French Bulldogs are charming dogs made popular by their cute, boxy appearance and buckets of personality. However, they can be a little stubborn. So today, we’ll give you the basics of training a French Bulldog.
Absolutely. Just like you would raise a child to be a likable, well-rounded person, you should take the same approach when you begin French Bulldog puppy training. A Frenchie with no training can present a host of unmanageable behaviour problems.
Training any puppy can be tricky, and it’s no different with French Bulldog puppies. Naughty behaviours like stubbornness, running away, or chewing furniture is entirely normal and simply require firm consistency with your training sessions to be coached out of them.
Potty and crate training is very important and should begin with your Frenchie puppy when they’re acclimatised to your home. Obedience training should follow shortly after and run in tandem with both to reinforce all three lessons.
When you bring your French Bulldog puppy home, your first port of call is to buy a bunch of pee mats and start potty training to spare you some unpleasant cleaning jobs in the future!
You should potty train your new puppy when you have them at home. Any delay is simply more time that your Frenchie will leave smelly messes where they shouldn’t.
Training your puppy to go potty inside or outdoors follow the same principles. If it’s outdoor training, take them outside every 30-60 minutes to the same spot, and if they go to the toilet, be ready to heap praise on them and give them a treat. They’ll do anything to replicate that verbal praise and soon cotton on to what they’re doing right.
The same is true with indoor training; only you’ll take them to one of the many pee pads you should have set up around your home, regardless of whether you’re training your Frenchie pup for indoor or outdoor potty.
Remember to be patient; although potty training is relatively straightforward, all dogs learn at their own pace. Incorporating a verbal phrase into your training to give your French Bulldog a cue to understand what you want from them is always a good strategy.
Once trained, it’s important to look out for and learn the cues they’ll give you to tell you they need to go. They could be pacing around the door or standing near it, whining or trying to get your attention. Their body language will be individual to them, and you’ll soon learn to read them.
Leash training is important for French Bulldogs from an early age. Ever heard the saying, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks?” Well, it’s especially true for this stubborn breed. So what are the best ways to leash-train your Bulldog? The most important aspect of leash training is that it needs to be associated with something positive. If your Bulldog associates go for a walk on a leash as a positive experience, they will catch on quickly. Here’s how you can do this:
Getting your dog used to being in a crate has many benefits that will make them more manageable, happier, and well-rounded.
Crate training is a great addition to obedience training as you are teaching your French Bulldog the rules of the house. A dog who understands basic commands to get in its bed will be happier.
Once they’re comfortable with it, they will be happy to have their own space that they can go to for peace and refuge whenever they fancy it.
You can train a French Bulldog puppy to be comfortable with a crate at any age.
Older French Bulldogs can be crate trained, but it’s always best to teach an important lesson to a dog when Frenchie puppies when they’re younger and malleable.
Put the crate in a usually occupied space, like your living room, and line it with a comfy blanket. Introduce them to it with an upbeat attitude, and maybe try coaxing them into their favourite toy or treat with it.
If they don’t take to it immediately, they will warm up to it after repeating this routine. French Bulldogs are generally curious and may go in very early on their own accord.
Once they’re readily entering the crate, try putting a bowl of their food in it. You can gradually move the bowl back until they’re not threatened by entering it. After this, you can start closing the door behind them while they eat and opening it once they’re finished.
You can gradually increase the time you lock the door as they get more comfortable, shortening it if they whine but do not open it, so next time, they learn that this is bad behaviour.
Once they’ve accepted their crate as a safe space, you should be able to say commands like ‘crate’ or ‘bed’, combined with pointing to their crate, and they will go to it.
It can take days or sometimes weeks to get to this stage, so consistency is the key factor for success.
Crate training is a good idea, but poor practice can lead to negative side effects.
Using the same principles as you would with obedience training, i.e. consistency, verbal praise, and treats, can make teaching French Bulldogs tricks easy.
They are eager and keen to please, and if you play on their psychology, simple verbal commands work for sit and stay. There’s no reason why other cues can’t be used to trigger other ‘tricks’.
Taking days off may lead to them backsliding when you’re close to solidifying behaviour. The sooner you start training and the more regular you are with it, the more likely your dog is to simply accept training as a regular part of their life and follow your lead.
Frenchies are gentle dogs who will look to you for approval and affection, and if you have a positive relationship with them, they are much more likely to do what you ask. Like with other dogs, negative, heavy-handed techniques are never advisable to get positive results.
Relying too heavily on treats can lead to your dog gaining weight, which is never good, especially on a small boxy frame like the Frenchie’s. Don’t be too sparing but understand that verbal praise is enough to make them feel good about what they’ve done.
Clicker training is a popular modern form of training used when training dogs for professional work. It teaches them to associate the click with a treat; eventually, with proper practice, they will perform the desired action based on the click alone.
Training your dog is an essential part of not only forming them into a manageable, agreeable dog who’s easy to get on with, but it’s massively beneficial to your relationship with them.
Establishing yourself as the alpha will give them confidence in the order of things around them and the stability they crave. They can be stubborn or cheeky, but at heart, a Frenchie wants nothing more than to make their owner happy!
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