7 Stages of Puppy Development

7 Stages of Puppy Development In order to understand why your French bulldog puppy doesn't listen to you at times, you need to understand each stage of development a puppy goes through as it matures. Let's take a look at the different stages, but before we do, keep in mind that these stages are generalizations each dog will progress at its own pace. Stage 1: The Transitional Stage 2-3 Weeks The Transitional stage usually lasts from age two to three weeks, and it's during this time that your French bulldogs's eyes will open, and he'll slowly start to respond to light and movement and sounds around him. He'll become a little more mobile during this period, trying to get his feet underneath him and crawling around close to his mother. He'll start to recognize mom and his littermates and also objects placed next to him. So it is good to send us a scented item from home even at this early stage if you have already chosen your French bulldog puppy. Stage 2: The Almost Ready To Meet The World Stage 3-4 Weeks The Almost ready to meet the world stage lasts from 3 to about 4 weeks, and your French bulldog puppy undergoes rapid sensory development during this time. Fully alert to his environment, he'll begin to recognize human family members, so Kay, Gary, Christina, Carrie and our Nanny. It's best to avoid loud noises or sudden changes during this period. This is not a good time for strangers to come and visit as negative events can have a serious impact on his personality and development right now. French bulldog puppies learn how to be a dog during this time, so it's essential that they stay with mom and littermates. Stage 3: The Overlap Stage 4-7 Weeks From 3-4 weeks, your French bulldog puppy begins the most critical social development period of his life. He learns social interaction with his litter mates, learns how to play and learns bite inhibition. He'll also learn discipline at this point. Mom will begin weaning the pups around this time, and will start teaching them basic manners, including accepting her as the leader of the pack. We begin to introduce food to the puppies starting around the 4th week. We transition gradually as Mom weans them. We continue handling the puppies daily, but we don't separate them from either Mom or litter mates for more than about 10 minutes per day. Puppies that are removed from the nest too early frequently are nervous, more prone to barking and biting and have a more difficult time with socialization and training. Puppies need to be left with Mom and siblings until at least 7 weeks of age. If we feel that your French bulldog puppy needs more time with mom we will let you know that as some puppies need a little longer for optimum social development. Experts say that the best time in a puppy's life to learn social skills is between 3 and 16 weeks of age. This is the window of opportunity to make sure your Frenchie puppy grows up to be a well-adjusted French bulldog. It's extremely important to leave your puppy with Mom and his littermates during as much of this period as possible. Don't discipline for play fighting, housebreaking mistakes or mouthing as that's all normal behavior for a French bulldog puppy at this stage. Stage 4: The "I'm Afraid of Everything" Stage 8 Weeks to 3 Months The "I'm Afraid of Everything" Stage lasts from about 8 weeks to 3 months, and is characterized by rapid learning as well as a "fearful period" that usually pops up at around 8 to 10 weeks. Not all French bulldogs experience this, but most do, and they'll appear terrified over things that they took in stride before. This is not a good time to engage in harsh discipline (note… you never should anyway!), loud voices or traumatic events. At this time your Frenchies puppy's bladder and bowels are starting to come under much better control, and he's capable of sleeping through the night. You can begin teaching simple commands like come, sit, stay, down, etc. Leash training can begin. We offer one-on-one training with your puppy as early as 8 weeks as this is the perfect time to begin. Especially if he will be with us beyond 8 weeks of age. It's important not to isolate your puppy from human contact during this stage or any stage for that matter. He will continue to learn behaviors and manners that will affect him in later years. Stage 5: The Juvenile Stage 3 Months to 4 Months The Juvenile stage typically lasts from 3 to 4 months of age, and it's during this time your French bulldog puppy is most like a toddler. He'll be a little more independent. He might start ignoring the commands he's only recently learned. Just like a child does when they're trying to exert their newly found independence. As in "I don't have to listen to you!"  Firm and gentle reinforcement of commands and training is what's required here. He might start biting you. Play biting or even a real attempt to challenge your authority. A sharp "No!" or "No bite!" command, followed by several minutes of ignoring him, should take care of this problem. Never let anyone in the family even if they “think it is cute” to ever let their French bulldog bite or chew on humans. Stage 6: The Brat Stage 4-6 Months The Brat Stage starts at about 4 months and runs until about 6 months, and it's during this time your French bulldog puppy will demonstrate even more independence and willfulness. You may see a decline in his urge to please you. You should expect to see more "testing the limits" type of behaviors. He'll be going through a teething cycle during this time, and will also be looking for things to chew on to relieve the pain and pressure. Frozen doggie bones can help sooth him during this period. We wet and freeze tube socks with a knot in them and they love these. Easy to wash too. He may try to assert his new dominance over other family members, especially children. Continue his training in obedience and basic commands, but make sure to never let him off his leash during this time unless you're in a confined area. Many times puppies at this age will ignore commands to return or come to their owners, which can be a dangerous, even fatal breakdown in your French bulldog's response to you. If you turn him loose in a public place and he bolts, the chances of injury or even death can result. So PLEASE don't take the chance. He'll now begin to go through the hormonal changes brought about by his growing natural maturity, and you may see signs of rebelliousness (Think adolescent teen-age boy!). If you haven't already, you should have him neutered or spayed during this time. Stage 7: The Young Stage 6-18 Months The Young hood stage lasts from 6 months to about 18 months, and is usually a great time in your French bulldog's life. He's young, he's exuberant, he's full of beans and yet he's learning all the things he needs to become a social and well-adjusted French bulldog. Be realistic in your expectations of your French bulldog at this time. Just because he's approaching his full growth and may look like an adult he's not as seasoned and experienced as you might expect. Gradually increase the scope of activities for your French bulldog, as well as the training. You can start more advanced training during this period, such as herding or agility training, if that's something both of you are interested in. Otherwise, extend his activities to include more people and other animals. You've raised your puppy through the 7 stages of puppyhood, and now you have a grown-up French bulldog! Almost feels like you've raised a kid, doesn't it? CONGRATS!

