Ask the Trainer - Agressive Frenchie Girl
gollygear May 17th, 2008
We have two female French Bulldogs, about two years old, both spayed. Told by the breeder that they were sisters, but not sure if the breeder was being honest. Sophie who has the more English bulldog type body, is totally laid back and non-aggressive. Her sister Daphani is lean and smaller, and very aggressive and territorial. Daphani was orginally to by my Son’s dog (27 yrs old), but always put up a fuss when he went to work, and after a few months started to get very aggressive toward other dogs at the dog park, where she had to go for exercise, so she is at our house with her sister, and has been for more than a year.
Walked on her own, Daphani is fine, though will growl and give other dogs the evil eye in passing. With her sister along, she is off the charts and way more aggressive, with both people and other dogs, going into charge/attack mode at the drop of a hat, whining and growling and nipping. At home Daphani will guard the kitchen if food is being prepared, and will guard the room her bowl is in, if she has decided not to eat all her food.
Female Frenchie’s are not supposed to be aggressive, what’s the dea with this one??? She has been to obedience training with several trainers, and gets a bit better, but not much, and the trainers throw up their hands after a while and give up on her.
Hope writes -
Hello!
We never give up on training a healthy dog. Daphani may never be mellow and relaxed, but you can, with patience and consistency, help her become a pleasant companion.
It sounds like Daphani is convinced she’s in charge. Our goal is to convince her that’s not true and that she can trust you to make the decisions. It’s not her job to protect everything and everybody all the time.
When you go for a training walk with the two girls, bring a pocketful of incredibly yummy treats. Soft, small and smelly is the rule; bits of cheese or hot dog usually work well. Take a few steps, then stop or back up a step and call them to you. Whoever gets to you first gets a treat. If it’s a tie, both get treats, but try to feed Sophie first. They will learn very quickly that coming to you and paying attention to you is a wonderful thing. Call them to you randomly, every few steps.
If you’re walking Daphani by herself, do the same thing. Make paying attention to you a fun game. As long as she looks at your face, she gets treats. Dogs place more value on single treats given one at a time than a handful at once, so make a point of giving her individual treats, keeping her attention on you.
When you see another person or dog in the vicinity, have your treats ready. Call Daphani to you and treat her, one at a time, until the stranger has passed. If her attention wavers, take a step so that when she comes to you her back will be to the stranger when she comes. Call her and keep her attention.
You won’t get very far or go very fast walking this way. But you will help Daphani figure out what’s expected of her.
Play attention games in the house, too. Again, get the treats ready. Call Daphani to you and give her a treat when she looks at your face. Looking at your hands or the treats doesn’t count. Be patient. She will, eventually, figure out that the “payoff” is looking at your face.
As for Daphani’s food issues - she gets five minutes to eat. If she hasn’t finished, too bad. The bowl comes up and there will be another meal another time. If she guards her bowl, instead of taking it away right away, let her see a hand coming by her bowl to drop treats into it. Then, when she’s eaten the treats in the bowl, “trade” her the bowl for another treat.
To address her guarding the kitchen, you’ll need some help from another person. While one of you prepares the food, the other will practise attention exercises with Daphani. Other exercises would also be great - sit, down, stay, etc. Ideally, you’ll work on “down, stay.” As she improves, you’ll be able to keep her in a “stay” while you’re working, reminding her to “stay” as you move around the kitchen.
Training should be in short sessions, no more than five to 10 minutes a few times a day. It should also be part of everyday life around the house. If one of the girls is acting up, give her something to do. Dogs like knowing who’s in charge and most are happy to know it’s not up to them!
-Hope
(Editor’s Note: In my experience, the girls are almost always the worst in this breed when it comes to aggression.)
- French Bulldog Training
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