Puppy
French Bulldog doing therapy visit at Senior's homeImage via Wikipedia

Some dogs will naturally pick up housetraining more easily than others, some breeds just love to please and this shows by the quickness they pick up housetraining, other breeds such as the French bulldog can just be downright stubborn or lazy. There are however two basic aspects to housebreaking your puppy and these are:

* Confinement so that your puppy cant go to the bathroom in the wrong place.

* Regular or constant access to the right place for your puppy to go to the bathroom.

Follow these two simple rules and you can’t go far wrong, however that’s not to say that your puppy will see it this way. But what does confinement from the wrong places actually means, it simply means that you shouldn’t allow your dog to wander freely around the house until he is actually house broken.

By doing this you are ensuring that your puppy cannot “go” just anywhere he chooses to, unless you are playing, grooming, petting, walking, feeding or teaching him something then make sure he is confined. By doing this you can make sure that while you’re not watching him he isn’t going to the bathroom where he pleases, thus starting a bad habit.

Access to the right place means that you take your puppy to the place where you want him to “go”, this could be a litter box by the door or out in the garden, by doing this at regular times and times when your puppy is most likely to want to “go” will ensure good habits. Of course this doesn’t mean that your puppy will get the idea straight away, it could take months before they learn. Two good ideas are:

Confinement to a crate then taken outdoors

This is a common and effective way to housetrain your new puppy, whenever you aren’t with him confine him to a crate, then on a regular basis take the crate outside or to the designated bathroom area.

Confinement to a pen with newspaper

This method is a variation on the above and is more suitable if you are going to be out for a few hours at a time, your puppy will have a little more room to move about and newspaper or a litter box in which to use as their bathroom. However if you are going to use a cat litter box then make sure not to use regular cat litter, it can easily become digested and play havoc with the stomach. Also the dust from cat litter can make your frenchies breathing harder than it already is and will do nothing for the snuffles and sniffles.

 French bulldog house training & other breeds

5 Responses to “French bulldog house training & other breeds”

  1. debbi says:

    I adopted a 2yr old french bulldog 4 months ago,he(Ed)is the cutest ugliest thing you would ever see.It was love at first sight.My kids and I take him with us most ever where we go,everyone loves Ed.He is great with people of all ages and loves to be pet and played with.The original owner had to give him up because her job has her working 10hours a day and Ed was home by himself.Ed was never house trained and urinates where he wants.He is outside alot playing with my children and I but when left alone or when he wakes up at night he will go in my house.I love him and know its not his fault that he wasn’t trained properly but I can not have him doing this.I tried a crate and he is hurting himself trying to get out,I put him in another room with a gate and again he tried chewing out and his mouth is all cut up.If anyone can help me to keep Ed and has any ideas I need your help please.What do I do?

  2. Brant says:

    Hi Debbie, we lost our frenchie after 9 years to a brain tumor/hemorrhage, and were able to get another one after a few months. The new one had a similar background. Here’s what we do:

    We get angry at the urine, not the dog. Make sure the dog sees you’re angry at the urine. And be super, duper supportive when the dog goes outside.

    The crate with boxes and paper seems like it may be a good idea for you as well, with many walks.

  3. Brad Davenport says:

    My Frenchie is nearly 5 years old now, but when we were housetraining we had to use a combination of the crate and taking him out every hour. I agree they are stubborn.
    All the best Brad

  4. Raquel says:

    Hi Debbi,

    I have a Frenchie with 2 and a half months. Can you tell me how you have teached ED? We have a place for him to go, but he only goes there when we get angry with him because he has done some other place (like the living room carpet). After a few hours he forgets and does it anywhere again. We go outside with him 4 times a day and we get very supportive when me makes anything outside, but then again, after 3 hours he is urinating again where he shoudn’t be.
    Can you give me some hints to teach him to go to his place while he’s at home and can’t hold on?
    Thank you

  5. Jan says:

    I am totally beside myself. My frenchie (Benjamin) is an absolute terror. We love him so much and can deal with the chewing and the digging and those kinds of things, but he is almost 2 and he still pees in the house! We got the smallest crate we could find where he can still lay down and he STILL pees in it. I can’t have this. What should I do? Will neutering him help with this problem? I am just going nuts! PLEASE HELP!!!

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