If you’ve recently become a witness (or worse still) victim of your French Bulldog biting, then this is the most important page you’re ever going to read.
Because other than being the apple of your eye with the looks of a furry angel, Frenchie’s are generally a pet with a good temperament.
But does that meant that they will never use their sharp teeth to create scary bite marks on your home items or hands?
..Well, maybe not.
See, there are a variety of reasons that can lead to biting, and they range from excitement while playing to aggressiveness as a result of fear.
And while the cure for biting can vary depending on the root cause of the behavior. The first step to effectively managing the problem is by first teaching your Frenchie to take control of their emotions.
This is why before you do anything else, I’d highly recommend taking a moment to check the 5 step-by-step calming exercises from Dan Abdelnoor (aka Doggy Dan) in the short video below.
As well as revealing the source of your Frenchy’s unwanted biting, these exercises will help them quickly take control of their emotions which is a vital element to eliminating any undesirable behaviors.
Here’s the link to take a look: Click Here to Discover 5 Step-By-Step Calming Exercises To Instantly Stop Your Frenchies, Unprovoked Biting Habit… With Just Minutes A Day Of Training!
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Why is your French Bulldog biting?
If you want to stop the biting habit in a French Bulldog, your best bet would be to determine the triggers so that you can take the most appropriate action.
The various reasons why French Bulldogs will bite include but may not be limited to:
Protection
As a natural instinct, a French Bulldog can bite to protect itself, the members of its family, or its home from impending threats. A female Frenchie will also be super protective of her litter.
It’s also normal for a Frenchie to be a little bit extra when protecting their perceived property. Such property can range from toys to yourself.
Playing
If you play and then run away from your Frenchie, they most probably will bite you. That can result from them interpreting that their action is part of the game.
If that’s not the case, the playing and running away triggers a prey or herding behavior, resulting in the biting.
Scaring your dog
If you suddenly wake up your French Bulldog or approach them from behind, you might earn yourself a bite.
If you do some action that will make your dog feel threatened even if the threat is not real, they will respond to the “threat” as if it’s real.
Trauma
Traumatic situations don’t sit well with Frenchies. If your bulldog is in such a situation, they may choose to attack someone who tries to come close to them.
A traumatic situation could be something like being assaulted, or even worse, being discarded by the roadside.
Sickness
Just like with trauma, your dog will want to distance themselves to avoid any kind of disturbance.
If you try to disturb their peace by doing some unnecessary things, such as trying to get them a little bit active. They might feel vulnerable and intolerant, which can lead to a bite.
In the majority of situations, one or more of the reasons mentioned above should be the trigger to the biting habit in your dog. Though quite rare, other reasons such as boredom can also raise your dog’s interest in biting.
Related Post: Aggressive French Bulldog – 6 Ways To Cope With Frenchie Aggression
But Aren’t Frenchies Usually Calm?
While knowing more about the reasons that cause biting in a French Bulldog is a great idea, it’s also important to understand a Frenchie’s personality more so that you know what you are dealing with.
We’ll go straight to the point for this one. The French Bulldog is not an aggressive breed by any means, which is why it is becoming a popular breed in the United States.
These dogs are also known to be playful and affectionate, which are traits that most pet parents would adore.
Since the Frenchie is good with children and other animals as well, it is a good choice if you are looking for a good family pet.
For apartment dwellers as well as people with limited mobility, the French Bulldog should be a great choice, taking into consideration that the breed does not require a lot of exercise.
Keep in mind, however, that since they are playful dogs, your pet will want to spend a lot of time running around. They will be in a cheerful mood whenever you spend some time playing with them.
But why is the above information relevant to the main topic? Well, it’s meant to make you understand that the Frenchie is not an aggressive dog intrinsically. As such, there is hope of bringing the biting habit to an end.
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So, How Do You Stop Your French Bulldog Biting?
The number one thing that you ought to keep in mind is that the best time to discourage the biting habit in Frenchies is when they are young. That’s in consideration that if your pup grows into adulthood, it will be so difficult to train them that biting is not a desirable trait.
Here are some of the proven methods to stop biting in French Bulldogs:
1. Squeal when bitten
The main reason why a majority of dogs won’t continue their biting habits into adulthood is that they learn early enough that it’s not a good thing.
If puppies are playing together and one bites the other a little bit too hard, the pup that has been bitten will squeal.
