As a pet parent, I always make it a point when I have the time to diligently read the news or follow blogs written by dog care professionals to help me understand and better take care of my french bulldog. One of the blogs I read regularly and refer to for troubleshooting is Caesar’s way.

French Bulldog Breeding Ethics

My name is Dr. Marika Zoll. I am a doctor of psychology but have furthered my education in genetics and animal behavioral psychology and would love to share with you some of what I have learned. I have been breeding French Bulldogs now for approximately 8 years and can tell you that I’ve learned an awful lot and probably the most from my own mistakes that I have made. The biggest one was the first one that put me on the edge of my seat when my first litter of puppies produced six puppies seemingly healthy but one entirely deaf which we did not realize until it was four months old. It was only then that I was forced to do the research and wondered if this was entirely an accident or something that I could have controlled. I came to understand the science behind breeding together two animals that have the majority of their bodies white or missing of color. I did in fact breed together a male that was white with cream colored spots and a female that was white with brindle colored spots. I was hoping for a bunch of puppies with all kinds of different colored spots having no idea that this would be a recipe for disaster if you consider being deaf a downfall. The reason for this is that the white colored gene bonds itself to the deaf gene. This is a likely circumstance in all species of animals including human albinos and white goldfish included. Any creature that carries an abundance of white genes is also carrying deaf genes and for an unknown reason those genes are attracted to each other and travel most times in pairs. This means that when there are present white genes you have deaf genes. I hope that you remember that part in basic science class where genes are dominant and recessive and depending upon the combination two dominant genes will show its face more easily than a recessive gene. The white gene or lighter colored gene is considered a recessive gene. A dark black or brindle colored gene is considered dominant. When two dark colored creatures breed together the odds are in favor that the babies produced will also be dark unless either one of those dark breeding creatures has a parent that is of a light color which is then an indicator that the dark-colored animal is also carrying the lighter recessive color gene. So initially, understanding recessive and dominant nature of genes, I presumed that if I was breeding together two light colored dogs this would increase my chances for a light colored dog however I did not know about the combination of the light white gene color with the deaf gene. What I was also assuring myself of, then unknowingly, is a bigger chance of deafness because both parents are carrying the deaf gene in this type of a breeding situation. This being the case with six puppies in a litter my chances were increased by six times that I had the chance of a puppy retaining death genes from both the mother and father which would indeed result in deafness somewhere in that breeding.

Good breeding practices are to NOT breed together two animals that one knowingly understands could produce an animal of a less perfect quality. Breeding an animal just for money purposes when one knows that it’s possible to have a deaf offspring is, in my opinion, irresponsible and selfish behavior.

When looking for a puppy as a pet and you prefer a light colored dog it would be a good idea to always be certain that you know who the parents were and that one of those parents most definitely should have been a dark solid colored dog. If it was not and there were two light-colored dogs bred together then you must have your puppy tested for hearing.

Whether you are a breeder already or are thinking about breeding please don’t do it just for the money. Do it wisely and don’t make choices that can result in unhealthy puppies. It is these kind of breeders that gives a bad name to breeding in general and are often referred to as backyard breeders. Please don’t be one of them! Take this new found knowledge to heart and encourage good healthy puppies. Don’t just put together two white animals unless you’re certain that there is some color in the line/relatives somewhere. I don’t know how this applies to breeds that are only white such as a Maltese but in my education my understanding is that those dogs also carry the deaf gene so get your puppy tested for hearing if that’s the breeding of your choice.

AUTHOR: The author is Dr. Marika Zoll. She is clinical psychologist and also a breeder of French Bulldogs. You can see more of her work with dogs at her website https://frenchbulldogsla.com.

The Nature Of French Bulldogs

This article is about nature versus nurture in humans and animals: meaning- are you who you were born to be or is it the nurturing that you got through your life that turned you into who you’ve become. An example might be: were you born with a temper because you are Italian or did you learn to have a temper? The answer to that, by the way, is, in fact, that you learned to have a temper by observation of someone in your life having a temper. But that’s for a whole other conversation. Right now I want to concern our thoughts with the idea of nature versus nurture in regards to dogs and ultimately you should feel more comfortable with breed descriptions.

When talking about dogs some statements might be somewhat true like that there are terrier breeds that Bark more than other breeds or that Chihuahua’s seem to shake easily or that a Labrador or a Golden Retriever loves to swim and we can also add to that list that French Bulldogs are extremely social and there isn’t a person that they don’t like. But despite the fact that we could say that a French bulldog is an extremely social breed, is it not possible to also say that other breeds couldn’t learn to be nurtured to be more social? I had Shetland sheep dogs growing up and they would run and hide whenever strange people came around.

Back to humans for a moment because in fact much of what we learned about humans is carried over to animals including specific medications given to animals that have been only tested on humans and then seem just sort of work on animals in the same way. I speak from my own experience as I have a dog that takes medications for its heart that were never tested on animals and are daily prescribed to humans. All that being said the twin studies or the triplet studies with humans have the most to say about nature and nurture in creatures that are brought up in different environments yet born from the same parents. After 25 years of living separately, separated at birth, triplets brought back together for study were noted to have an astonishing amount of similar traits. These traits included things like the way that they dressed, the music that they preferred, the names of the women that they married and what they looked like, the kinds of perfume that they preferred and whether they were outgoing or introverted and so on.

