I am jealous! I want a dog very badly, but now is not the right time- too much travel on the horizon.

Get a long leash - like 10-20 ft - and start the puppy on that. The idea is that young puppies usually don't stray too far, so you just use the long leash as back up for safety, but you try not to ever have it pull. That way the puppy develops the habit of looking to you and choosing to come to you when they get too far away - praise when they do - instead of the habit of going to as far as the leash will let them and paying attention to the leash, not to you.

In my experience, if you start a puppy like that, often you get an older dog with great leash manners with very little specific leash training effort.

I totally agree with PirateFoxy (long leash) and sushi pup (crate, classes, and tired puppy). I would only add to get some appropriate chew toys, maybe a few more than "some", and have them at the ready to exchange for whenever puppy tries to chew on anything not appropriate. Kongs are really useful.

Crate.

Exercise.

Outdoor potty on a schedule, rather than random.

Wakes up. Potty.

Eats. Potty...etc.

Letting them see the siblings "go" may help with the scent and idea outside.

Introduce slowly to the sibling dogs. One at a time, using the crate to protect baby until all temperaments and behaviors toward each other are sorted out.

Are you getting a male or female? Very exciting! I love Frenchies, but couldn't find one in my area and so I went with a breed that I grew up with, a black miniature poodle.

Crate.

I'm so excited for you!!

Besides the crate, maybe some of that specialty cleaner so that if the puppy does have a wee accident, the smell won't linger in the carpet.

Nature's Miracle or Anti-Icky Poo (yes, that's the name of a product).

Nature's Miracle is awesome stuff. When I cleaned the carpet in my bedroom (just with a home thing, not a deep clean) it started smelling of cat pee, presumably from the previous owners as we've never had a cat. I got Nature's Miracle, one of the extra strength products, and applied that, and I think it took two applications but it did get the smell out.

Agree with crate and schedule for pottying - small dogs in particular can be difficult to potty train because they seem to not feel the need to be as far away from bed/food as larger dogs (I'm sure our current dog would like to go a mile from the house before pooping, if we'd let him every time) so the better you can have the start, the less chance the puppy will have to develop a bad habit.

ETA: Also work on 'drop it' and being able to take things from the puppy and handle the ears (you can pretend clean them) and brush teeth and so on, while the puppy is small enough you can force the issue a bit, as most dogs do not enjoy ear cleaning or tooth brushing especially to start with, but they are necessary for proper care of the dog over it's lifetime. My current dog is 3 and 91 lbs and I just got him and he DOES NOT like having his temperature taken or being examined by a vet - it's an Issue. We're going to have to work on it so routine vet trips and emergencies won't be so traumatic for him. (Your vet may be willing to help also - sometimes you can ask if you can do a 'meet n greet' where you just take the puppy in to visit with the people in the office and the vet and have a good time, to help the vet not be a bad place to visit. Just make sure to discuss the best time to do that with your vet, since you don't want your puppy to pick something up and get sick.)

Pretty much everything that was said above. We also tried to train bite inhibition and you can look it up online. We sacrificed some washcloths to be frozen gnawable treats during teething (and frozen kongs).

Depending on your area and the risk of parvo we put a lot of effort into early socialization (16 weeks is too late!). With strangers, with kids, with dogs (safely supervised), at puppy class. We now have a very friendly dog, although she is a bit high strung with strange men. We kept a really close eye on her and removed her from any negative interactions calmly and quickly. Lots of treats for interactions.

We also put a lot of effort into training recall because we love our off leash walks, in official off leash parks.

Don’t get too down on yourself if potty training takes a little bit longer than the books say. Some dogs don’t even clue into the idea of potty training until 16 weeks or later. Until then it’s being very consistent with rushing them outside after crate time, many times a day. We housetrained horribly despite toooonnnnnns of work due to an undiagnosed uti and she was still having the occasional accident up to almost a year. She’s perfect now!

The long leash trick helps a lot with off-leash training, too. It's really all about teaching the dog to pay attention to YOU and be interested in staying with YOU, rather than having the dog focused on the leash/harness/collar/whatever. Also, with a longer leash you can practice off-leash walking on your normal walks by giving the dog LOTS of slack so they're walking off your body language and voice commands and the leash is just emergency backup. As the dog gets good at paying attention and you develop more confidence in the dog's recall, you can also go someplace safe and just drop the leash and let it drag (I use a 20 ft leash for this) to practice being off-leash, but still with the leash there where you can pounce on it if the dog isn't listening. A large backyard or large field is good for this - I like to work on off-leash not at a dog park at first because you never know when another dog will turn up at the dog park and that's a big distraction.

