If you have just brought home your Frenchie puppy and have been wondering how to potty train a French bulldog, then you’ve come to the right place.
In this guide, we will discuss:
- Are French bulldogs easy to potty train?
- When should you start potty training your Frenchie?
- 9 Steps to potty train a French bulldog
- What to expect when you potty train a Frenchie?
- How long can a French bulldog hold its pee?
- How long can a French bulldog hold its poop?
- FAQs
Let us begin:
Are French Bulldogs Easy to Potty Train?
French bulldogs are a fairly stubborn breed. This stubborn streak can give you a slightly tough time while potty training them.
Additionally, unlike Golden Retrievers and other smart dog breeds, French bulldogs aren’t fast learners. That is why it could take you a little longer to teach your Frenchie basic lessons.
To answer the question, are French bulldogs easy to potty train? – To be honest, they are slightly difficult to potty train. However, with consistency, patience, treats, and plenty of love, there is no reason why a Frenchie cannot be fully potty trained within a couple of months.
The good news is: it does not matter whether you live in a high-rise apartment, or a standalone bungalow: it is possible to fully house train a Frenchie within weeks.
We have put together all the resources you’ll need for the task.
It is best to start with a Frenchie puppy, because training an adult Frenchie (although it uses the same steps more or less) can get slightly more challenging.
If you have adopted an older Frenchie that is not house trained, you must take necessary steps to break its past conditioning. Please do not hit, scold, or punish your pet – it is not his/her fault that it is not house trained. Always use positive reinforcement only.
When Should You Start Potty Training a French Bulldog?
All dog experts recommend beginning house training or potty training right from DAY ONE. This is the day you bring your Frenchie puppy home from the breeder’s.
We are assuming your puppy is about 10-12 weeks of age. If your pet is younger than that, then you might want to wait a couple of weeks and only begin house training once your puppy is slightly older.
9 Steps to Potty Train a French Bulldog
1. Start with crate training
Crate training and potty training always go hand-in-hand. In fact, you should buy a crate as soon as you have booked your puppy!
We recommend the Carlson Pet Products Crate. This will make potty training a lot easier for you because your Frenchie will usually not soil its crate.
You can put in a cozy bed or a crate pad along with some treats and toys inside. When you do so, your Frenchie puppy will gladly consider the crate its second home!
If you properly train your Frenchie to use the crate, it will start loving it. Not to mention how easy it will be to potty train your Frenchie as well.
You must remember to take your puppy out to the yard for potty before you place it inside the crate.
In the beginning, you might want to crate your Frenchie for a few hours at a time. Slowly increase the duration until your Frenchie is able to spend an entire night inside the crate.
Related: Best Chew Proof Dog Crate
Related: Best Dog Beds for French Bulldogs
2. Establish a feeding schedule
Your Frenchie’s feeding schedule is linked to its potty schedule.
If you feed your puppy thrice a day – 8 am, 2 pm, and again at 8 pm – then you will be able to also set a potty break schedule based on this.
For example, you need to take your Frenchie out to the yard for potty right before each meal and again after it has had a drink of water.
Accordingly, you can make potty training considerably easier despite your busy schedules because each family member can take turns taking your Frenchie outside to do its business.
3. Set a potty schedule
When your Frenchie is still a puppy, you need to take it outdoors to pee or poop at least 5 to 6 times a day.
- This means you must take it out to poop and pee once every hour on the hour.
- In addition, you must take it out before and after its 3 or 4 meals.
- Don’t forget to make your pet go potty right before turning in for the night.
- If you have to go out for prolonged periods, please arrange for a friend/pet sitter to take your Frenchie outside for potty.
Frenchie puppies have small bladders and they cannot hold ‘it in’ for too long.
To avoid accidents inside, you must make your puppy ‘go’ several times. This is very important if you want your Frenchie fully house trained within weeks.
If you live in a high-rise apartment or in an area with extreme weather, you could consider training your Frenchie to go potty on training pads.
Dog training pads – also called puppy potty pads – are convenient, highly absorbent, and can help prevent odors, stains, and messy cleanups.
We recommend these 5-Layer Potty Training Pads .
4. Use the same potty command every time
When you are teaching your puppy to go potty outside or on the training pad, you need to use certain words/commands which will help your Frenchie associate potty-time with that command.
For example, the command ‘Go potty’ or ‘Go here’ is useful.
Each time you take your pet to the designated potty area in the yard or nearby Dog Park, use the same words.
Make sure that your family members/pet sitter also use the same command. This way, your Frenchie won’t get confused with different commands and will soon learn the association between going potty and that command.
It will also get excited when you use those words as it will associate them with outdoor walks as well.
5. Use treats
Dogs love treats and Frenchies are no different.
Whenever your pet relieves itself outdoors or on the puppy training pad, treat it right away. Eventually, your puppy will learn to associate going potty outside with a tasty reward.
Naturally, you will want to use healthy, low-calorie training treats like these. They won’t fill up your pet too much nor will they cause weight gain.
You will have to slowly wean your Frenchie off the treats at some point. Every time it goes potty, say an enthusiastic ‘good girl/good boy!’ and praise and cuddle your Frenchie.
