All of our French Bulldog puppies at Tralinka are sold as registered dogs with the MDBA (Master Dog Breeder’s Association). They are registered, purebred dogs, sold on the Limited Register, or the non-breeding register. This means they are NOT to be used for breeding, and they’re not eligible to be shown in conformation dog shows. They can compete in trials, retrieving or obedience events as pedigree dogs, and use their registration papers for that, but not for the traditional, Crufts type, “Dog Shows”.  The restrictions of the Limited Register mean that the boys are never to sire any puppies of their own, and the girls are not to have a litter. For the vast majority of people this is their goal. They don’t want to have puppies running about the place, pregnant females, or bitches coming into heat! Sterilization is the easiest way of ensuring there are no puppies, and we have always recommended our puppy buyers sterilise their dogs before sexual maturity (so before 12 months of age). This is especially important for the French Bulldog. They tend to have quite the temperament transformation on sexual maturity, and not for the better…

More recently we’ve started a program where we desex/sterilize all our puppies before they leave our care, to ensure everyone adheres to the governances of the “Limited Register”, and to avoid any confusion over when is the best time to sterilize. Our puppies are all microchipped before being sold, and their chips registered with the Australasian Animal Registry. This is a permanent form of identification and completely safe. All puppies will have received their first vaccination and have had a thorough vet check at 6 weeks of age. The vet check isn’t infallible, but their heart, joints, mouth, eyes and teeth, lymph glands, weight and overall condition are examined, and given the all clear. They will also have had a second vaccination at 10 weeks of age, and are desexed some time between 10 and 12 weeks of age, depending on their size and maturity.

All our adult French Bulldogs have been hip, elbow and spine scored, and the vast majority come back with very good scores. But we do understand that more than just genetics effects hip/elbow development, and sometimes a higher score is due to environmental factors. We’re certainly not going to “throw the baby out with the bathwater” if we have an exceptional dog or bitch that comes back with a slightly higher than acceptable hip or spine score, because we know that a dog is more than a set of numbers. We look at the animal as a whole, and will judge their value accordingly.  

Every one of our dogs has also been fully screened for all diseases that can be tested for using DNA. All the puppies we produce are guaranteed not to have an “affected” status with any of these genetic diseases. The world of DNA testing is one that is constantly improving, though, so every few years it’s necessary for us to update our information… unfortunately this means doing all the dna testing again. New samples. More fees. Sending the information off to be examined. Waiting for the results. But in order to stay up to date, that’s what has to be done.

Once we’ve had a litter of puppies born, we usually wait at least a week before contacting anyone who has put their name down for a puppy, or before putting up any notices regarding the birth of the litter. As much as it’s difficult to think about, losing puppies is a fact of life and we would never want to promise a puppy to someone and then have it fade away due to one reason or another. Usually by one week of age the puppies are gaining weight, feeding well and growing quickly, so we’re then happy to commit to sales. If we’re intending to keep something from the litter ourselves, then it’s not always possible for us to promise a particular puppy to a particular person early on. The puppies are usually 7 or 8 weeks old before we can confidently make our choice as to what we’re keeping. If someone isn’t able to choose a puppy themselves, then they can describe to us what sort of shape, size, temperament, colour shading of puppy they’d prefer and we’ll make a choice for them.

Puppies receive their first vaccination and their microchip at about 6 weeks of age, and by this age they’ve been weaned from their mother and are starting to play outside and explore the world. They receive a second vaccination at 10-11 weeks of age, and are desexed at the same time. They are ready to leave us between 11 and 12 weeks of age, depending on their physical development; smaller pups may get held back the extra week.  When people collect their puppies from us, each puppy comes with a “puppy pack”, which includes things like a few day’s supply of food for your puppy, to ease the transition from our home to yours, and an information package that is specific to your puppy. This includes their vaccination and sterilization papers, worming information, a feeding guide and other relevant documents. We are also available at any time for information or contact if you have any queries about your dog, or if you’re concerned about something your dog or puppy is doing or not doing.  Even if it’s the middle of the night, if you’re worried then feel free to contact us. We’d rather you interrupt us than be unnecessarily concerned, or your dog be in distress or discomfort. When you leave our home with your new puppy it need not be the end of our relationship, it can be just the beginning.