The Most Important Command to Teach Your Frenchie

When bringing your Frenchie home the most impotant command is to teach him to come. It may be cute to watch your little one run away while you chase him and scoop him in your arms. But what you are teaching him is it’s OK to run away from you. This won’t be cute when he is 20+lbs and a lot faster than you or when there’s a car coming and it’s a life and death matter for him to listen. I suggest you and everyone in the household start as soon as your pup arrives and I’ll give you some pointers. I am by no means a certified dog trainer as of yet. You never know when or if I will do so as I am a learner and love to collect certifications. 🙂 I will give you best practices in my almost 40 years of being born into the dog breeding world.

First, Frenchies are a braceycephalic breed. This means they have a short nose. Everyone talks about the disadvantages of this with their breathing but did you know it’s actually a benefit for them in receiving visual cues from you? Those wide eyes and short noses allow them to see your cues better and do the command you are visually cueing them to do. Every since I learned this, almost 20 years ago, I’ve incorporated visual cues into my communications with my flat nosed friends and it works.

With almost every command, I start with a snap, cue with my finger , and state the command with my voice. The snap alerts him that you are about to give a command which gives him the opportunity to listen to your voice and/or look to your hand for the cue.

The Most Important Command for Your Frenchie: Come

Put a leash and collar on your Frenchie.
Go down to his level. Snap. Point Finger towards yourself. Pull on leash while saying come.
When he gets to you reward him with praise, pets, and if desired a healthy treat.

Once he’s mastered the leash, remove it and practice in a safe enclosed environment.

Treats or No Treats?

I typically do not use treats as I believe my love and praise should be all they need but I totally get why you would want to use a treat. You will need to practice your own reward system that works for you and your pup.

In real life, when you tell your pup to come and he just looks at you like you are crazy you have to do something about it. I go directly to them and pull them back to where they were supposed to come. Then I give praise and love like they did what I said. The dragging shouldn’t be fun but shouldn’t harm them in any way either. I can allow my Frenchies outside with me now, snap my fingers, and tell them to come. They listen which is an important aspect of safety. Make the time to go practice the come command with your Frenchie.

Did you find your perfect Frenchie pup?

Start planning for your new French Bulldog puppy to join you!

Need help planning? This is include for free when choosing a pup from The French Bulldog of Colorado. No worries if you don’t. You can still get the same training our puppy parents receive.

Take me to the course!