housebreaking

Question
January 11, 2006


Dear Marjorie,

We have a 5-month-old female French bulldog with some housebreaking issues.  She is on a pretty regular schedule with going outside to potty and we try to reward her when she does go outside.  However, she still seems to be perfectly happy going in the house, too.  She does it quite a lot.  We know that bulldogs are maybe not as smart as other breeds, but we know she has to be absolutely trainable.  We have three other dogs, two large outdoor dogs and a 3-year-old spayed bichon frise.  We had hoped that maybe our frenchie would take a cue from her.  Our bichon is very smart and it was super easy to housebreak her.  Nevertheless, we could use some advice.  We don't expect miracles, but we would sure like to break the cycle as soon as we can.

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Answer
Frenchies are miserable to house train. Just be consistent and persistent and eventually she'll be dependable. If you're not using a crate, now's the time to start.However, it may take several more months to accomplish this.
Stick to a strict schedule and the help of your other dogs is a plus.