English Bull Terrier and Miniature Bull Terrier Breed Information: Exercise
In general especially the young Bull Terrier needs a lot of exercise. However, some people may misinterpet “exercise” as the need of long walks around the block. In fact, walking your Bull Terrier will not really be a successful exercise for her and even walking for an hour will not be sufficient for her to let off steam. Exercise for a Bull Terrier means: Mental and physical challenge and variety. This is why you will find it hard to interest your pooch in a long walk unless you are planning on all kinds of activity, meeting people or doing other interesting stuff along the way. Fancy never liked walking too much, neither does Mila as far as it concerns walking in our very calm and rural neighborhood. Chasing after a ball for an hour – well, that’s a whole different story!
Proper physical exercise for a Bull Terrier could be a diversified walk/run course in the woods or at the beach, chasing balls, frisbees or after a flirt pole, playing tug of war, chasing or hanging on a rope tied to the thick branch of a tree, pulling weights or walking/ swimming in shallow water, obstacle courses … you get the idea.
Bull Terriers in general are agile and very good sprinters on the short distance. They are NOT marathon runners. Bull Terriers are prone to getting overexcited and overstraining themselves up to the point of injury and organ damage. One reason is their very high pain tolerance.
Fancy once broke her toe during play. It happened, because she made an abrupt stop and all the power and energy of her moving weight concentrated on one point, which one toe was not able to withstand. We noticed her shaking her paw for a second, but that was it for the moment. Then the ball chase went on and we thought everything was alright. Well, it wasn’t. But that did not surface until she had walked back home with us, got to rest and then finally seemed to realize that something was wrong. By the way, once they HAVE noticed their misery, they sure CAN act very pitiful and be sorry for themselves. 🙂
So it is a good idea to not let the Bull Terrier get too excited for her own and safety’s sake. It is also not a good idea to put Bull Terriers under long-term load, because that may effect their joints and their heart. This does not mean, that you can’t go on a bike ride with your pooch and let her walk beside the bicycle. But that should be on an occasional basis and completely omitted in warm climates.
Speaking of warm climate:
Some Bull Terriers also love to lie in the blazing sun. All white Bull Terriers may need sunscreen, because their skin is very sensitive. And you should have an eye on them and call them out of the sun, if you feel that they are overdoing it. Dogs CAN not only get sunburn, but also sunstroke! This is also the reason why you should NEVER, EVER, leave a dog in your car during the hot summer months!!! Not only is it cruel, it can kill your dog!
If your Bull Terrier loves the sun, make sure that she always has access to plenty of fresh water! In very hot climate dogs drink up to 1/2 cup of water per every two pounds of weight. That means a 42 pound Bull Terrier would need 10.5 cups or shortly over 5 Pint of water A DAY!
Training for the champions
Also obedience training and learning tricks is a great exercise for your Bull Terrier.
The Bull Terrier is often described as one of the harder to train dog breeds.
As I have never trained another dog than a Bull Terrier, I can really not decide, if this is true or not.
What I CAN tell you is: Don’t get discouraged by the statement above! Just because your Bull Terrier may be harder to train than other dogs, this does not mean that she is not able to learn at all and that training will never be fun. I will continue to gather a lot of fun and useful training tips in my articles about dog training. Please feel free to browse through them and learn how easy it is to have fun with your Bull Terrier and get her to learn something useful at the same time. I will frequently provide more dog training information. Also I have a lot of tips and tricks ready about how you can entertain your Bull Terrier.
We even have created our own Bull Terrier Fun Iphone App to help with Bull Terrier training. Check it out and let us know, if you like it!
Prepare to get involved …
… because interaction is what your Bull Terrier desires. But there are some also special tricks to keep her busy at least every now and then on her own.
Rest assured that one day your energetic, hyper Bull Terrier will settle and become the calm and confident companion you will enjoy so much. Don’t forget to enjoy every step of the journey, they develop so quickly!
[…] in general are a handful of work. When it comes to Standard Bull Terrier or Miniature Bull Terrier puppies in particular, you may often wish you had two additional hands. Some say Bull Terriers and […]
I have a nail bullterrier I got him when he was eight weeks so he’s eight months old now he looks just like the target dog I’m not quite sure I know you can’t be a miniature bullterrier I’m not sure if he’s a English bullterrier but I would love to send you a picture of him his name is Zeus and he’s weighing in right now at 54 pounds and 3 ounces I was just wondering how much more bigger is he going to get
Hello Donna,
I would love to take a look at your sweet Bull Terrier – just because I can’t get enough of seeing them. I bet people often recognize the “Target dog” :).
Feel free to send me a picture at [email protected]
He probably is a handful, not only in terms of personality – which we all love so much – but also keeping that all white coat shiny and bright. Don’t they love a nice mud puddle. 🙂
In general it is hard to predict the eventual size of a puppy. Zeus will still grow at least a little (dogs of this size usually grow until about 12 months old).
In order to estimate his eventual height at the age of eight months the best bet is to take a look at the parents, if possible. If they are pretty similar, Zeus will likely end up similar as well. If one of the parents is significantly taller and heavier that the other, comparing Zeus to both of them can help to find out, who he seems to follow.
His weight sounds like he is beyond the size of a Mini already. But in order to predict the eventual size, also his shoulder height is an interesting factor. If he is beyond 14 inch already, he is not a Mini.
I don’t know, if you measured him when he was 8-9 weeks old. If he was beyond 8 inch at that age already, chances are he will end up on the bigger side. Comparing the size of the babies in the litter can also give a hint of the outcome in relation to each other.