I know they aren't popular, but I also prefer a chain martingale collar for leash walking - our dog came with a nylon one, which is what a lot of people like because it prevents the dog pulling back and slipping the collar, but I found it didn't 'release' as fast as I wanted to if it did get pulled tight. The chain slips back to normal collar size faster and easier. Also, with the chain, you can just wiggle the leash and the clip and chain make a bit of noise, and often that's enough to remind the dog 'oh, hey, I'm supposed to be listening to them, not obsessing over this smell!' I like being able to do that because then the dog is practicing refocusing on me and paying attention to me, which is what I want the dog to be doing. (I don't yank or jerk hard on it, it really is just enough to get the chain and clip to make a bit of noise. Doesn't have to be loud for the dog to hear it. :) )

Oh! I forgot. We also start right away on street crossing practice. I don't ever want my dog to be running loose and unsupervised, but I want them in the habit of stopping at the curb because that way if they ever DO get loose, they're less likely to just go blasting across streets without paying attention, which will hopefully reduce the chance of getting hit. (I have had one instance where the dog yanked the leash out of my hand because a rabbit burst out of the underbrush RIGHT in front of us, and the dog took off after the rabbit, completely not paying attention to me, until they came to a street and the dog checked himself just for a moment, and that moment was enough to him to clue into me telling him to stop, and he did.)

Anyway, all we do is when we are walking, if we come to a street crossing, we stop, pause for a moment, I make a show of looking both ways, and then I give a command ("let's go" or "okay, let's go") and we continue. It's a bit tedious to do every single time to start with, but dogs do pick up on it after a while and you can phase out being so explicit about it. (With our older dogs who we'd had for a while, they just stopped and waited and watched for body language that the person they were with was going to step into the street, so you only had to be explicit about it if the street was busy and you wanted them to be focusing on staying with you, as opposed to most of the streets we cross, which are super-low-traffic residential.)

The second part of this (which comes more as the dog gets better at walking on a leash in general, so you can make more demands about HOW they are walking) is that I make the dog walk WITH me when we are crossing the street. Not in heel position specifically, but close, and straight across, no wandering off one way or the other or pausing because something in the street smells intriguing. So it's stop, pause, look, "let's go", walk briskly directly across the street.

Oh, and bite inhibition is fantastic for the dog's future. I know everyone hopes to be a forever home, but should anything happen, if your dog is polite and well behaved with his/her mouth, the prospects are much better. One of the reasons we felt comfortable adopting Vinny (the 3 year old 91lb dog I mentioned) is he's SO polite and gentle with his mouth. He had horrible leash manners and barged around a bit generally, but he isn't at all protective and doesn't snap or lunge at food or anything, so it was no big deal to work on his leash manners and teach him to be a little calmer in the house. (More exercise helped with that, too.) If he'd been mouthy or had a tendency to snap I'd don't know we would've felt comfortable. (We fostered him before adopting, so we got a good chance to get to know him.)

I generally say that manners are more important than obedience - you can teach an older dog sit/down/whatever other tricks, and most people don't mind having to do that, but it's a much bigger project to take on a dog who isn't housebroken, rushes out doors, lunges or snaps at food, etc.

Our Aussies are 13, 9, and 1. We always train with a bell on a ribbon on the exit door to Pottyville. Puppies learn very quickly to alert you. We always hit their nose with the bell while saying something like “ring it”. It’s always exciting to hear that first little tinkle on their own. We’ve trained that way for over 25 years, and so do all our friends and family. I will say, in hindsight, I should have waited. It was a very stressful time for my then-12 year old male. He is still unhappy.

Deeinohio - Do even old dogs pic it up quickly? We're thinking of trying the bell with our current dog but he is 3. I'm mostly worried he'd ring just to go out and play. :)

Pirate, we got our eldest when he was 4, and he was resistant. He knows how, though because if his direct staring doesn’t work, and he’s desperate, he’ll half-heartedly ring it.

Dyh, we had mini poodles growing up too! I don’t know if we will get a boy or girl. I prefer girls just because that’s what we’ve always had, but we could fall in love with a boy, I guess.

Thanks everyone for this advice! Our frenchie is/was crate trained — she only uses it now for bedtime and really loves her little nest of blankets in there, but for a few years we used it every time we went out because she had separation anxiety and would chew chair legs...

Deeinohio - I have the greatest mental image now of a dog sulkily poking potty bells. :D

Foxy- VERY good on you for using the slip-chain collar!!! For good training, it's essential. The quick "EVEN grip & release" is critical. Along with the noise part of it, chains enable safer correction.

If I had my way, the worthless nylon-strap collars would be BANNED for training.

Faron

His nylon collar would just slip tight when he'd pull (he was a horrible leash walker) and then stay stuck like that. I didn't care for that at all.

Our new baby, Lucy, comes home in 2 weeks! Time to rest up and prepare!