Celebrate Time Together

Celebrate time together

 

How wonderful is it to come home to someone who’s always thrilled to see you? Whether we left the house five hours ago or five minutes ago, or French Bulldogs are over-the-moon thrilled to be reunited with us. In today's world of constant “busy-ness,” pausing to celebrate the entrance of a loved one doesn’t always happen. That common complacency makes the act even more powerful.

 

 

5 Ways to Protect Your French Bulldog's Hearing

 

5 Ways to Protect Your French bulldog's Hearing

The acuity of your French bulldog’s hearing far surpasses that of humans.  Hearing is a critical sense to French bulldogs, and when diminished, will increase his dependency on the sense of smell.  When a dog hears something, he can hear it without moving his head.  Many muscles surrounding the ears help French bulldogs get premium sound reception.

Unlike humans, French bulldogs dogs are able to change the position of their outer ear so they can focus on a specific sound.  When a French bulldog perks his ears or turns them, the outer ear allows him to magnify incoming sounds. 

Domestication of French bulldogs as household pets hasn’t changed their excellent hearing abilities.  Because our French bulldogs seem to hear sounds before we do, they often seem to warn us of impending danger.  Heroic stories are often shared about pets saving their owners or family members from fire, earthquake, predators and intruders.

Hearing loss in French bulldogs is often caused by many of the same things that cause hearing loss in humans.  Hearing loss may be the result of a variety of causes including infection, trauma, noise, aging, drug toxicity or injury.

How can we preserve this wondrous hearing capacity our furry family members have?  Five tips below will help you ensure your French bulldog’s clear, unimpeded hearing:

1.    Prevent your Frenchies’ exposure to sharp, unexpected noises.  This includes loud, repetitive noises that can cause trauma in dogs and humans.

2.    Shield or protect your French bulldog’s ears from contributors to noise induced hearing loss including:  party noise makers, fireworks, explosive devices, fire and police sirens, hammering, jackhammers, always-on loud music, construction site activities, race car engines, airplane engines, and gunfire.

3.    Have your French bulldogs’ ears checked regularly and cleaned as necessary by your family veterinarian.

4.    Monitor children and toddlers in your French bulldog’s presence so that their bat ears (like a child’s ears) are not used to stash crayons, marbles, coins or other foreign objects.

5.    Provide well balanced meals containing the nutritional components your vet specifically recommends for your French bulldog’s good health and wellbeing.

Your French bulldog will feel and perform his best when you work with your veterinarian to do all possible to preserve his health, wellbeing and excellent sense of hearing.

 

 

Dehydration

Prevent dehydration by providing your dog with unrestricted access to fresh and cool water both indoors and outside. Ice cubes and frozen chicken or beef broth encourage your dog to take in more fluids and help keep it cool. You can also feed your dog wet dog food during the summer to increase its fluid intake. We don’t recommend this year round but if you live in a hotter climate it is recommended during hotter months.

Olive at Central Park and Abby playing her pool. We have a large fenced in park of our farm so that our Frenchies can run, play and socialize. We keep frozen water buckets outside and a kiddy pool for them to play in. We have doggie doors so that they can go inside and relax in the air conditioning and get a drink of fresh water inside as well. It is VERY IMPORTANT that you never leave your French Bulldog outside in the heat without supervision, shade and water alone on a hot day aren't enough.

Scammers drive me crazy!!!

SCAMMERS drive me crazy!!! They steal everything from our whole website to pictures of our adults, our puppies and our children. Every time I report one scammer another pops up. I'm guessing I need to buy a watermark program and try to do more on my end to protect our photos from being used by these horrid people. I've worked very hard to try and inform the consumer. I've even had to work the with FBI when our whole website was stolen. But just to give you the biggest red flags...

1. If the puppy is under $2000... BEWARE!
2. If the seller ONLY takes Western Union... BEWARE!
3. If they only give you a PO Box...BEWARE!

It saddens me when people share the scams with me and talk about how they were taken or almost taken by scammers. I hate the watermark because it is one more thing that I have to do before sharing pictures and can't do when I share right from my phone. I also don't like that the watermark takes away from the picture and families buying the puppies don't really want that. But to protect this is the new direction and I'll be looking into watermark programs and get that going ASAP.

I could go on and on with my frustration but using my Children in your scam...special place for you that is for sure!!!  Gonna close with that but really...buyer beware...check references! We even have our hometown family veterinarian as one of our references. Ask for & Check these!

Pet Care is important to us...

We try to keep our families as informed as possible. If we ready great information we like to pass it on. The more you know...the better life is for everyone. Hope all of our families are having a fun and safe Summer! Christina and I are off to France next month hope we see lots of French bulldogs while we are there. Be sure we will take pictures of all that we meet.

Burned Foot Pads

Sidewalk, patio, street, sand. and other surfaces can burn your dog’s footpads. Walk your dog in the morning and at night when outdoor surfaces are coolest. Press your hand onto surfaces for 30 seconds to test them before allowing your dog to walk on them. If it is painful for you, it will be painful for you, it will be painful for your dog.

Carrie and Lady taking an evening stroll. We have 60 acres for our French bulldogs to enjoy with us.