French bulldogs

It's essential for French Bulldog parents like you to know certain basic factors that determine your relationship with your French Bulldog and can go a long way in training him effectively. Before you begin training your French Bulldog, it is absolutely essential that you build a loving bond with him. This is important as it helps you to understand his needs and instincts and also allows your French Bulldog to have complete trust in you.

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How To Bond With Your French Bulldog

Building a bond with your French Bulldog is the first and the most crucial step involved in training him successfully. As soon as you bring your French Bulldog home, you must first try to develop a caring and loving relationship with him in order to win his trust and confidence. When French Bulldogs are secure in the knowledge that they belong to the family, they are more likely to respond better to their owners' training commands. Just like with any relationship, there must be mutual trust and respect between you and your French Bulldog. Trust takes time to develop and respect comes from defining boundaries and treating any breach of those boundaries with firmness and fairness.

Without enforceable limitations, respect can't be developed. And when there is no respect, building a bond with your French Bulldog is almost impossible.

4 Golden Rules To Building A Relationship With Your French Bulldog :

Spend quality time together;

Take him out in the world and experience life together;

Establish and promote a level of mutual respect; and

Develop a way of communicating to understand each others needs.

Building a bond with your French Bulldog will not only help you manage him better but will also make your French Bulldog calm, quiet and an extremely well-adjusted pet.

Love Your French Bulldog and He Will Love You back

Once you're successful in building a bond with your French Bulldog, you can rest assured that training him and teaching him new and clever tricks will be a cakewalk.

How Your French Bulldog Learns...

Your French Bulldog's learning period can be divided into five phases:

The Teaching Phase - This is the phase where you must physically demonstrate to your French Bulldog exactly what you want him to do.

The Practicing Phase - Practice makes Perfect. Once a lesson is learnt, practice with your French Bulldog what you have just taught him.

The Generalizing Phase - Here you must continue practicing with your French Bulldog in different locations and in an environment with a few distractions. You can take your French Bulldog out for a walk, or to a nearby park and command him to practice whatever you've taught him.

Practicing the learned lessons in multiple locations and in the presence of small distractions will help him learn and retain lessons better .

The Testing Phase - Once you're sure that your French Bulldog has achieved almost 90% success....he responds correctly almost every time you give a command, you must start testing his accuracy in newer locations with a lot of distractions.

Example: Take him to the local shopping mall and ask him to obey your command. He may not come up with the correct response the very first time you do this, but you must not lose hope.

The idea is to test your French Bulldog to see how he responds in an environment which is new to him. Set-up a situation where you are in control of the environment and your French Bulldog.

There are only 2 possibilities:

Your French Bulldog succeeds!!! (Trumpets please!)

In case your French Bulldog fails, re-examine the situation. Review and/or change your training. Then try testing again. Keep on testing until he succeeds. Follow the rule of the 3 Ps - patience, persistence, praise.

Internalizing Phase - Finally, comes the extremely rewarding phase where your French Bulldog does everything he is taught to do even without your commands.

Remember:

Never scold your French Bulldog if he fails. It's not his fault. You have failed as a trainer! You must be patient and persistent for your efforts to show rewards. Appreciate and love your French Bulldog when he does it right! A little encouragement will work wonders for your French Bulldog. French Bulldog Training is easy when you do it right.

Copyright (c) 2009 TrainPetDog.com

Why Won't My French Bulldog Listen To Me?

This is a common question that most first-time French Bulldog owners ask me. Before I answer your question, let me ask you a few instead:

Do you use cookies, collars, head halters or clickers to make your French Bulldog listen to your commands?

Do you have to raise your voice every time you want your French Bulldog to listen to you?

Does your French Bulldog always come or sit on command - anytime and anywhere you want him to?

If your answers are mostly in the negative, its time you seriously reconsider your role as a sincere French Bulldog trainer and an ideal pet parent.

Get Your French Bulldog To Listen To You

Before you begin any training, you must first establish yourself as the "ALPHA dog" of your family. Your French Bulldog must know that you're the leader of the pack and it is YOU who is in charge. Here is a list of simple DO's and DON'Ts that you must follow if you want to be the Alpha:

Always go out or come in through the door first - remember you are the leader;

Always eat first - give your French Bulldog something to eat only after you've finished your meal;

Don't circle around your French Bulldog when he is lying on the floor - make your French Bulldog move out of your way instead;

Don't let your French Bulldog set the rules - pay attention to him when you think fit and not whenever he demands;

Don't permit your French Bulldog to sleep with you in your bed - demarcate his sleeping area clearly.

Once you successfully established yourself as the Alpha, training your French Bulldog and making him listen will be a lot easier than you can imagine. Remember, if your French Bulldog does not learn to "listen", all your training efforts will be in vain!

Does your French Bulldog know his name? Does your French Bulldog look at you whenever you call him by his name? This is the first and the most critical step involved in French Bulldog Training. If your French Bulldog doesn't respond to his name, you cannot have his attention for teaching him any other commands.

To make sure that your French Bulldog recognizes his name, take a treat in your hand and hold it away from your body. Call your French Bulldog's name. He is most likely to look at the treat in your hand. Continue calling his name untill he turns and looks at your eyes. Give him the treat immediately. Repeat this exercise by holding the treat in the other hand. Once you're sure that your French Bulldog has learnt to recognize his name, just call his name and reward him for looking at you by petting or with a hug.

You must understand that French Bulldogs respond far better to positive reinforcement than they do to coercion or force.

Copyright (c) 2009 TrainPetDog.com