How to Train a French Bulldog Puppy to Not Bite

Hello Ramon, There are a number of things that could be going on here. It sounds like aggression by your description, but make sure it is not just normal play mouthing. In person it should be obvious to a trainer. Assuming it's aggression, which is a far more serious issue, it could be fear based, territorial, dominance, genetic, or something else. How you treat it will depend partially on why he is acting aggressive. If it is directly related to him being neutered, then it's probably defense-fear based from being touched by strangers while he was in pain. A get them before they get you mentality, for example. It is more likely his kennel stay than actually being neutered as long as he is not still in pain currently. Your vet should be able to evaluate if there is pain still from the procedure. If there is, then that needs to be addressed first. Once you make sure that he is not in any pain currently, then I would highly suggest hiring a professional trainer to work one-on-one with you. Ideally someone from a training group that has multiple trainers so that Dutch can be exposed to a number of trainers as "strangers", so that they can build his trust around strangers and make his experience around strangers positive while showing you how to manage his behavior from your end. I find that a combination or firm interruption and refocusing on you combined with a lot of positive associations with strangers through treat tossing and calm interactions from a safe distance tend to work well, but hire a professional to help. You need someone to evaluate what type of aggression it is and to be present during training sessions to read his body language and teach you what to do while you are looking at his responses. Do not wait to hire a trainer. This problem will likely only get worse if it is not addressed and could become a long term issue. Addressed early right now he might be able to get over it completely. Make sure that the trainer you hire has successful experience dealing with aggression. Not all trainers are experienced with it. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Lara, Teach Mesut a "Place" command that he is not allowed to break. As soon as he starts getting wound up or looks like he will tell him "Place" and have a dog bed or something that he must go to on the floor. To teach him "Place" watch the video that I have linked below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIGq_5r0DeE If he continues to bark while the bed, then teach him the "Quiet" command using the "Quiet" method from the second article that I have linked below. Once he knows the "Quiet" command, then tell him "Quiet" if he barks and if he does not stop correct him with as little interaction as you can to give a moderate correction. Teach the "Quiet" command first though or you will not be communicating properly. The correction is for disobeying something he understands. https://wagwalking.com/training/train-a-shih-tzu-puppy-to-not-bark The "Place" command will teach your dog to be self-controlled while watching you interact, without him being able to act rudely, disobey, or get between you. You want him to have to handle the two of you interacting and to adjust his attitude by requiring him to be self-controlled and obedient. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Vanessa, First, start by teaching Stitch the "Leave It" command. Once he knows the leave it command around treats, then practice it with shoes and socks. When he can leave the shoes and socks alone, then move the shoes and socks around in front of him and practice with those. Only reward him with a treat from behind your back or another nearby location. Don't reward him with the same treats you tell him to leave alone. You want him to learn to completely forget about the item he is supposed to be leaving alone and not simply wait to get it. When he obeys and leaves your stationary or moving shoes and socks alone, reward him with treats. When he can leave them alone while you move them with your hands, then put them on and practice walking around in front of him and telling him to "Leave It". Reward him when he leaves them alone, backs away from them, or leaves the area to avoid them. After he can do this during training sessions, then whenever he attacks you during real life tell him to "Leave It" firmly but calmly, and freeze your movement so that it will not be a fun game of chasing you for him. If he will not stop biting you when you tell him to leave it, then purchase a "Pet Convincer", which is a handheld pressurized air canister. Avoid the scented ones. You want just plain air. After you tell him to "Leave It" and freeze, if he keeps biting, then spray his shoulder or chest with the pet convincer air and tell him "Ah Ah" in a firm voice. Continue to stay still after you do this and repeat it if he goes back to biting, which he likely will try to at first. Stay calm, firm, and boring. If you start moving a lot or yelling that will encourage more biting because he will think it is fun. When he gives up and stops trying to bite, give him a treat and calmly praise him. If he stops biting before you correct him or when