Ahh he did it again, he peed on my floor this is what I thought at the beginning when Bushido was just 12 weeks old. I guess I’m not the only one, and not the last one who will think this when your French bulldog puppy is making a mistake on the floor, carpet etc…

Potty training is a big thing for many people, and potty training is as well one of the three biggest reason besides, jumping up on people and barking why people give their dogs away. I know a lot of people who have massive problems with it even their dog is already an adult.

But it does not have to be that hard, all you have to do is follow a system and make sure that you give as less room as possible for your French Bulldog to make a mistake.

When I bought Bushido from the breeder, well actually it is not a real breeder because in China it is just a business. He was just 10 weeks old, and of course at this time he was living with 5 other French Bulldog puppies in a very small cage and the breeder never heard of potty training. But we managed it together quite quick to make sure that Bushido does as little mistakes as possible and that we create a great routine for him and for his potty.

What are you going to learn?

How we established the right routine for Bushido so that he learns not to potty inside the house but instead outside and if he does the potty outside there will be a reward for him. How we utilized dog diapers to help Bushido during the night and how we used the create to really train him to hold his potty.

The first weeks

Once you have your puppy and you bring him home, most of the time it will be one of the most exciting time in your life. There is this little French bulldog puppy wandering the house following each step of you, and of course does his mistakes on the floor. Many people think that the dog should automatically know when and where to pee. But please do not forget you have to make sure that your puppy understands in a fair manner what you are expecting from him.

A quick and simple rule of tumb to remember.

When your puppy is 12 weeks old he or she can hold it only for maximum four hours, the best bet is you put your alarm on 3,5h and make sure that after your alarm rings you take your puppy out. With each month your puppy is growing he can hold his bladder one hour longer. Which means…

3 month = 4 hours

4 month = 5 hours

5 month = 6 hours

6 month = 7 hours

7 month well then your French bulldog should be able to hold it already the whole night if you do follow the right regime for your potty training

Additional to the point above is, that you should remember that after each play your puppy will pee FOR SURE, that after each meal or drink he will pee within 15 minutes. This are some critical things which you should remember.

How To Potty Train Your French Bulldog Puppy

What I did with Bushido was this way, when I juts bought him I took the first three weeks of to really make sure I observe him right and get to know his patterns as above. At the same time he did not got yet his classic flight crate instead I bought for him a big playpen where on one side he could sleep and on the other side I put some dog diapers on the floor so that he could get up in the night and pee there. I used this diapers only in the night, as I was the whole day together with him.

The diapers worked out very well for the night so that my wife and I could sleep in the night instead of waking up each 4 hours to bring Bushido for potty. This was a big help for us, and we both got a great night sleep.

During the day, yes he made mistakes because sometimes we forgot to bring him out after a play or when he was drinking water. And I guess this is normal…

The key on this is, when we brought him outside I was holding him in my arms so that during the walk he could not start to pee as I wanted to train him where he should do it. When we came to the right place, it was a nice place behind my house with lots of grass. I put him down, and then directly start giving him the command..my command was ”Go Pippi” you can choose anything you want, but you must be consistent. So I reaped the command until he made his business. Once he made his business, we really celebrated it like there is no tomorrow. I really praised Bushido for it, and I have him a very nice treat which was a bit of peanut butter on a cookie. He knew that this treat was only available outside, and if he has done his business on the right place. Yeah, I know sometimes people passed by and thought I’m crazy that I’m so happy about the potty my French bulldog puppy just did.

I have to say that this worked out like a charm for us and as well for Bushido. What we did as well was, when we knew we will go at 11:00 pm to sleep than I would restrict him from 21:00 with water. If you make sure that your puppy is properly dehydrated during the day then you can restrict him from water two hours before you go to bed. So I cut off his water, and then at 11:00 pm I went out the last time with him before going to bed. This is a technic many trainers use and it worked out very well, the result of this was. That when I woke up in the morning I only saw two small pee spots on the diapers and that it.

Introducing the crate and continue Potty training

When Bushido was 5month old I bought for him a flight crate, as I knew one day we will go back to Germany so it is better he get directly used to it. When I brought the crate home I just let the assembled crate stay for two days with the door open. ”How to introduce your French bulldog to the crate will be in another blog post.” Bushido became very comfortable with his crate and got no problem what so ever to go in and out and spend a significant amount of time in it.

With 5month, bushido was able to hold his pee for 6 hours which meant that when we went to bed at 12 pm I need to wake up only at 6 am to bring him direct outside. So this is as well what we did, we restricted his water from 10 pm went out the last time at 12 pm and went to sleep. At 6 am I would wake up, open the crate and most important not let Bushido run around, but instead holding him so that he was in my arms. I would rush outside to his place, giving his command for potty and celebrate together with him the success.

They key here is, make sure you prepare your clothes and the peanut butter cookie before you go to sleep. So that when you wake up, all you have to do is put on your clothes, grab the cookie and down with your dog. As fewer mistakes your French Bulldog puppy can do, as quicker you will be able to potty train your Frenchie successfully.

People often see the crate as something bad, but if you introduce it right and don’t do any harm to your dog in the crate then he or she will love it forever. It will be their escape and relax place, once they are fed up from us. The carte helps you a lot during potty training because dogs would never make a mistake in their crate only if they see no other options.

Once Bushido became 6 months old then he was almost 100% potty trained, and what I mean with it is. That we could leave him in the crate for 7 to 8 hours without him doing a mistake during the night and that I or my wife not needed to rush anymore in the morning.

Life after potty training

At around 7 to 8 month, Bushido was 100% potty trained, we could absolutely trust him on this and he never disappointed me in this case. Sure the first weeks have been challenging, and you always need to put your time on so that you do not miss out on his potty time. But the reward was much greater, as our dog become very quick potty trained and we got no more accidents in the house.

The whole key to the success of potty training is really having a routine wich you set and follow it. This is the main key, get to know your French Bulldog puppy observe him when he wants to pee so that you are prepared and can take him out.

I really hope that you could take something out from this ‘How To Potty Train Your French Bulldog Puppy’ blog post and that you will see as well the same success as I have.

Any more questions? Then do let me know below in the comment box.