Hello all, I'm fairly new to these forums but I am asking for some advice with a french bulldog who gets rather aggressive on walks, she is only a year old yet when I take her for a walk down the park or the beach she tend to bark and growl at other dogs that goes near her, aswell as her back hairs stick up signifying fear aggression. She has attacked a few dogs aswell. I've tried looking online for help with dealing with her aggressive nature from treats, taking her out on her own and on the lead 100% of the time and trying to calm her down when she gets aggressive but nothing seems to work and I'm completely lost on how to deal with this. Any advice from here would be appreciated on improving her behavior.
Hi What a shame you are not exactly enjoying your time with your new pup. At 1 year old she is still finding her feet, when I say that I mean she hasn’t got any confidence and is frightened of everything This is when you need to step in Your are her guidance, protector & trainer Fill her with confidence, when she seems agitated talk to her calmly and keep her walking on giving her some high value treats for good behaviour Don’t shout, rag her leash or give her any reason to be afraid of you I’m not sure of her size, but, if she is small and you sense she is frightened don’t pick her up as you would a child just reassure her with a gentle voice & keep her focused on you She is still literally a baby Don’t expect to much yet, be gentle & confident ....you’ve got this !
We're going to call our local vet soon this week for a checkup as she has been itching recently, we will bring up her agression with other dogs and see if they can suggest something to help with that
Hi kyle as mentioned above sorry to hear your having problems does she show this behaviour with whoever is walking her or is it just when you are walking her , as my partner tells me rocco barks at people when she walks him but he doesnt do this when hes out with me i assume its a protection thing although comoletely different to what you experience just wondered if it was just when you walked her , itching its not the infamous ear itching ?
More often than not she get very aggressive when she sees another dog, pulling on the lead, back hairs sticking up and if she is close enough she'll bark their face off. I do assume its protection but I've tried reassuring her and showing that the other dog is not a threat but it doesn't seem to calm her down. We're going to try and get a vet appointment soon as we suspect she has worms as she is dragging her behind on the floor, so maybe is might be some cause to her aggression but we want professional advice before we try anything to calm her down and start socialising with other dogs
Good luck and I hope you get it sorted mate , I asked regarding ears as rocco suffers with scratching of his ears and so does his brother
Yeah I have 3 frenchies in the house but it just seems she's the unlucky one, but I want to get them all checked up though for worms or any kind on infection
Strange isnt it well hopefully you get to the bottom of it or she snaps out of it , i think im going to end up with 3 or 4 of them i was never into small dogs always had bigger dogs but since getting my little man i want a squad of them lol
Dragging her rear on the ground is more likely to be that her anal glands need emptying - easily sorted by the vet. Re. her behaviour problem. You would be better taking her to one side, and holding her attention with a treat or a little play while the other dog passes - rather than approaching them head on. It sounds as if she is not comfortable with these other dogs being too close to her, so it would be less stressful to allow her a little more space while they pass.
Do you regularly worm all of them? And can quite easily done by you once your vet shows you how to do it. Out of curiosity, do you feed all your Frenchies the same food? And do they all pass similar poos [soft, hard etc]?
We feed them a mixture of Soft food with dry and they all pass solids, it may be on occasion they pass runny but it either something they shouldn't have ate or any other reason
First you need to sort out any/all of the medical problems because you can't train out pain or discomfort. Once that is done, I'd look for a professional behaviourist who uses positive methods and has experience of aggression cases. Occasionally internet tips can work, but they can also make things worse. Without seeing and getting to know you and the dog and assessing what will work with your individual dog, any trainer/behaviourist would be shooting in the wind with what advice to give you.
