Puppie’s education

You’ve just got a little puppy and your only desire is to spoil him and make him happy. That’s also what we desire for the bulldogs puppies which leave us.

But you must be warned about the fact that the relationships between dogs are based upon dominance. Dog is a hierarchical animal: it lives in a pack where the domineering animal has different prerogatives, above them that of being the first to eat, slowly, in front of its pack, the prerogative to watch and to check every movement in the pack, and it has priority over the others regarding reproduction. In order to have your puppy find his right place (that is the equivalent of his place in his pack) YOU MUST BE THE DOMINANT FIGURE. If you let him some of the dominant prerogatives this hierarchy may be blurred in his mind and he may become aggressive or destructor later on. It’s therefore essential to settle the puppy in his social position as dominated, and that from the very beginning.

1. When you give an order to your dog, do have a domineering attitude : you may stand with your chest forward, do look at the dog’s rump and speak with a steady tone.
2. Don’t have him sleep with you. The bedroom is the dominant’s room (that is you). It’s sometimes difficult to hear the baby bulldog’s cries in the kitchen while you know that taking him with you in your bed would cease his cries, but you must not give up. You will avoid the problems linked to dominance and to excessive attachment. You therefore have to place a basket in any corner but not in the entry, neither in the corridor because they are places where people go in and out and can be easily observed.
   Be careful: to avoid any attack, never disturb nor shout at your dog when he is in his basket, it is his shelter! Do warn your children about the importance of respecting this condition without which you will witness his groans and bites.
3. Have him eating after you (or an hour earlier if you can’t do otherwise), in an isolated place of the house and alone. The bowl must be taken back after a quarter of an hour even if it’s not finished : a puppy which nibbles over his bowl is a puppy that wants to test you. If he groans, do shout at him.
4. If your dog overlaps you as if mating, you have to refuse that behaviour because reproduction is the pack’s leader privilege.

You must be the one who direct the relationships between the young dog and you : you are the one who starts the playing times, or the cuddles and caresses times. Avoid playing directly with your hands, he would hurt you when nibbling but above all it’s essential to have him control his bites from the age of two months. When a puppy bites another puppy in the litter too strongly, the latter squeaks. The mother then catches the biting puppy through the neck skin to punish him from having bitten so strongly. It’s your turn to play the mother’s role by lifting the puppy up trough the neck skin when he bites. Do it while he’s still a puppy because a dog which is not educated, which bites when playing can hurt seriously when he is an adult.

News often reminds us that it is important to be aware that a dog’s education must be made seriously. The period corresponding to the dog’s socialization is between 2 or 3 months, it’s then necessary to allow the dog to make as many discoveries as possible ( crowd, children, noises, other species). So do walk your dog in different places, make him meet as many people and situations as possible. And that even if he has not had all his vaccinations yet (of course, do not bring him in dirty places). Our dogs are used to noise, to cars, and to children.... This socialization is a responsibility that you must maintain.

Always watch your dog when children are playing and shouting near him, some dogs are hypersensitive to restlessness and they can often bear less than usual.