Awe, Lucy is ADORABLE!

Lucy is too cute!

My 2 current dogs were each adopted as 2 year old adults ... don't think I have the patience to go through puppyhood, specially with a shepherd breed like my larger dog.

Good luck with potty training ... hopefully the cold/snow will hold off for her first few weeks home!

What an adorable little muffin.

She's adorable and I know you can't wait, but I would STRONGLY recommend getting her AFTER Christmas. There is just too much confusion for a puppy before Christmas and on Christmas Day.

For the first week, she should either be in her crate, outside or in your arms. Her feet should NOT touch the floor inside your house! That way, there are no accidents which get the scent into your house. Believe me, this works!

I'm not the biggest fan of Pugs & Frenchie's but......um....she's kinda growing on me! How can the new Queen of your house be so little?!?!!

Faron

Anglo, appreciate the thought but my house isn’t particularly chaotic around the holidays.

Faron, I’m not a pug fan either but frenchies are the best! Here’s big sister:

Congratulations Sue! Lucy is gorgeous! We have the Potty Bell for our girl Beanie, and it has worked well. Of course sometimes she just rings it when she wants to go look for rabbit poop to eat. :) We crate train her, we also got a little pink "octagon" for time out purposes during the day when she was little. It was helpful when we needed to cook, or when our older dog (also a Frenchie) needed a break from her. I got it from Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/ToysOpoly-Playpen-Exercise-Puppy-Kennel/dp/B013Q7FGEI/ref=sr_1_3_sspa?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1511130241&sr=1-3-spons&keywords=puppy+pen&psc=1

She is very food motivated so tons and tons of treats (really small ones) when she pottied outside worked well for her. Tons of toys, every kind of texture. She has recently started chewing things that aren't hers, finding a remote and some other pens. Of course this all happened on DH's watch so.....

Slight hijack...Did I tell you all she broke her leg? We think she jumped off the bed and broke her front leg. She had it amputated Labor Day weekend. The good news is she is fine and runs around like a maniac.

Oh no...that is so sad.

Wow! That does seem like a BIG Sis!! Do you have the "wee-est" little girl?

Faron

That IS my wee girl! She’s always been this size...maybe she looks big in that pic?

With the bigger sis...

Our puppy is 4.5 months old, and our older dog is almost 3, so I am right there with you! They are both goldens.

I highly recommend these free ebooks by Ian Dunbar. I don't use his long-term confinement suggestion, however, because I am lucky enough to be home and not need it: Before You Get Your Puppy and After You Get Your Puppy. Everything from bite inhibition, socialization, crate training, etc. is covered.

1. The first few weeks are insane and you think it will be that way forever. I took my puppy out every 15 to 20 minutes when he was awake. We had to carry him down our stairs so I always gave him a treat after picking him up, too. I used a cue phrase, "Do your business" (something I'd never say otherwise!) and then gave him a lot of treats and praise when he went. (He went right away outside from day one, but every dog is different.) Eventually, this time grew longer and longer, and now I can't remember the last time he had an accident. (He had very few overall.)

2. Try to get your pup used to the crate in the daytime. If your puppy is food motivated, it's a big help. Just take it step-by-step. Throw treats in with the door open-- frequently! When he/she goes in to explore on his or her own, throw more treats in there! You can feed his meals in there, too. For sleeping in the crate at night, I sang to my puppy and sat with him while he was there. Now he sleeps there with ease. I call his crate his "library" (he is named Hugo after Victor Hugo) and when I say, "Go to your library" he runs to it and I throw treats in. He sleeps there happily.

3. Get a treat bag and a clicker. Feed him at least half of his meals through training every day, all meals. The other half-- use some sort of food puzzle that is appropriate for a bulldog puppy. (I would think some of the food puzzles might not be appropriate because of the muzzle, but you would know best.) Wear the treat bag with the rest of the food (kibble, if you use it) and treat/praise your puppy every time you catch him or her doing something you like. Sitting? Lying down? Not chewing something up? TREAT and praise. You want to constantly reinforce good, calm behavior.

4. Mental stimulation is a good thing. It comes in the form of all sorts of training...for example, not just sit, but sit with duration and in a variety of settings. You can also get your puppy started on some nosework by scattering treats in the yard. (Start of making the challenge really easy.) You can also incorporate physical training-- core fitness-- 5 essential exercises-- paired with the mental training. Mental training tires them out, so make sure to get several short training sessions in every day.

5. Your key words are going to be: prevent, manage, and train. Prevent problems from happening in the first place. Manage them when you see them happen (and then work to prevent them). Use training to slowly not need to prevent them-- but your first step should be prevention, always. The best way to prevent issues is to watch your puppy 100% of the time.

