Interesting topic; my Frenchie, Diva, is not like a "typical" French bulldog. We adopted her right after she turned 4, and her previous owners only used her for breeding. When we first got her she was all skin and bones, and when we brought her to our vet they noticed her teeth were very filed down, which they believe was from living in a cage. Because of these issues we know that she was not socialized, loved, or taken care of. She loves our family and my male english bulldog, and she sometimes has her days that she picks fights with my female english bully but for the most part they get along. Now when it comes to strangers it's a different story. If people come to the house she will run to the door barking and when they finally come inside she will continue to bark at them then run away to one of us because she's so nervous. If we are out in public she hides behind me when people approach. We recently had an incident with her biting my neighbor (you can find this in the "French Bulldog Talk" under "Diva bit my neighbor"), it wasn't a bad bite at all, but she still she but someone. All of this behavior is strictly a result from her fear. We never thought she would bite someone but she did, and I blame myself for that.
I personally believe that most dogs in rescues are results of neglect, bad socializing, or dogs having health problems and the owners not wanting to care for them. And because of this some of these dogs are just scared and don't know how else to react to new people or new pets. I also have an EB that we adopted from a shelter who is 10 and she is just a doll, wouldn't hurt a fly. It really just depends on the individual dog and not the breed. Diva is a work in progress that we will honestly be working with for the rest of her life, but she is worth it. And her and my neighbor have already made amends!![]()