But after all, it’s a lot of guessing. At the age of around 12 months he should reach about his final height. Some dogs continue to pack on some more muscle subsequently. Meaning they don’t grow any higher, but still a little heavier and compact. Males tend to grow taller and heavier than females, but that’s only a rule of thumb.
However tall he ends up – he’s a package full of love and fun! And isn’t that always the bigger the better. 🙂
Dorothea
Good day, I would like to know if it is possible for normal bully parents to have a miniature puppy. Our puppy is 10 weeks old and weighs only 3,55kg and her shoulder hight is 6 inches. She is a very healthy, active puppy.
Miniature Bull Terriers are an independent breed with their own breed standard as far as I know. There are definitions for weight and height ranges for Standard Bull Terriers as well as for Miniature Bull Terriers. But that does not mean that there can’t be any exceptions in either breed.
There are Miniature Bull Terriers that grow pretty big and beyond the defined limits. And there can be pretty tiny Standard Bull Terriers. Our last Standard was so tiny, everyone thought she was a Mini.
That’s nature and after all tiny Standard Bull Terriers are probably how the breed of Miniature Bull Terriers started in the first place: Selecting tiny standards and mating them, repeating breeding with the resulting individuals aiming for certain heights and weights. And voila.
At 10 weeks of age it is very hard to predict how large the grown individual will become. Look again at the age of 12 to 18 months.
There are three factors that influence growth: genetics, health and nutrition. Puppies need a lot of calories for their growth. If your puppy is free of any health conditions but you have the impression that your puppy is always hungry, for example, then maybe increase the food intake a bit and see it that also puts on some pounds.
I also strongly recommend the typical vaccinations and routine vet visits with the puppy. The vet can also tell you about abnormalities during those visits.
If the pup seems normal, healthy and well nurtured, just tiny … well, then just wait the development out and see what’s to come. The result in any case will be a wonderful companion.
Hello I was wondering if you’d know what shoe size a mini bull terrier would be
Shops sellig shoes for dogs usually provide tips on measuring the dog’s paws. The measurements are usually the basis of your order, not fixed shoe sizes by breed or so (it’s different from buying shoes for humans).
If you are trying to buy shoes online from a shop, which does not provide instructions on how to measure for ordering the correct size my recommendation can only be: do not buy there.
I love the Ruffwear products. Did you check those out already?
They are at the upper end price-wise but they are worth it and their measurement instructions give you a good chance to order the correct size.
Hope that helps.
Hello I’m curious can I breed my bull Terrier girl with my miniature bull Terrier boy and if so what what it be consider ?
Hi George,
if you have a male and a female nature says you could mate them.
But, kidding aside, this is a very comprehensive topic. Therefore I would like to refer you to a Bull Terrier breeder with tons of knowledge regarding this.
My own take on breeding, but that’s just me: First of all it is important to know that many modern dog breeds do have a lot of different genetic failures sitting deep in their DNA which are caused by crossbreeding and even inbreeding performed to create or promote certain physical features. Selective mating of certain individuals is how we came to over 400 different dog breeds today. Sadly not only features do reproduce and evolve, but so do genetic failures in many cases. The greater the extend of such genetic failures, the greater the risk for a number of ailments in the resulting dogs. These risks multiply when two individuals having such genetic failures and hereditary ailments – which sometimes the naked eye will not even notice – are being bred and so on.
This is why it is important to prevent the reproduction at least of known failures or in other words to not breed such individuals, which is why breeding comes with large responsibility. When we play nature and mate animals we take on the responsibility of trying to produce offspring that will be able to lead a healthy life.
Not to mention that every person who breeds dogs should be able to make sure that every puppy will land in responsible and loving hands, who are willing and able to handle the breed.
But enough from me.
I am very happy that you are trying to gather information on what to consider before making your decision.
I encourage you to post your question in this forum: https://bulliesofnc.com/BTforum/categories or talk to the owner himself https://bulliesofnc.com/. His name is Steve, he is an experienced Bull Terrier breeder and I am very sure that he will have a lot of valuable information for you.
Good luck in your endeavor.
Hi, my bull terrier just turned 8 months & weighs 21.2kg & is approx 40cm in height. I was told that his mum is a standard & that his dad is a standard/mini mix. Can’t confirm this as i bought him of a backyard breeder, although his dna test states ebt on both sides all the way back to great granparents. I don’t know how accurate these tests are & wether they make any distinction between the standard & mini. My question is, can i expect him to reach the standard height of 51cm & what weight is he likely to reach once fully grown? Otherwise, he is healthy & has not the greatest or the worst of appetites. Would love to hear your thoughts, many thanks.
Hello Steve,
predicting the size of your adult dog would be like looking into a crystal ball. There is hardly any reliable way to predict the final size of a puppy as far as I know.
If you know the parents and they are both the same, either rather small or rather big, that might be an indication of how the puppy could turn out. Or if you look at former litters of the parents and how much these puppies grew. That might give you a hint.
Maybe your vet has some ways of measuring certain features and then guess, similar to the way doctors assess the growth of human children. I do not know if such a thing also exists for dogs.
Other than that I am afraid you will just have to wait it out.
My girl had huge paws as a puppy, she still has. And a huge chest. And I thought she is going to grow pretty big. Turns out she didn’t.
Hey , can you please help to figure out perfect weight for mini bullterrier puppy , my boys is 10 months old .
Thank you
Anastasia
The average weight for a 10-month-old bull terrier can vary depending on factors such as sex, height, and overall health. However, on average, a male bull terrier may weigh between 45-65 pounds (20-30 kg) while a female bull terrier may weigh between 35-50 pounds (15-23 kg). It’s always best to consult with a veterinarian if you have any concerns about your dog’s weight or health.