6. Nothing is more important, IMO, than socialization. But that doesn't mean everyone gets to hold or bother the puppy. It means the puppy has ONLY positive social experiences. If you don't already know about dog body language, check out Turid Ragaas. Remember-- you always need to be your puppy's advocate.

7. Make sure your puppy has plenty to do. I don't know what kind of chewers bulldogs are or what kind of energy level they have (my golden puppy isn't high energy but he needs a job) but make sure he's not bored. That gets him into trouble!

8. On the other hand, relaxation is a beautiful thing. I highly recommend working through Dr. Karen Overall's Relaxation Protocol. Each day, you work through a set of tasks (like sit for 5 seconds) and offer a treat at the end of that task. A woman recorded them all, so you can just play the file and follow along with your dog! Relaxation Protocol MP3 Files (Free)

9. A harness would work well for your puppy... I recommend the Freedom Harness.

10. As others have said, make sure you sign up for a great puppy class right away. And then, keep going to classes! It's never too soon.

11. Make sure you practice all sorts of physical conditioning such as collar grabs, touching the paws, ears, mouth, etc. You want your dog to have NO handling issues. This kind of training should continue for the life of your dog. Always pair it with food. I bring a small cup of PB to the vet and when my puppy is getting shots or an exam, he just licks the PB. He doesn't even notice what they are doing.

12. The same can be said for sound sensitivity. Turn on the vacuum, give food. Play fireworks recordings from YouTube at full blast, give food. Some loud noise happens, give food.

Now... that's just for your puppy! You are going to have a whole different set of things to manage because you have other dogs. The basic idea is the same. Prevent issues (don't let your puppy steal any high value items from your other dogs... either put them away or keep your puppy on leash). Teach them how to take turns. Say each dog's name, give a treat. This develops impulse control. Make sure you monitor all play. Break things up frequently with treats until your puppy learns how to take a time out. Make sure your puppy gets to play with other PUPPIES until he/she is about 6 months old. My dogs get along really well but I am always, always, always monitoring their interactions to keep it that way.

Last bit of advice... consider letting the breeder pick for you. Good breeders usually do-- they know the puppies better than you can since they are with them so often. Usually good breeders insist on it. The first ones with the most "potential" for a given venue go to show/performance homes and the rest are evaluated strictly by temperament.

Have fun and good luck.

I Love Lucy!

Well now, that's a cute UFFDA! ;-)

Faron

Oh my word what a cutie!

I suggest you spell her name the French way: L U C I E (not that it really matters, I don't think you'll be teaching her to write it). But it will look cute on her Xmas stocking.

Such good advice, thank you all!

Hh, would you believe my dogs don’t have stockings??

I’ll have to think about that spelling. My human daughter has a name that can be spelled at least 2 ways. I think OUR way is the proper and most logical way, but of course it gets misspelled all the time. Drives me nuts.

Her middle name will be Waffles, because that is what DH wanted to name her. (The dog, not DD.)

Waffles...hahaha. I'm so glad you clarified that statement. I was about to give your husband some major side eye.

Not having stockings may give the breeder a reason to disqualify you.

My friend trained her yellow lab to ring a bathroom bell that hung on the front door knob. Where would you put a bell for a Frenchie to reach?

We got bathroom bells that are on a long ribbon so you can hang them longer or shorter depending on dog size.

And your dogs must have stockings if the family does! I'm even doing an advent calendar for Vinny this year if I get it done in time. :)

Aww what a sweetie!

Counting down the days...

Best pet stain remover/deodorizer? You know, just in case. ;-)

Nature's Miracle or Anti-Icky-Poo

Nature's Miracle is a miracle.

Thanks sueb20 for leading me to this great discussion, We need all the help we can get with Ollie. Rescue dog…we think he was in a crate most of the time because his little back legs (part Dachshund says the Vet) were so weak. And the van ride, in a crate, was 28 hours. I don’t think he was ever fed in a bowl…kibble just thrown on the crate floor. He is a little skittish about putting his face into a dish. Will not get into or stay in the crate. Rather than being a haven for him, I think he thinks of it as jail.

All that said, I do think the Rescue does the best that can be done. It can’t be a one on one situation.

Potty training…today Ollie got an A+, but yesterday….a D. He is trying so hard to please us, but it is going to be a long haul.

He loves to ride in my husband’s truck…one reprieve : > }

Attention SueB-

Your new puppy pics are getting scarce here! Wth is going on.....?!??!

;-) Faron

Ollie is so cute!!

Lucy and her “siblings” are keeping us busy but there is a lot of cuteness going on.

what a face! could you just...

Oh. My. Goodness! I have now determined WHO will run the SueB household now! Good gracious...those eyes! :-)

Faron

Those ears!

Oh my, the cuteness!