In this section, we share subjects that we believe are useful to our pet owners.
Pest Prevention
French bulldogs must be on flea, tick and heartworm medicine.
Allergies
The French bulldog is known for allergies. The two biggest causes of this are: their immune system didn’t develop properly, or your food is not working for them. I always recommend you change food if this occurs. We suggest no grain and a chicken or beef based food. It’s cheaper to feed them well than to take them to the veterinarian.
Summer Heat
Frenchies will die if left outside in the heat or high humidity. To prevent this, stay outside with your pet if they are going to be out longer than ten minutes. Make sure they have access outside to cool water in case they overheat and you are inside. If they are panting, they are overheating.
Also, never leave your dog in a car. It gets extremely hot quickly. Don’t ever leave your dog in the car using a plastic carrier even if you leave the air conditioning on. Those don’t provide good air flow and I have known dogs to die under that scenario.
Fence running
Don’t let your dog fence run during hot weather, whether it’s running up and down with the neighbor’s dog, or because you have the lawn mower going. They don’t know when to stop.
Toddler pools
Most frenchies love wallowing in a small pool of water. Since most frenchies can’t swim this gives them pleasure without drowning. And it helps them if they overheat. Fresh cool water is a must whether for drinking or playing.
Behavioral Training
Frenchies need an alpha male in their pack. It can be you or them, they don’t care. The best way I have found to establish that I am the alpha male is leash training. Takes about five to six days to really be effective. First two days- Teach them to follow on a leash. The next two days teach them to stop and sit. When they do act like they won the super bowl and praise and rub their back as a reward. Last but not least, the last two days teach them to stay. Repeat the stop and sit portion and add the stay. Do this by dropping the leash and command them to stay by saying “Stay” very firmly and putting your hands up like a stop sign. Let them stay for a short amount of time and don’t move too far away. Keep repeating this and slowly start increasing your distance and time. Again, when they stay and come when you say come, love them and praise them.
This teaches to them to stop when you want and to stay when you want. It literally can save their lives under emergency situations and makes for a better pet, since they behave. I perform these discipline training exercises each day for about twelve hundred feet, starting and stopping, repeating the exercise I am working on, over and over. The secret is repetition and rewarding them with congratulatory praise.
Hot Spots
This is a spot on their body, usually near the tail. This occurs due to fleas. Give them a flea and tick bath, trim the hair from around the area that is infected and spray some Vetericyn. You can get some at any major pet store. It’s for wounds and skin care. A hot spot also means your flea and tick medicine isn’t working.