Help! My bull is a bully :(

[Pope]

Pope is (almost) an angel in so many ways. Until, he plays with another dog. He thinks it's fun to bite, and then, pull, hard! He nips at legs, he nips and ears, he loves pulling on lose skin around the neck. He will run with another dog with his mouth wide open, and if given the chance, grab onto their side and run along with them, their side in his mouth. At first, we thought it was cute, and I read various things saying that we didn't need to worry because that's how puppies play and he would grow out of it. He's only 10 months old, so maybe it will, but now we have friends telling us that Pope is too rough to play with their dogs. People at the dog park seem uncomfortable with Pope playing with their dogs, even when we have him on the large dog side with great danes and labs! He never growls, and doesn't seem to be aggressive at all towards anyone else, he just doesn't seem to understand that no one likes to play like that but him.

We have no clue how to get rid of this embarrassing behavior. We have a squirt bottle that he hates! We use it when he's chewing on things he shouldn't be and it works fabulously! But trying to chase him down with it everytime he bites another dog at the park would be ridiculous and impossible. It's not something we can train out of him at home because we don't have another dog.

HELP!

 

[Schimpfy]

We are in the same spot and same age I feel so sorry for the other dogs who have to constantly defend themselves because of my iII mannered brat curious as to repIies Thanks for bringing up the subject

 

[FrenchieDante]

I'm in the same boat. I try to correct him and I know he means no harm -- but sometimes it's too rough. He often plays with other dogs as that's when he's the happiest! But he loves "chewing faces" & also play-growls. Hope someone here can help.

 

[Pope]

I found this article and I like what he says about making them calm down to a 0 before allowing them to play again. We pull Pope away and say no, but then just let him go and sigh frustratingly when he darts right back to bite.

http://www.cesarsway.com/askcesar/overexcitement/Dog-Not-Playing-Nice

Also, has anyone ever seen a muzzle for a frenchie? They look hilarious, but I'm wondering if it would be really helpful- he can play and run and wrestle, but won't be able to use his mouth..

French Bulldogs Leather Dog Muzzle -CUSTOM SMALL MUZZLE [M41##1099 Bulldog Leather muzzle] : www.bulldog-breeds-store.com, Bulldog dog muzzle

 

[Squishy Walnuts]

Wally plays very rough as well and he's very pushy. I tried the tips in that article but he just doesn't calm down with other dogs around.

I wouldn't use a muzzle on Wally. His bite is not the problem, it's how he runs dogs over and practically flattens them. He's always very excited and enthusiastic. We always say he's misunderstood. lol!

 

[Alice Kable]

Buster is a roughneck, too, but that is how he played with his litter before he came home with us. He and Ruggles play rough, too. Buster is almost 2 and doesn't do the biting thing much anymore (he used to latch on to Ruggles' jowls and drag him around). When he meets a new dog now it is more sniff and chase.

 

[shortstuff]

Bisou is this way too, and I fear she will never get over it. Shasta is the one that taught it to her by biting her neck and jowls and dragging her all over the floor. We put the kibosh on that real quick and now there's no more dragging, just mouthfuls of skin. I don't mind letting them play that way together anymore (after I got over my initial panic of seeing my baby dragged around!) because other than the occasional neck scratch, they're not hurting each other. It's so hard though to take Bisou places and she jumps all over the other dogs and tries to bite at their faces... it's a mixture of explaining to the owner that she's not going to hurt them and explaining that letting their dog give her a firm NO is beneficial. Joel's mom's dog had no problem telling Bisou NO with a swift nip on the nose, and that was that. We haven't tackled dog parks for a few months because the last experience was awful. Every person there wanted to go off into their own corner of the park and throw balls around... poor Bisou just wanted to play!

 

[blushy]

Buster is a roughneck, too, but that is how he played with his litter before he came home with us. He and Ruggles play rough, too. Buster is almost 2 and doesn't do the biting thing much anymore (he used to latch on to Ruggles' jowls and drag him around). When he meets a new dog now it is more sniff and chase.

Isabelle is a sniff and chase (looks like a hunt) and it freaks other dogs out.

Poor frenchies. Lol.

 

[davidh]

That's just how they play, and other dogs don't get it. Henri was pulling Katie out from under a chair by her neck the other day, and I went HENRI!!! he stopped and looked at me as to say what??? Just keep telling them NO, and they will eventually out grow it.

 

[winginit66]

Wilson will latch on to any collar he can find while they are running around in the yard. Partly because he can't keep up with them and it slows them down and partly due to the whole grab the neck and face area.

 

[2bullymama]

agree with everyone else... it is how they play. Cheli is brutally annoying and rough with our Bulldog -- Banks is 62 lbs and Cheli is 24 lbs.... he beats the crap out of her and she lets him know when she has had enough. There are times I have to correct him casue I see Banks getting past the point of a 'nice' correction.

If you need to use the water bottle at the park, then do so -- a lot of times if they hate it, all you have to do is show it to them and they stop

 

[Julie Stevenson]

I will chim in here and agree with everyone. From a trainer perspective, this is very normal "frenchie" behavior. Both of mine play rough and they bite and grab each others faces. My baby used to have sores from my older one on his cheeks. When it gets too rough I step in and break them up and make them take a time out. They have learned over the months what is ok and what is too much.

I run into the same issues at the dog park. That's part of the reason I joined a frenchie meetup group. I wanted my boys to have other frenchies to play with because I know they are a bully breed and they do tend to play rough. I am always right on top of them though at the park and I break it up if any of the dogs get too rough or if mine get to rough. I had my Ollie go jump up in this HUGE pitbulls face at the beach. The owner had her dog on a massive leash and collar and I was running over to scoop up my baby. I was like oh NO you don't.....that dog can eat you for lunch! LOL

My best advice is to supervise and stop the behavior when it gets to rough. See if you can find a frenchie meetup in your area. If you don't have one...start one. Go to meetup.com and see if you can find others in your area.

Julie

 

[chubbybunnymax]

I think frenchies just play rough. Max plays best with other frenchies and he needs to be the dominant one when playing with other breeds. Max even got a German Shepherd that is like five times his size to be on her back while playing with him.

My bf was once walking past Shake Shack and there was a bigger dog getting cookies from his humans. Max crept up behind the big dog and bit his tail. I have no idea what made him think it's okay to bite another dog's tail. I was happy that I wasn't there since I would have been so embarrassed.