you tell him to leave it when he is just thinking about biting, then also give him a treat. I would suggest carrying the pet convincer and a few small treats your pocket while you are around him until he learns not to bite. It is important that you also teach him the "Leave It" command and not just skip to using the pet convincer. Do this so that he will know what to do instead of biting you and will more easily be able to control himself. Otherwise he might get more riled up when you spray him with the air. You want to communicate what he should do , "Leave It", discipline him with the air for disobedience while telling him "Ah Ah"-which means no, and reward him for doing the correct behavior so that he will choose to do the correct thing on his own more in the future. To teach leave it command check out this article I have linked below and follow the "Leave It" method found there. https://wagwalking.com/training/train-a-shih-tzu-puppy-to-not-bite Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Eaman, I would highly suggest enrolling Bella in a puppy Kindergarten class that includes time for off-leash puppy to puppy play and practices having the owners get the puppies use to being handled and touched. Puppies learn to control the pressure of their mouths by playing with one another. Check out the article that I have linked below. It has a couple more options for teaching your puppy not to mouth. Teach Bella the "Leave It" command using the "Leave It" method from the article I have linked below so that she can learn what you want her to do instead of bite, rather than simply thinking that you are playing when you correct her. As hard as it is, you need to remain calm and firm when she starts biting. It you cry out or yell, or move around a lot, then she is likely to think it's a game of chase or wrestle and will get even more excited. She sounds like she may be a puppy who needs a little more structure and consistency than some, so this is especially important for her. In general, when you give her a command that she has already learned, then also firmly but gently insist that she obey until she does. At her age this might look like telling her to sit, and then blocking her view and keeping her leash tight enough that she can only stand in one spot while you wait for her to give in. It could take her five to ten minutes to obey at first, but it should get quicker the more you practice and she learns that you will enforce what you say, since she will not get whatever else she wants until she obeys. This also looks like always going to get her when you call her rather than letting her ignore you. Keeping a four to six foot leash on her while you are supervising her can also be very helpful for enforcing commands like come and sit and for stopping the biting and keeping her still until she calms down enough to obey. Once she has learned the "Leave It" command, then use the "Pressure" method from the article below also. Act very calmly while you do this until she stops coming back to bite you. When she stops trying to bite you, quickly give her one of her own favorite toys as a reward for her obedience and good choice and to help her continue her good, non-biting behavior. Puppies need to bite and chew at this age. Their teeth are coming in and then their jaws develop. It's also how they communicate, learn about the world, play, and practice for when they are adults later. Mouthing a lot as a puppy can help a puppy learn how to control the pressure of his bite and be more gentle as an adult. The goal is to teach her how to play softly with her mouth and to chew appropriate things. Do not expect her not to chew at all. Rather, make sure that you are providing her with appropriate things to chew like medium or large Kong toys stuffed with food. You can even soak your puppy's dog food in water with a bit of Peanut Butter, loosely stuff it in the Kong, and then freeze it. The frozen Kong will give her something to do to keep her from being bored, and can relieve teething discomfort. A word of caution, Xylitol is extremely toxic to dogs, so make sure your peanut butter does not contain that ingredient. Here is the link to the other biting article. Use the "Leave It" method first, then use the "Pressure" method once your puppy understands what leave it means if she disobeys. Also reward her for not biting you when you know she is tempted to. She may also simply need some time alone with chew toys to calm down when she gets too wound up. Keeping a leash attached to her can make her easier to catch and allow you to help her to calm down when she gets too wound up to listen. VirChewLy makes a chewproof leash if she chews her leash. https://wagwalking.com/training/train-a-shih-tzu-puppy-to-not-bite Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Gemma, What you are dealing with is 100% normal at this age -- from what you have described. This type of puppy biting is called mouthing. Some puppies are more excitable and bolder about their mouthing, but puppies this age use their mouths to learn about the world around them. He is using his mouth to learn about the world around him, learn how to control the pressure of his bite, communicate, entertain