The first day with your Frenchie [with tips for a successful training]

After long weeks of waiting you are finally reunited with the most lovely Frenchie, you can imagine. Your baby is sweet and is even cuter than on the photos and skype videos. Remember, however, that it’s a completely new situation for him or her and they need to adjust to it. Don’t worry if in the first few days your puppy doesn’t behave as how you might have imagined, it’s absolutely normal. See our tips on what to expect.

The first days with your Frenchie

Normally, puppies are 3-4 months old when they travel to the home of their parents. They are still babies and have never seen anything else outside of our farm, their sisters and brothers, their mum and the  TomKings Team. Even if we prepare them for the trip, they suddenly get into a very different environment.

Being patient is the best at the beginning

Be prepared that your Frenchie might be timid at the beginning, they often cry, look for their mates, just like anybody else would do when taken out of their usual environment.

It’s very important to be patient with your baby and leave him or her enough time to settle in. Don’t start thinking that they don’t like you, or the place or you should do something differently. Their reactions are just normal, and usually, after a few hours, they are their normal selves.

Training should start on the first day

At the same time be careful that you unconsciously train them right from the first moment even if you don’t intend to do so. Whatever you let them do in this initial period, will be very difficult to change later on.

So the best idea is to think of the rules in advance: where is your pup allowed to go, and where he or she mustn’t. Do you want your Frenchie to sleep with you in the bed or not? Where will he or she sleep? Where can he or she pee? The best is to agree on these rules with the family and make the kids follow them too. You can tell them that they help your puppy by giving clear instructions. Your Frenchie needs to have clear rules and boundaries to become a healthy and happy French Bulldog. Click here to read how can you become your Frenchie’s pack leader.

Make sure you block the prohibited areas you don’t want the puppy to go. They are still very young to understand it from instructions.

Remove carpets from the house as puppies pee on it and later it will be very hard to re-train him or her. Lay nappies instead so that he or she can pee there if there’s no time to go out. The final aim is to get them to pee outside.

Finally a few tips on how to be effective with training your Frenchie:

• Start it as soon as your pup arrives. What you let them do once will be the norm form them, and you’ll have a hard time to re-train.
• If they don’t do something you ask them, raise your voice. 
• Tell your pup right away when he or she did something bad, never punish later as the puppy will be confused.
• The tone of your voice matters more than what you say. When it’s a punishment, raise your voice.
• Use body language to express who is the leader of the pack: stand tall and use your hands to show the instructions.
• Give plenty of praise when he or she does something good. You can also give them treats based on how satisfied you are with what they did.

Please find here more details on training a Frenchie.

The article was written based on the experience of the TomKings Puppies Team. TomKings Puppies have been breeding French Bulldogs for 10 years on their farm. All the pictures in the post belong to them and show a puppy from their breed. Check their available puppies here, or if you have any questions or comments let us know below the article.