the skull at the top corner of such outline, so as to place them as wide apart and as high and as far from the eyes as possible. In size they should be small and thin. The shape termed "rose ear" is the most correct. The "rose ear" folds inward at its back, the upper or front edge curving over outwards and backwards, showing part of the inside of the burr.

The Face, measured from the front of the cheekbone to the nose, should be as short as possible, and its skin should be deeply and closely wrinkled.

The Muzzle should be short, broad, turned upwards, and very deep from the corner of the eye to the corner of the mouth.

The Nose should be large, broad, and black ; its top should be deeply set back, almost between the eyes. The distance from the inner corner of the eye (or from the centre of the stop between the eyes) to the extreme tip of the nose should not exceed the length from the tip of the nose to the edge of the under lip. The Nostrils should be large, wide, and black, with a well-defined straight line between them.