Also Read: Best Treats for French Bulldogs
6. Only use positive reinforcement
Our Frenchie puppies are like little kids – they thrive on love and positivity. So never hit, shout or scold your baby if it has a potty accident indoors.
Remember: small puppies have small bladders. That is why it is your responsibility to make sure your pet goes potty several times and especially after meals.
This is very important to reduce indoor potty accidents.
7. Clean indoor potty accidents right away
Even if your pet has a potty accident, calmly clean the mess and ignore your pet. This will help it understand that it has made a mistake.
Use a strong enzymatic cleaner to clean up pee right away.
Failure to do this will cause your Frenchie to go potty over the same spot – again and again. This is because dogs use their previous potty’s odor for territory marking.
So you must make sure to break that cycle.
Use a strong enzymatic cleaner like this one to get rid of the stain and stink. (This cleaner can be safely used on carpets, hardwood floors, inside crates, etc. as well).
8. Understand ‘signs’ your puppy has to go
Our puppies are smart creatures. They can tell us when they have to go potty.
Your puppy might circle around several times or whimper. It might also start sniffing in a spot.
These are signs that it has to go potty. If they occur, please drop whatever you are doing and take your Frenchie to its puppy training pad or outdoors to the designated potty spot.
You can also clap your hands several times to divert your pup’s attention and stop it from going potty indoors.
9. Be consistent and patient
Throughout the potty training phase, it is very important that you remain patient, positive, and consistent. These three qualities will help you achieve success.
When you are consistent, your pet will also quickly pick up the habit.
Think about it: even humans take a few weeks to establish a habit. The same is true with our dogs.
The great thing is that it is easier to teach dogs than it is for humans to acquire new habits. So please remain positive and patient.
What to Expect While Potty Training a French Bulldog?
Potty training a dog can seem like an uphill task at times. It is definitely going to require a lot of patience.
However, the more consistent you are with taking your pet outdoors/to the puppy training pads and the more positively you look at the whole thing, the better it will be for you and your Frenchie.
There is a right and wrong way of potty training a French bulldog and the right way is through rewards and positive reinforcement.
The wrong way is using tactics like rubbing your buddy’s face in the urine or hitting it. These tactics never work and could even make your pet shy, fearful, or aggressive.
Also, accidents will happen. But you must never use them as setbacks – instead, use them as stepping stones to success and continue the training.
How Long can a French Bulldog Hold its Pee?
This is an important question to address when you are potty training your Frenchie.
French bulldogs are small sized dogs weighing up to 25 lb. In puppyhood, they can hold their pee for no longer than a couple of hours.
Adult Frenchies that are fully house trained can hold their bladders a little longer – about 6 to 8 hours.
Never let your adult Frenchie go without peeing for more than 8 to 10 hours. This is very unhealthy for their urinary health and could even lead to infections.
How Long Can a French Bulldog Hold its Poop?
Frenchie pups cannot hold their poop for too long – most have 2-3 bowel movements each day every 3-4 hours or after each meal. Sometimes, they might poop even more.
Adult Frenchies can hold it in longer and, once fully trained, can hold their bowels for about 8 to 10 hours.
FAQs on How to Potty Train a French Bulldog
1. Are French bulldogs difficult to potty train?
While Frenchies are not the hardest breed to potty train, they are not the easiest as well! They have a stubborn streak which can make house training slightly challenging.
However, with consistency, patience, and lots of training rewards/treats, you can fully potty train your Frenchie within 4-5 weeks, even sooner!
2. How do I stop my Frenchie from peeing indoors?
There are several things you can do to stop your French bulldog from peeing indoors:
- Establish a routine – proper mealtimes, playtime, and frequent potty breaks.
- Plan to take your Frenchie puppy outdoors at least 5-6 times a day during the potty-training phase.
- Once your adult Frenchie is fully house-trained, take it outside to pee 3-4 times a day.
- You can train your puppy to go indoors on puppy training pads.
- Also, you could use special ‘No products found. ’ which show your puppy where it is okay to pee.
3. How many times should a Frenchie poop?
There are many factors that decide how often your Frenchie will need to poop: its age, diet, and underlying health issues.
In general, healthy Frenchie pups might defecate 3-4 times a day. Adult Frenchies usually poop 2 times a day. The average number of times a healthy dog poops is between 1 to 5 times.
4. Why does my house-trained Frenchie poop indoors?
Frenchies can sometimes have bowel movements indoors when they are frightened or anxious. Loud noises like fireworks, thunderstorms, and separation anxiety can cause indoor soiling.
Other factors like sickness and aging can also cause a fully house-trained Frenchie to poop indoors. Please check with your vet to find out the exact cause of this behavior.
Conclusion
How to potty train a French bulldog is often a question newbie Frenchie parents ask.
Frenchies can be a bit challenging to potty train thanks to their stubborn natures.
However, by following a strict potty schedule and using positive reinforcement with healthy and tasty rewards, you can complete this arduous task within weeks!
We hope this brief Frenchie potty-training guide helps you!
