English Bulldog Journey

 It is official we are now starting to make our dog and cat door accessories available for purchase online. Until now we have  eschewed direct online sales as we are a small company without  departments devoted to these tasks. By virtue of being small we cannot make large quantities of products, preferring to maintain a high level of quality by making only a small quantity of pieces. We are taking our first steps with the English Bulldog that can be purchased as a leash hook, door pull, single knob or door knocker all of which are easily installed using the basic tools and by following our installation guide.

 The Bulldog, also known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog, is a dog breed that Martin Pierce grew up with. Martin’s dog, Sugar, was very typical of this breed being  hefty, muscular and with a somewhat squashed nose and wrinkled face. The breed is a descendant of the larger mastiffs which are said to have been introduced to England by the Romans. Whatever their ancestry this is one of my favorite breeds and feel their expressive jowls and wrinkles are well captured in Martin’s bronze sculptures.

At present the doorknob set can only be purchased by contacting us by email or phone as we need to ensure the set is correctly installed by a professional and the correct type of latch is supplied. While the simple tubular latch is easy  to install and is included in the door set customers will first need to check that their door stile is wide enough for the 3” backplate and assess whether their existing knob set has a square or rounded edge faceplate.

French bulldog gifts for owners

Why did we include the French Bulldog in our line of door dog knobs and door hardware? Well, the breed is definitely cute and its round head is perfect for use as a door knob but the reason is a more commercial one as the breed is the second most common breed for dog owners in the US and UK and hopefully will be one of our best-selling dog themed products.

French Bulldog Suitable for most Interior Doors

Thanks to Wikipedia I learned that the French bulldog was the result of English Lace workers from Nottingham who emigrated to Normandy France after their industry was decimated by the English industrial revolution of the 1800’s. These displaced migrants brought with them their English bulldogs and the ones they took tended to be smaller. It would appear that the local population were especially attracted to those dogs that had upward pointing ears and this characteristic was selectively bred into the breed that became the French bulldog.

French Bulldogs are often kept as companions, they rarely bark, and the breed is known for being both patient and affectionate and good at living with other dog breeds. As they are very people oriented, they tend to be easier to train than many breeds and clearly their size makes them ideal for smaller homes.

We began the French Bulldog design with a free-hand pencil drawing as Martin found it easier to plan the sculpted head with a drawing that focused on the creases and lines that are part of this breeds character. The drawing was then traced onto vellum and the side view was outlined on a 3” x 3” block of high-density foam. The sculpture took a few days to carve and on completion was sealed with grey primer. The subsequent 2- part mold was used to create the red wax replica shown here.

Sculpted French Bulldog Head used for the mold from which the red wax head was poured. A wax block was added to the chin and will become the gate through which the molten bronze will flow.

Gifts for Dog Lovers - Door Knockers for Staffy Dog Owners

Our Dog Door Knobs have been on our web site for a couple of months now and include eight breeds of dog and 4 cat breeds. The dog collection is being expanded to include a Yorkshire Terrier and a Pug.

Our marketing is mainly by word of mouth through our blog as the collection develops with new pieces being added.We will also be sharing news on Jackson our new Staffy dog and companion to Iris, our current Staffy who has been featured many times on our blog.

We have announced our new collection through press releases and through Pet Companion Magazine which is well known locally in Southern California and neighboring states, and which is an excellent read in print at news-stands and on line at www.petcompanionmag.com.

We are very pleased that our dog themed accessories are receiving a good response from dog owners and orders are starting to arrive. Our first order for door knockers was surprisingly for six Staffordshire bull terriers. While we concur with the customer that the Staffy head is quite exceptional and warrants an order for six it did raise the question “who needs six door knockers?” We have concluded that the customer must have some very worthy friends and that the season for gifts is only 5 months away.

We took a few pictures of the patinaed door knockers, and the pack makes an interesting artistic statement.

Bull terrier - a new dog and new collection of dog themed hardware

The Staffordshire bull terrier in our Dog Door Knob collection, was based on the good looks of our American Staffy Iris when she was in her prime. Now she is in her later years still looking good, still healthy, just moving slower, ring any human bells?

Iris at 12 what a beauty

We felt she could do with a pick me up and some company, so…. we rescued a three-month-old male Pitbull mix, we have named Jackson, who is now seven months.

Action Jackson full of energy -

He is a lot of energy and fun, and although he torments Iris to play with him, she likes him, tolerates him, and often chases him around the house.

He is a lovely character but is about to start some serious training as he will be a strong muscular dog who at this point seems unaware of his own powerful body.

Jackson doesn’t have the same type of face as Iris, but they are both staffordshire terrier mixes and are loosely defined as Pit bulls. The Pit Bulls in our neighborhood are primarily rescue dogs and they vary considerably as to height, weight and litheness. The registered American Pit Bull is recognized by the United Kennel Club and is described as typically between 17 to 21 inches across the shoulders with a weight ranging from 30 to 60 lbs. It is too early to know how big and heavy Jackson will become and seeing him daily we don’t notice his incremental changes which is why we are keeping a family photo album. Iris in her prime years weighed 50 lbs. and was extremely muscular and well-toned. At present Jackson clocks in at 45lbs and still has a lot of skin to fill with muscle.

Our dog knob collection is being well received by dog lovers and we will be adding a Pug and Yorkshire terrier to this collection of dog door knobs, door hooks, door pulls and door knockers.