Generally how do you feel about French Bulldogs?

ALL dogs are a massive commitment. However, a frenchie is usually a gigantic financial investment. Or maybe, we’re just unlucky! 😀 Also, behaviour-wise, they are NOT an easy breed because idiots keep buying them, but never socialise them. So just like all the dogs you see at the animal shelters, who are dog-aggressive, or have no clue how to act around people, there are so many frenchies who have been given zero socialisation or rules, and they’ve become little dictators running the show.

Our frenchie girl came to us when she was about 6 months old. She was king of the castle at her original owner’s house. She was dog, cat, bird everything aggressive, or certainly keen to chase or charge at them. But dogs….she absolutely went crazy at dogs. Same with cars. Anything that moved, made her pupils dilate and she’d lunge or go beserk. She was unsocialized with people, and often peed when meeting them. I don’t mean a small, cute weewee, I mean a rather large puddle of the stuff. She would then become over-excited and headbutt them. It hurts. 😀

We worked with behaviourists, and she is almost a perfect dog. However, it turned out that she has a neurological problem, and is on meds. Nothing has helped to permanently resolve her dog issues, but apart from that, she is well-mannered and civilised in our home. We DO have to keep an eye on her, she is prone to trying to be the boss of our basset, and we don’t allow that at all. We are their boss, and she’s his equal. She’s much higher energy than we bargained for, so yeah, you don’t know what you’re getting until you get him/her. She’s a terribly excitable dog. It doesn’t take much for her to reach level 10 of excitement at which point she loses her mind. It’s important for us to make sure that she stays in a lower gear. She is incredibly intelligent, but highly strung, even with heaps of exercise. She gets tired, but say we meet someone, she will rapidly get worked up of they give her attention when she’s excited. So first she’s excited upon seeing someone, then they look at her, her excitement increases, they praise her or talk to her, and bam! She’s off.

She’s had an incredible number of health issues. She’s been stung by a bee perhaps. She’s run full tilt into a wall, and given herself an eye ulcer. She’s got endless gut issues, cystitis, she’s hurt a ligament in her leg. You name it, she’s done it, and she’s still a teenager!!! When we first had her, in week one, she tried to attack other dogs. She managed to attack one, who was also unstable, so he retaliated. Compared to what she was, she’s now an angel. 🙂 🙂

So if you really really really really want a french bulldog, you better have platinum level insurance. I mean it. Get the best level of insurance you can afford, in fact, screw that, just get the best level of insurance. Your frenchie WILL most likely have numerous issues. Our vet, who I consider to be a superstar, worked in France and saw a lot of them there. He says that frenchies are synonymous with health issues. Coat issues, skin issues, gut issues, joint issues…everything. So get your insurance sorted out or you WILL live to regret it.

If you really, definitely, actually, truly want a frenchie, then you better be prepared to take that puppy out daily to the park, and socialise that puppy till you and he/she are blue in the face. Frenchies were bred to be companion dogs. However, they have terrier in them, as well as bulldog. So they’re tenacious and have that edge that terriers have. However, you know that terriers tend to become possessive of their owners, want to own their owners and dislike sharing their owners. Well, a frenchie who isn’t socialised and given proper rules, boundaries, limitations and exercise, WILL take over your house. They will move in between you and your other pets, using their bodies to block the other pet from approaching. They will glare at the other pet and erect an invisible force field, preventing the other pet from approaching. They will try to keep you for themselves. If you think this is cute or nice, then you have zero idea about dog ownership. THIS is neurotic behaviour, and it means the dog is in charge, and that the dog will one day hurt someone because they are so desperate to own you like a prize bone, and keep you safe.

Our frenchie is the most intelligent, sparkly, funny, silly and darling dog. But she’s hard work. If you don’t exercise them daily, expect them to tear your house up, or, taunt the other pets. They’re not easy dogs, so if you’re always away, or busy, get a gold fish, not a frenchie.

If you look at websites like pets4homes you will see MANY frenchies who must have originally cost at least £900, but who are now being sold for as little as £300. Why? The idiots who bought them thought they were toys, but then soon learned they’re very large personalities in small, stocky, muscular bodies! They’ve not socialised them, they’ve not given them rules. They don’t spay or neuter when the dog turns a year old. They do fuck all, forgive my french, apart from fucking pet the dog 24/7, and then the dog becomes a monster, and they then ship the dog off, and no doubt get a new one, to ruin all over again. Sorry for the rant. It makes me livid when I see these dogs being moved off like a pair of boots.

A certification regarding the puppy’s health at the time you take the little guy or gal home with you. (Some breeders will insist that you take your new puppy home with you, and will refuse to ship it to you instead. Shipping isn’t inherently bad, but a rule like this is an excellent indication that you’re dealing with a conscientious breeder.)
Information about the puppies’ parents, and sometimes even grandparents, on the breeder’s website, with the possibility of more detailed records to be viewed in person. Often, the puppies’ parents will be certified in regard to their hearts, hips, eyes, and maybe other body parts that dogs typically experience trouble with. (However, the most reputable breeders are also likely to clearly state it when one of the parent dogs is not certified in one of these areas.) This genetic assurance can’t mean that the puppy will always have perfect health, but it does mean that the puppies come from an excellent genetic line, with no reason to expect that a problem with these body parts will develop. So that helps a little.
Information about what the parent dogs like to do for fun. This will give you an idea of whether or not the dogs, especially the female dogs, have a life aside from breeding, and how they’re treated while they are pregnant.
An invitation for you to go visit the dogs and the facility. A lot of people like to do that to get a sense for the environment that the puppies will grow up in, as well as to meet their parents. This should go a long way in reassuring you that it’s a bright, clean, happy place, unlikely to sicken the puppies via environmental factors or poor care.
A contractual provision to allow one of their puppies who turns out to be sick to be returned and exchanged for a healthy one. I would hope that anyone who adopts a dog that turns out to have a major medical issue would continue to love it and care for it while it’s treated, but this isn’t always viable for people who buy puppies to train into show dogs. This guarantee also means that the breeder stands behind his or her “product,” which is just about the best guarantee you could get from any company with which you choose to do business.
A contractual stipulation that you take your new puppy to the vet within a few days of acquiring it. Usually, the breeder will want to know what the outcome of that vet visit was.
A copy of the contract that you will sign when you purchase the dog posted on the breeders website. That way you can go through it before you actually decide to put down a deposit on a puppy, and see how many of these points they check.
A background check for you, the potential purchaser. They will want to ensure purchasers have never been charged with animal cruelty.