himself, soothe himself, and learn how to be an adult dog. Most of his biting his his attempt to play with you or get energy out. Because dogs live with people, people don't always want to be mouthed though. There are two things that he needs to learn when it comes to using his mouth. The first is how to control the pressure of his bite (how hard he bites). This come through playing with other puppies and being given feedback from the puppies (a puppy yelps and stops playing if the bite is too hard), and from being told by people - in a way that he can understand - when his biting is too hard. Learning about pressure is called developing bite inhibition. Check out the article that I have linked below and follow the "Bite Inhibition" method at this age. Bite Inhibition is important because how hard a dog will bite when he does bite as an adult will depend on how well he learned to control the pressure of his mouth as a puppy. Good bite inhibition actually makes a puppy safer as an adult. All dogs CAN bite. Even the best tempered dog can bite if you frighten him, injure him, or something unexpected happens. When the bite happens, if he has developed good bite-inhibition then the bite won't be a big deal because it won't break the skin. I know of one extremely well behaved family pet who loves people. A close family friend was tickling someone in the dog's family. The dog didn't realize that everything was alright, and since the girl was screaming because she was ticklish, the dog bite the person...BUT the incident was not a bite deal because the bite didn't leave anything more than a small red mark when he bite --he had learned good bite inhibition as a puppy and only wanted to warn the person to stop them. The second thing that Reggie needs to learn is how to stop biting completely after he has learned to control how hard he bites (pressure). He needs to learn this before he hits five months of age because at five months of age his jaws will start to develop, making bites potentially harder. Right how as a little puppy, even though the bites hurt because puppy teeth are sharp! They should not be dangerous because he does not have strong jaws yet -- this is by design to let puppies learn how to control pressure before bites are dangerous. From the article that I have linked above, also start teaching him the "Leave It" method while us are using the "Bite Inhibition" method to deal with biting that's happening now. By the time he is four-to-five months old he should know the "Leave It" command well if you start working on it now. When he knows "Leave It" well and can leave objects, like clothing, alone when you tell him to, you can start telling him to "Leave It" when he bites YOU and he will understand what to do. If he disobeys the "Leave It" command AFTER you have taught it to him and he understands, then you can use the "Pressure" method from the same article to gently discipline his disobedience. It's important to teach him what "Leave It" means first in your case, before you use the "Pressure" method. If you go straight to the "Pressure" method he will probably think that you are wrestling and get more excited, rather than understanding what to do to stop the pressure. It also sounds like he needs some mental exercise to wear him out and help him focus, and some down-time to rest and play quietly. When he gets in those crazy moods that is extremely normal for a puppy his age. You can help it by making sure that he is having time to get his mental energy out. Practicing obedience commands with him for a few minutes several times a day can really help that. You can do several five minute training sessions for things like "Sit", "Down", "Watch Me", "Leave It", "Come", and "Out", or do two twenty-minute sessions, or a combination. Try to incorporate the training into daily life: before he goes on a walk, in the middle of a walk, while watching tv (practicing Down especially then), before you feed him, in the middle of a play session, ect... Biting article. Use: "Bite Inhibition" Method first "Leave It" Method by four-to-five months of age "Pressure" Method to discipline disobedience to "Leave It" command, after "Leave It" has been taught https://wagwalking.com/training/train-a-shih-tzu-puppy-to-not-bite If he is not crate trained, I highly suggest crate training him, and giving him some time in the crate for about an hour at least a couple of times during the day. Give him a food-stuffed chew toy that he really loves, like a Kong stuffed with dog food mixed with peanut butter (NO Xylitol--It's toxic!) or liver paste. This gives him a chance to wind-down, rest, and learn to entertain himself with the toy. Sometimes puppies need to be able to rest or play quietly. They can get over-tired or over-stimulated, and will sometimes act more wound out rather than sleepy. Crate Training has a lot of additional benefits, so I recommend that the most, but if you choose not to crate train, a sturdy exercise pen is another good location for him to rest. To introduce a crate, check out "The Crate Training" method from the article that I have linked right below, or any of the methods from the second article that I have linked below (The "Surprise" method tends to work the quickest). The first article includes how to use the crate for potty training as well. https://wagwalking.com/training/train-a-german-shepherd-puppy-to-poop-outside https://wagwalking.com/training/like-a-crate Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Neda, Check out the article linked below. I suggest teaching the Leave It method, then once she knows use the Pressure method as a gentle consequence for disobeying. https://wagwalking.com/training/train-a-shih-tzu-puppy-to-not-bite Also, work on teaching her Out, Place, a structured heel and things that can help build calmness, respect and trust without too much confrontation. Out: https://www.petful.com/behaviors/how-to-teach-a-dog-the-out-command/ Place: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omg5DVPWIWo Heel - I recommend the Turns method: https://wagwalking.com/training/train-a-poodle-to-heel Also, you can practice something called Jazz up - Settle Down. Get her a bit excited, give a command suddenly, then freeze and wait until she calms down and obeys the command - it will take her a minute the first few times. When she calms down enough to obey, such as sit, then reward with a treat. Tell her okay or Play, then get her excited again, and repeat the whole thing. Practice this red light, green light game regularly until she can respond right away and handle being really excited and still be able to respond. This game helps her develop impulse control and calmness. Finally, when she gets into one of her wound up modes, she probably needs to rest - many puppies will get really crazy when they are overtired or haven't been stimulated mentally that day. Crate Training if you haven't already, and put her into the crate with a dog food stuffed hollow chew toy for her to calmly chew on and rest for a bit. Any time you stuff a toy without any air gaps - like a frozen Kong, put a straw through the entire toy while freezing so there is a hole in the toy later when you remove the straw before giving it to her - to prevent suction on her tongue while eating it. Stuffing toys: https://pets.webmd.com/dogs/how-to-stuff-a-kong#1 Crate manners: https://thegooddog.net/training-videos/free-how-to-training-videos/learn-to-train-the-good-dog-way-the-crate/ Surprise method for introducing the crate is you haven't done so yet: https://wagwalking.com/training/like-a-crate Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Vicky, I suggest hiring a professional trainer with experience with aggression to come to your house. Without more details it is hard to know what type of aggression it is and how to advise you best. Its possible that he simply never learned to control his mouthing and is simply far too rough in play - which is easier to address with more structure and boundaries. The aggression might be his way of controlling where she goes and his respect for her needs to be built. The aggression could be something more serious. Either way, training needs to happen to generally give him some boundaries in life and build respect through challenging his brain during training and practicing consistency. The first two types of aggression I mentioned could likely be dealt with with a trainer's help and not be that serious. If it is something more serious a good trainer should be able to guide you on what it would take to improve it, then you can decide further what to do. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello John, I suggest a visit to your Vet. It sounds like there could be a possible hormonal imbalance, nutritional deficiency, or other medical problem related to carrying and giving birth to the puppies. Being protective is fairly normal for some female dogs after birth, but more extreme aggression and certainly killing her own puppies suggests an internal issue - pregnancy and delivery is hard on a dog's body and just like people their bodies sometimes need extra support afterwards to help things return to normal, nursing will keep certain hormones elevated but your vet still might be able to help things along. I am not a vet so I suggest contacting your vet. If she continues to kill her puppies, you may need to separate them from her and bottle feed them, and I would advise starting the weaning process as soon as they are old enough to safety do so to keep them safe. I would set up the whelping area so that it is tall enough to keep puppies in but low enough that mom can come and go more easily during nursing times - instead of keeping her penned with puppies all the time. Encourage bonding but don't force anything and supervise carefully. If things get worse and you cannot care for puppies yourself you may need to reach out to rescues for help hand rear puppies. Check with your vet to get mom taken care of though. