Frenchies are our family members.
For a happy home, your Frenchie and children should relate well.
Read on to learn how to integrate Frenchies with children.
Managing expectations
Managing your kids’ expectations for the new Frenchie puppy is important. Children love puppies and want to start playing with them when they come to your home. But your kids need patience, as developing a bond with a Frenchie puppy may take time.
Your puppy’s interests should always come first. Leaving its family to join yours is traumatizing for puppies. It’s a new environment, and having humans around him all the time can be overwhelming for the puppy.
You should, therefore, treat it gently and give it sufficient time to adjust to the new changes.
New puppy rules
Setting rules clears any misconceptions kids may have about the new puppy. Ensure you communicate these rules to your children to ensure a smooth transition for the puppy. Sticking to set rules creates a safe environment for your puppy.
Your children can read a book on how to treat a new Frenchie puppy before you bring in the puppy. This prepares them. You can also read the book and pass the information to your children.
Here are some of the crucial rules to teach your children:
- The puppy should have a safe area: Teach your kids that the new Frenchie puppy needs a safe environment, typically a crate but potentially a playpen. This safe zone should always be respected, and the puppy should be given time to relax alone.
- Use soft sounds and tones: Teach your kids to avoid shouting at the puppy or screaming, as this would scare it. Avoid shouting and fighting when the puppy is around. Frenchies are empathic dogs and can easily detect your negative feelings, thus getting stressed and uncomfortable.
- No rough play with the new Frenchie puppy: Teach your children not to be aggressive with the new puppy. Puppies are small and delicate and can easily get hurt if mishandled.
- Being gentle: Your new puppy will initially be stressed and scared, so everyone, including the children, should treat it gently.
- Patience is important: As mentioned, puppies adjust to their new environments. This makes patience an important virtue for everyone in your home. Let your children know that puppies between 8-16 weeks are at their critical development stage since they are beginning to discover their new environment. Patience ensures they grow and adapt fully.
- Everyone should be on board: Enlist your kids to help you care for the French Bulldog puppy. A fantastic approach to instilling responsibility is to own a dog. Establish boundaries for your kids with their new Frenchie puppy. They must be able to assist with feeding it, walking it, cleaning it, and other tasks.
- Training is important: Start training your dog early. Puppies learn fast. For better results, enroll your Frenchie puppy in a dog training camp. Involve your children in the training process. At home, you can use a training guide where everyone learns how to train the new Frenchie puppy.
- Puppy to children: The roles should not be reversed. The puppy should make its way to the children and not the reverse. Your kids might find it difficult to understand this. Kids can be enthusiastic and want to run to the dog. This is acceptable. Remind them not to get overly enthused and irritate their new furry companion.
Puppy obedience games
Instead of waiting until your puppy reaches a specific age to implement formal, complicated training methods, you can start incorporating obedience training right after you bring your new puppy home. The following activities and exercises are simple to teach and will lay the groundwork for future training. The following games are simple for kids to practice:
Soft mouth
Puppies have sharp teeth and can easily bite you or the children during feeding. Ensure your new puppy has a soft mouth before allowing your children to feed it. To achieve this, hold some food in your hand. The puppy will lunge after the food. Do not give it the food until it learns to take it gently from your hand.
This teaches your puppy that lunging after the food is not right. This forces it to be attentive and focused on the food. Gently offer the food but pull away at a slight pressure from your puppy’s teeth or mouth. Do this several times until its mouth is 100% soft.
What’s your name games
The naming game is a wonderful, fantastic game for your children to practice with the puppy. Whether or not your puppy understands its name, teaching it that you like it when it looks at you will benefit its learning in the future.
Ask your kid to pronounce the puppy’s name while holding a small treat. Offer the treat and say the name again as soon as the puppy responds (by making eye contact). Practice repeatedly, in various settings, and with a range of distractions.
Hide and seek
Let the puppy sit down. Show it a treat, and then go hide. Call it to look for you. This is a good game as it teaches your puppy to respond when called and use scent to find you.
Fetch games
Use a toy or a ball. Show it to your puppy and use any command word like “sit.” Throw the ball and command the puppy to go fetch it. Congratulate and reward it whenever it fetches the ball.
“Sit” and “wait” games.
These are important initial commands for your puppy. They will come in handy in the future. Always reward your puppy whenever it obeys the commands.
Puppy tricks
Tricks help you and your dog bond while mentally challenging and improving their concentration. Before calling the conduct “shake,” simulate the desired activity (having your dog offer you a paw, for example), then reward the behavior numerous times.
If you don’t do this, the label “shake” will have no significance. Never overuse a particular technique; revisit it frequently and conclude optimistically.
Over to You
Integrating Frenchies with children can be a pleasant and exciting experience.
Don’t forget to take the necessary precautions to guarantee that the new Frenchie puppy feels secure and at ease throughout the transition.
Always keep an eye on relationships between your puppy and kids to avoid any mishaps or unpleasant experiences.