Potty Training Your French Bulldog

If you have had other breeds of dogs in the past and think you can potty train your French Bulldog based on the experience you had with your former dog, forget it! Most breeds can begin potty training by 8 weeks of age. For a variety of reasons your "Frenchie" is going to be resistant, slow to learn and slower to remember what you've taught her.

Although you'll want to start the moment she comes into your home, if she could speak, your French Bulldog would tell you that it's the epitome of a lesson in futility before she's four months old. Knowing this, you still want to start. Assuming you are allowing your French Bulldog to drink freely (the best way, as they are far more intuitive than our memories are tuned in to the last time we put out water), Frenchies have notoriously tiny bladders. As such, as puppies they literally have an inability to hold their urine for more than two hours at a time. You can generally assume her bowels will want to move within 30 minutes after she's eaten.

Initially you'll want to use "wee wee" pads and not assume because you leave her in her crate that, like most dogs, she'll not urinate or defecate in it. Leaving her in there, in the hopes she'll keep it clean will only result in you cleaning it several times a day or a week. Potty training is a test of patience.

After about four months you can begin taking her outside to "do her business". If you were paying close attention to when she did so when she was doing it in the crate or the wee wee pads, this will help guide you. You need to be consistent and help reinforce her going outside by a) offering treats when she does so and b) praising her with a phrase such as, "good outside". Never use "good girl", it's far too general and besides she eventually will come to associate this will elimination and do so when you don't want her to.

As much as Frenchies are willful, ironically, they are equally sensitive. It's never recommended to resort to yelling at a dog, hitting one or intimidating her to listen to you. You should be able exert control simply by changing the tone of your voice. High-pitches to convey praise and stern and deep ones to communicate displeasure. All dogs can easily learn to cower and be fearful of their owners. Frenchies are especially sensitive to this. As such, you must always praise when she eliminates properly and take a deep breath and ask yourself what went wrong when she doesn't.

German Shepherds for example, when you teach them to be potty trained, they're intelligent enough to come to you and nudge you gently when it's time to go outside, if you've neglected to adhere to a schedule. They no more want to soil their crate than they want to mess the floors they lie on in the living room.

Frenchies are just different. A hundred times you can clean up after her and hundred times she'll go pee where she's not supposed to. It's really important that in addition to adhering to a regular schedule during potty training that you reinforce with praise. Although she's stubborn, even those stubborn Frenchies will soon make the connection. And like all light bulbs, once they go off, they're off for good.