Because of their genetic background, bulldogs have several issues that earn them the title of "Walking Pathology Books" from many veterinarians.

Breathing Problems
Allergies
Hip Dysplasia
ACL issues
Active Gastrointestinal track

How Larry deals with these issues

Breathing Problems
Bulldogs have flat faces due to a flat bone malformation that affects their face, vertebral column, and tail.  The malformation of the face causes them to have smaller nasal/sinus cavities, elongated soft palates, and malformations in their larynx and trachea.  All of these issues consummates in variable degrees of obstructive upper respiratory disease.  They often keep their mouths open since many cannot breathe through their noses.  They are known to snore quite loudly when sleeping.  Even at rest, many bulldogs pant.  Their difficulty in breathing causes them to have trouble with high heats.  They are indoor dogs and are prone to heat stroke where the ambient temperature reaches above 80 degrees for excessive lengths of time.


Allergies
Like Golden Retrievers, Bulldogs can have severe skin allergies.  For reasons I don't understand, white bulldogs have more problems with allergies than any other color.  These allergies cause their skin to itch horribly.  The dog will scratch it continuously and cause a sore (often called a hot spot).  Another indication of an allergy flair up is the dog's licking and licking and licking and licking his paws.
The skin folds in his face and between his toes can get infected and get red or brown depending on the severity of the infection.  The ears can be affected, too.  The infection is both bacterial and fungal (yeast) and look horrible.  They can smell even worse.
How can these allergies be helped?  There is medicated shampoo that really helps as well as medicated pads for the skin folds and toes.  If the dog is bathed regularly and not left outside, he is able to control his allergies and have beautiful skin.


Hip Dysplasia
In simple terms, hip dysplasia is where the ball of the femur (back top leg bone) does not sit properly in the socket of the pelvis.  There are many degrees of hip dysplasia, and many  types of dogs are prone to dysplasia.  If the degree of hip dysplasia is bad enough, it can cause crippling arthritis and degenerative joint disease of the hips.  An orthopedic can help with treatment for the dog.  I have been told by our orthopedic that the best treatment is keeping the dog slim and trim.
Dogs with hip dysplasia should not be bred.


ACL issues
Many animals including dogs and cats use their ACL's in ways different from humans.  Because dogs' back legs are kept at different angles than a human, the pressure on the ACL is different.  The ACL does a great job of keeping the tibia from subluxing as the dog walks.  Bulldogs are so large, that heavy activity can cause the ACL to be pulled or torn easily.  The best treatment is surgery.  There are two options for surgery - (1) suturing the ACL or (2) changing the tibial plateau and removing the ACL.  The first surgery is the cheaper of the two, but has some serious drawbacks.  After recovery from surgery, it is just a matter of time before damage is done again.  The second surgery is much more expensive and is a patented surgery so can be conducted by only a few surgeons.  To be able to do the surgery, a veterinarian has to complete specialized training and receive permission from the inventor of the surgery.
Go to this link to learn more about this surgery.


Active Gastrointestinal track
Bulldogs have very active gastrointestinal tracks.  How does that really affect the dog and owner?  Some are sensitive to their food, so it will take time to determine what food is best for the dog.  NEVER feed your dog (or any animal) human food without permission from your vet.  It causes obesity and other problems.  Even with the right dog food, though, bulldogs can clear a room - quickly.


How Larry deals with these issues
Breathing Problems      Allergies      Hip Dysplasia      ACL issues      Active Gastrointestinal Track

Breathing Problems
    Larry is large for a bulldog.  The average adult male is 55 lbs.  Larry is a huge 62 lbs.  His entire body reflects that fact.  He is fairly tall and lean for a bulldog, and his face is large, too.  He also does not have as flat of a face many bulldogs suffer from.  As a result, his upper respiratory cavities are a good size for a bulldog.  Larry is very capable of breathing from his nose and does so most of the time.  He will pant when at rest, but his drool is minimal.  We live in Georgia, so he is affected by the hot summer.  His large head allows him to adapt more easily to the heat.  He is still an indoor dog, though.


Allergies
    Oh, while we were lucky with the size of his face, we do have a white bulldog.  Larry has chronic pyoderma, and it is a bear.  We bathe Larry once a week with mediated shampoo.  He gets his face and feet cleaned with medicated pads every other day.  He still gets his breakouts, though.  I thought he had poison ivy on his back once until I learned dogs don't get poison ivy.  He has grown tolerant to his last medicated shampoo, so our dermatologist is giving us samples of new shampoo they are trying out.  Yes, Larry has a dermatologist.  He is a wonderful doctor who has helped us keep Larry in gorgeous condition.  When we get lazy with his bathings, he gets pretty bad yeast infections in his facial folds and between his toes.  The medicated pads have malacetic acid in them, and they are wonderful.  If you have a bulldog with allergies, I highly recommend them.
    We did luck out with his allergies, though.  He is white, so they will be bad.  But, I have heard of much, much worse.  I met a bulldog that is allergic to grass.  She has a contact allergy that flairs up almost instantly after touching grass.  How in the world can the owner deal with that?  Easy - carry the dog.  Thankfully she is a small female, but she is still a large dog.  When it is time for her to "do her business,"  the owner has to carry her to a dirt patch in his back yard and carry her back.  This dog is not allowed outside much.


Hip Dysplasia
    Whether or not Larry has hip dysplasia depends on the orthopedic you ask.  He has a 50% misplacement of his hip.  Right now it will not cause a problem as long as we keep his weight down and his muscle development up.  Larry is a very active dog, so that should not be much of a problem.  We are told not allow his weight to get above his current 62 lbs.  I think the vet would prefer having it below 60 lbs, but he has not asked us to bring it down.


ACL issues
    Larry's problems with his ACL is how I learned bulldogs are prone to problems.  I have said many times that Larry is a very active dog.  His favorite games are tug-of-war and jumping for balls and sticks.  He became quite acrobatic with his jumps.  He could do flips and land very gracefully on his feet.  If he started to get close to an obstacle while in the air, he learned how to twist his body to miss it.  He always landed on his back legs first while doing his tricks.  He's not allowed to jump anymore, though.
    We noticed in February, 2006 that Larry was limping on his back right leg.  I didn't worry too much about it until it continued for two weeks.  I asked my father (a veterinarian) about it, and he suggested I take him to a specialist.  I made an appointment with the orthopedic at a teaching university.
    Larry was limping because he had torn a meniscus in his right knee.  But, that wasn't the real issue.  Larry tore his meniscus because the ACL's in both of his back legs were torn.  The subluxing of the tibia caused his meniscus to tear.  We have no idea when he tore his ACL's.  The only reason we knew anything was wrong was when he tore his meniscus and started limping.
    We opted for the second surgery which is explained in detail   here.  Larry's progress is also explained at that link.


Active Gastrointestinal track
    Larry eats regular dry dog food.  He does not have a sensitive stomach, but he does possess the active gastrointestinal track.  Larry can clear a room.
    He does have a possible hiatal hernia.  During recovery from his TPLO surgeries, Larry had trouble getting his digestive track going again.  He vomited a lot and almost died.  He's fine now, and does he eat a lot!!