I was at a dog park yesterday, where I had never been to before, with a French bulldog puppy, age 5 months, that I was delivering to her forever home Owners. I walked around there the only French Bulldog for a while. Then progressively others arrived and suddenly there were six French Bulldogs and it was fascinating to see that the French Bulldogs all gravitated towards one another. Would you say it’s because they recognize that they look alike or would you say that perhaps like people we are attracted to energies that are similar to our own? Sometimes our curiosity is roused by something entirely different but the truth is, the friends that we choose, the people we hang out with to do the things we like most to do, we all have many traits in common. So I see this same kind of thing happening with dog,s that similar dogs are attracted to one another and I don’t think it’s a coincidence. I could only prove this to you if I again and again set up a scenario similarly were I would bring similar dogs into a common environment over and over and take note of how the similar dogs start to group up together. The point here really is just that energy attracts like energy. I’m sure you’ve heard about the condition of “manifestation” and how to create what you want by thinking about it. Well that’s all about energy and therefore people that have similar energies are attracted to each other and animals that have similar energies seem to be attracted to one another. The point is though, as this article began, that we were questioning is if this is something they are born with or is it something that they are taught. I am here to say that it something that is inborn and therefore one can develop a preference for a certain breed of dog based on the inherent nature of the animal which, in this case, French Bulldogs, is that they are an extremely social breed with people, perhaps sometimes more likely to have an alpha nature, but not certainly always, just maybe more often than not, and with this in mind, when brought up special consideration should be given to the fact that French Bulldogs can be bossy and therefore you don’t want to reinforce this behavior because it could get worse. Remember about time – outs when your puppy is a brat!

If you are thinking about getting a dog for the first time or the second time, whatever it is, just be mindful that the dog that you get is more than what it looks like. Do your research and read descriptions about the nature of different dog breeds. Natures are very specific to the breed and if a French Bulldog interests you at all you need to know that it is definitely a more lazy dog. It is often a very funny dog with dance like “Hello” antics. It very loyal everyone (easy to jump in a strangers car) never being hostile towards people. It will sometimes be skeptical of other dogs and then from there you can train your dog to bloom in certain areas like deterring it from aggressive bossy behavior by never reinforcing the bad behavior.

Author: Dr. Marika Zoll is a clinical psychologist and breeder of French Bulldogs. Her site is https://frenchbulldogsla.com. She practices alternative medicine healing along with traditional preventive medicine.

Barking and Your Puppy

When dogs bark it makes them feel powerful and in control of the things that surround them.  However, as we all know, barking can be a nuisance that must be controlled in order to keep a happy dog, a happy household, and a happy community.  By training your puppy to ‘speak’ on command they will be much less likely to bark without being instructed to do so.  Barking can be viewed as a dog’s warning system, so they will bark when they are in need of something such as to be let out to potty, to eat, or to warn your of a disturbance. This behavior should be rewarded, provided the barking is minimal and appropriate. This will teach your dog that barking once or twice to warn you will get them affection, but excessive barking will be ignored.

Dogs should never be left outside unattended. You might think that this is a viable solution while you are away at work or running errands, but the truth is that even leaving your dog alone in a fenced yard will make them feel anxious. Anxiety in this situation may cause your dog to bark excessively or develop other behaviors such as digging or finding other ways to escape the yard.

An easy way to manage dog barking is to understand why the barking is taking place to begin with. Most people experience the problem of a dog barking whenever someone walks by the front window or door.  This occurs because dogs are inherently territorial. When a dog barks at someone approaching your window or door, they are simply trying to scare the ‘intruder’ away. Any person walking by your house will continue to walk because they are obviously not scared of a barking dog when the dog is inside a house or fence. However, your dog will not understand this concept. The dog will think that because the person walked away, they must have been scared of their barking.  In your dog’s mind, this only reinforces the idea that barking works, so the behavior will continue.

The best way to manage barking behavior is to teach the puppy that baring does NOT work. You will need the help of your friends who your dog is not familiar with in order to teach him not to bark when strangers approach. To accomplish this, simply have these people walk by your house when the dog is looking. When the dog starts barking they should stop in their tracks and simply stand in front of the house. Your dog will realize that the barking is not scaring the ‘intruder’ away, but also that someone standing on the sidewalk is not a threat.

Training a dog not to bark can be tricky and difficult, especially since dogs are generally a great warning system to announce uninvited intruders. There is a very fine line between teaching your dog to behave, yet allowing the dog to remain protective of you and your home. When the puppy exhibits behaviors that are meant to protect you, your family and your home. When your puppy exhibits protective behaviors you should reward them. They will quickly learn the difference between unwanted behavior and allowed protective behavior.

In Conclusion…

Now that you have taken the time and spent the money to get a new puppy, you must take the time to train them. A well trained dog makes a happy home. You should note that your dog doesn’t have to know a bunch of tricks nor do they have to be perfect. You are probably not training a show dog or a service guide dog, so there is no reason to stress out about making them behave perfectly.

You should try to focus your energy on key behaviors such as housebreaking, walking on leash, and responding to standard commands such as ‘sit’, ‘stay’, ‘come’ and ‘down.’ As you get to know your dog you will quickly find out what their strengths are and will be able to expand on those behaviors along with managing the unwanted behaviors.

Most puppy training can and should be done on your own inside your home. There are dog training classes that you can take to help you get started, however they are only the beginning of the training process.  Training requires continued attention and behavior in order for you to train the best possible dog for you, your new puppy and your family.