Who we are
We are Sascha and Britta, and this blog is ours. At the centre of our everyday life are two Old English Bulldogs: Amadeus and Mila, both purebred, both also visible on our social channels — not as the mascots of a brand, but as family members who incidentally appear in public, too. Sascha has kept aquariums for decades — a different school of patience. Britta spends the hours that do not belong to the dogs preferably with friends, over a long evening that takes its time.
Under the name Amadeus_OEB we run breeding and consulting around the Old English Bulldog. Out of this work we are often confronted with owners’ questions — and with the answers the pet trade, advertising, online forums, and the many good veterinarians offer in parallel and sometimes contradicting one another.
Why this blog
Over time, the plan is, this is to become a small lexicon: not exhaustive, but reliable. For every question we get asked more than twice in our daily work, a text should at some point sit here that accurately reports the state of research, names the commercial interests, and ends with a workable suggestion.
Three principles — because we would not be able to take ourselves seriously otherwise:
Substance before sentiment. The dog world has many creeds — grain-free = species-appropriate, a harness is always better than a collar, wolf = dog. Some of these sentences hold up against the research; some do not. We test which.
Named sources. When we claim something, we say who found it out — name, institution, year, journal. We do not quote studies show formulations. Anyone who wants to verify a claim should land on the full text in two clicks.
No marketing language. We do not recommend anything that we cannot recommend on solid evidence. Advertising terms like premium, natural, or species-appropriate have no legal definition; we avoid them, or name who coined them for what purpose.
What we will write about
The topics fall roughly into three fields:
- Breed-specific. Old English Bulldog: temperament, health, breeding base, line work, young females, stud dogs. What our own experience with Amadeus and Mila yields — and what the small but growing body of breed-specific research contributes.
- Dog keeping in general. Nutrition (grain, BARF, fresh food), equipment (leashes, harnesses, collars), health, training, socialisation. Everything an owner needs to know — and what the pet trade rarely explains in depth.
- Economics and politics of the topic. Who actually develops food varieties? How does the harness market work? Which research funding sits behind which recommendation? Sometimes a look at the money helps one understand why an opinion holds so stubbornly.
An initial focus: dog food
We open — naturally — with what ends up in the bowl every day. As with humans, the choice of the right diet decides not only short-term tolerance but long-term well-being in the dog. The difference: the choice is not made by the consumer, but by someone who has to find their way around an opaque market — the owner.
In our consulting we see the same pattern again and again. The owner acts to the best of their knowledge — which, however, stems largely from advertising messages on television and social media, from influencer recommendations, and from the assortment policy of the pet trade. Particularly at the start, when acquiring a puppy, the sheer number of options is overwhelming. Manufacturers use this overload with skilful marketing: premium, natural, species-appropriate, organic — terms without legal definition, advertised with forest imagery.
What is often missing is the sober information. Many labels do not openly declare what proportion is actually meat and what amount of filler — pulses, potato extract, cheap cereal fractions — closes the gap. The dog eats and thrives visibly at first; the deficiency symptoms appear with delay and are then often attributed to disposition, stress or age. In veterinary practice the consequence shows up: chronic skin problems, allergies, digestive disorders, over the years also contributions to cardiac disease. The emotional burden on the owner and the financial extra cost are the observed result of a decision made years earlier under inadequate information.
We have set out to dissolve this asymmetry a little. Anyone making a puppy enquiry to us has for years been given initial-feeding advice as well — free of charge, because it is part of the responsibility we owe to the breed. On the blog we work the topic through in individual posts — the current selection is shown in the overview below and under the matching tags. Each text stands on its own, is backed by peer-reviewed sources, and ends with a workable suggestion.
Who writes here
Editorial lead: Sascha and Britta. Occasionally guest contributions from external authors in the dog world, clearly marked. Editing and fact-check: in-house, before each publication. We welcome pointers, corrections, and honest criticism. Anyone finding an error should tell us — the correction appears in the next update.