This shocks the puppy that has a biting habit so that they learn to associate their action with an unnatural reaction from the other puppy. Over time, the unnatural reaction makes them stop their biting habit naturally.
This reaction not only applies to other dogs but also to humans as well. If, therefore, your French Bulldog pup bites you, squeal to let them know that whatever they are doing is not pleasant.
Your actions might look stupid to you, but they sure won’t look stupid to the pup.
2. Avoid playing using your hands
One thing that you have to keep in mind is that if you use your hands to play with your pup, they will want to use them the same way they use their chew toys.
So ideally, you ought to use your hands only when petting your pooch, and that’s it.
There are a few cases where pooch owners pretend their hand is a mouth, using it to play-nip the dog’s own mouth. In such a situation, it would be totally understandable why the pup thinks that nipping is such a good game to play.
The best that you can do is to teach your Frenchie to accept having your hands near their mouth without biting them.
3. Avoid reacting back to biting with play
Never forget that your Frenchie puppy loves playing. If, therefore, you want them to stop the biting habit, don’t react playfully when they bite.
Reactions such as playful pushing off, running away, or wrestling can encourage the bad habit.
If you mirror back the biting with a little bit of rough play, you are simply inviting your pooch to play bad games. Failure to discourage the bad habit can significantly increase the amount of time that you will need to stop your pooch’s bad habit.
4. Socialize them early
It’s highly recommended that you socialize your doggie while they are young enough. This can work even on adult dogs, just that you will need a little bit more time and control to get the right results.
Make sure to introduce your pup not only to people but also to other animals that he or she will interact with at some point.
That teaches them that it’s normal and okay to have such animals or people around. As such, your pup won’t react strangely when the time comes to encounter people or animals that he/she is not used to.
Related Post: How To Socialize An Aggressive Dog – A Step By Step Guide
5. Use gloves with a bad-tasting substance
If your pup still wants to bite you even after discouraging the habit using the methods discussed above, you can wear gloves smeared or sprayed with something that tastes bad.
You can use bitter spray, or something similar, to teach your pup that if they bite you, they will only end up with an unpleasant taste in their mouth.
6. Encourage the use of chew toys
It can be quite tempting to want to let your puppy bite your hand since the bites are not that hard until the puppy grows older. To avoid a situation where your puppy gets used to biting your hands, always discourage them from such a habit, and offering them something else to bite on.
Chew toys are a great idea. Using them instead of your hands is a quick lesson to the puppy that hands are not for biting; chew toys are, instead.
Good thing there are lots of toys for puppies from different brick and mortar as well as online stores.
7. Control the excitement
The French Bulldog can go from being calm to showing a lot of excitement in no time. Owners say that these are the times when their dogs are likely to bite.
As expected, you will be happy to see your pooch happy and running around, but there comes a time when you have to take such excitement down a notch if it always leads to a bite.
You can use a timer to control the amount of time that you spend encouraging your dog to play around and be as excited as they want to be.
You want to set the time such that you leave your pup to be on their own, just before getting to the point where the excitement causes them to bite.
8. Use the thumb and fingers trick
This method can seem a little bit cruel and harder to use, but it tends to work most of the time. When your pup bites you, let out a firm “No” or, even better, squeal.
As you do that, put your thumb in their mouth, and place it underneath the tongue, with the index and middle finger under the chin.
Let your fingers remain in this position for approximately 10 seconds, but don’t hold too hard. The discomfort will train your pup to refrain from biting you.
When do you seek professional help for biting?
There are times when you try every listed method but your Frenchie keeps on biting. If in such a situation, your best bet would be to consult your vet as soon as you can.
That’s in consideration that there are some cases when your pup can bite as a result of something that needs treatment.
You should also know that there are specialist animal behaviorists who can assist if you are facing biting and fear aggression from your French Bulldog.
In the U.S., such Certified Animal Behaviorists can be found on the CAAB website…
…Or from the RSPCA website if you are in the U.K.
Final word
Just like while training any dog, the key to training your bulldog to stop biting is in encouraging good behavior and discouraging undesirable behavior. You will also have to be consistent when it comes to teaching your dog to avoid confusing them.
This means letting other people who may interact with the pup know your training strategy so that they can use the same tips.
Whatever you do to discourage the biting habit in your pooch, always know that you have to communicate with him or her in a clear manner, so that they can understand that biting is in, no way, an acceptable behavior.
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