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Gemma, Three things: First, work on teaching Daphne an Out command, and when they play together and she starts to get too worked up, interrupt the play and wait until she calms down before letting them continue. When you are ready for them to continue, tell your older dog "Okay" or "Go Play" first and see if she is also ready to play. If she is, you can tell Daphne "Go Play" and let her go too. If not, use Out to keep her away from Ruby, put her in an Exercise Pen with a chew toy, attach her to yourself with a 6-8 foot leash, or crate her with a dog food stuffed chew toy. When she gets super worked up in general, give her a rest time in the crate or exercise pen - when some puppies start to act crazy it's actually because they are overtired unless they haven't been mentally or physically stimulated much that day. A quiet time in the crate or pen with a chew toy can help them get the rest they need and be calmer later. Out command - which means leave the area: https://www.petful.com/behaviors/how-to-teach-a-dog-the-out-command/ Second, work on teaching her Bite Inhibition in her interactions with yourself also - which is how to control the pressure of her mouth and is something puppies learn from other puppies while young. Follow the Bite Inhibition method from the article linked below. https://wagwalking.com/training/train-a-shih-tzu-puppy-to-not-bite Third, enroll her in a puppy kindergarten or puppy play class that has time for moderated off-leash play. When puppies play together and bite too hard, the other puppy will naturally yelp and stop playing for a while. This, along with your help, helps puppies learn to be more gentle so play can continue. Puppies and adult dogs tend to play differently so it needs to be with puppies to help as much. Just like at home, in a good puppy class when one puppy starts to get too rough or another overwhelmed, the puppies should be interrupted, calmed down, then the most timid puppy let go of first to see if he wants to go back to playing. If he does, then all the puppies can be told "Go Play" and allowed to return to playing. Good puppy play should look like a lot of supervision and interruptions when pups get too rough or overwhelmed, soft praise for playing well, and the puppies learning to be gentler and take turns being on bottom during wrestling or being chased during a game - instead of always being on top or the chaser or being overly rough. Bite Inhibition can only be learned while a puppy is young so I highly suggest joining a high quality class that really understands animal behavior, socialization, and comes well recommended. See if there is a SiriusPup (Dr. Ian Dunbar founded) type class in your area or something similar. Some pet stores and training facilities also offer free or inexpensive puppy play groups too. Petco and Pet Food Express sometimes host these. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Lyndsey, I suggest working on a few things to help him develop impulse control first: Leave It command from the Leave It method...Use this command to tell him to stop or not start biting once you teach the command well like the method outlines: https://wagwalking.com/training/train-a-shih-tzu-puppy-to-not-bite Out command (which means leave the area), use this command to tell him to leave an area, especially your kids' presence, when the temptation is too much for him. There is a section on teaching the Out command, follow that. There is also a section on using Out to deal with pushy behavior also follow that section once he understands the command, to make him leave your kids' presence. You can get between him and your kids to enforce it for them. https://www.petful.com/behaviors/how-to-teach-a-dog-the-out-command/ Place command - have him work up to staying on Place for two hours. This is a good general command, teaches calmness and impulse control, and can help with management in general. This will take some time and practice, starting with just a couple of minutes on Place at first. https://thegooddog.net/training-videos/free-how-to-training-videos/learn-to-train-the-good-dog-way-place-command-the-good-dog-training-tips/ At this age the biting could be partially a respect issue too. Some dogs have a strong defense drive and when you apply physical pressure of any kind they will fight back against the pressure instead of submitting and stopping the behavior. It is especially important with these dogs to use methods that teach respect but teach it using body language, consistently, obedience commands, structure, and other things that teach the dog's mind - instead of just getting into a physical confrontation with them. It is also very important for the dog to understand why they are being disciplined and to have the skills to stop themselves. Working on commands like Out and Leave It -that help the dog understand what you are asking of them, and commands like Place, Leave It, and the additional commands I have linked below can help build the impulse control and respect too. Crate manners: https://thegooddog.net/training-videos/free-how-to-training-videos/learn-to-train-the-good-dog-way-the-crate/ Thresholds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-w28C2g68M Heel article - The turns method: https://wagwalking.com/training/train-a-poodle-to-heel Heel Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTiKVc4ZZWo Consistency method: https://wagwalking.com/training/train-a-doberman-to-listen-to-you https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcwvUOf5oOg Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden