French bulldogs

[amberspy]

Has anyone got this small breed and tell me more about them

[Gryff]

We have 3 great little dogs ours will walk some are happy just to play in the garden or n your lap all day
Found them a little harder to house train than any other dogs we've had /got highly intelligent can be greedy so you need to watch their weight
The do have health problems ours don't as we bought from a really good breeder and when we had a litter earlier this year our girl was fully health tested as was the stud dog we used
They are currently a bit of a fashion item so good breeder is paramount
Yoda was a gift from my sons I'd never have bought one myself but love these lovely very loyal and great companions and ours are fantastic with the grandkids

[Guest]

I don’t have one, but researched them when I was looking for a companion for my pug. I felt that it would be a good fit with a pug as the personality traits were similar; cheeky, playful, good with other dogs, people and children, stubborn, a bit greedy, similar level of intelligence (average intelligence), low to moderate exercise requirements.

I didn’t get one in the end, I got a second pug. The reasons were the much lower life expectancy of the French bulldog despite being similar size to a pug (well a bit bigger) and also I worked for a pet insurer until the end of last year and the French bulldog was always referred to by our underwriters and actuaries as THE most risky breed.

[Lisbon]

I have a friend who has one and he thinks his one is the best dog he's had and he's had several breeds.
Rob

[racheydisney]

We have a little Frenchie who is just over 4 months old now he has been great, toilet trained straight away, we didn't use puppy pads and in stead just made sure we took him out constantly. He settled in really quickly too, slept straight through the night from the day we brought him home. I'd definitely say do plenty of research and find a good breeder, it makes all the difference there are some good groups on FB too, that's how we found our breeder, both parents were her pets and both silver health tested.

Good luck

[FlorayG]

A friend of mine has one, paid over £1,000 for it
It's just had to have an operation that cost as much as did the puppy to relieve it's breathing as the unnatural shape of the face that breeders want causes restriction of the breathing apparatus. Personally I wouldn't feel morally right in encouraging breeding of a dog that can't even live a normal life without surgery. Apparently he bought it from a very reputable breeder but if you are breeding for a deformity there's no way to know how many of the puppies will be extreme however careful you are.

[EssexSue]

Originally Posted by FlorayG

A friend of mine has one, paid over £1,000 for it
It's just had to have an operation that cost as much as did the puppy to relieve it's breathing as the unnatural shape of the face that breeders want causes restriction of the breathing apparatus. Personally I wouldn't feel morally right in encouraging breeding of a dog that can't even live a normal life without surgery. Apparently he bought it from a very reputable breeder but if you are breeding for a deformity there's no way to know how many of the puppies will be extreme however careful you are.

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I looked into them because they are beyond cute and was appalled by both the breathing problems and the fact that in a lot of cases AI has to be used due to their slim hips.

[paulaandhappy]

We have a Frenchie she is 14 months old she is a lovely dog.
Like mentioned before she took a little while to house train we got her in October last year and lived in the kitchen pretty much until just before Xmas last year so took almost 3 months. This is pretty good as some take a lot longer. They are stubborn but if like our Lola food obsessed we found she would do anything for food so used this to our advantage.
Would say make sure you have good insurance as they can have a few health problems we are pretty lucky with Lola she has no breathing problems however she did have an underbite that ended up needing a few teeth removed. She has allergies to some grasses which we managed to keep under control with Piriton.
Overall though we couldn’t be without her she is the sweetest girl she loves to cuddle up on sofa with us, so glad we got her.

[catherinesian]

Originally Posted by FlorayG

A friend of mine has one, paid over £1,000 for it
It's just had to have an operation that cost as much as did the puppy to relieve it's breathing as the unnatural shape of the face that breeders want causes restriction of the breathing apparatus. Personally I wouldn't feel morally right in encouraging breeding of a dog that can't even live a normal life without surgery. Apparently he bought it from a very reputable breeder but if you are breeding for a deformity there's no way to know how many of the puppies will be extreme however careful you are.

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Exactly this. Same with Pugs, Bulldogs, etc makes me so sad when I see them wheezing and snorting away What's wrong with a pointy nosed dog

[archibald]

I would stay away from any breed that idolises hideous deformities that are detrimental to the well being of the dog, facial or otherwise. Choose something that can breathe and that doesn't have an underbite, overbite or any of the other stupid body traits to make them look 'cute'.