Care guide for your PLP Frenchie Puppy

Your new Puppy is a delicate living thing. How you take care of her each and every day matters

First few days

Keep it calm. Your Puppy has just left mom and siblings. She will be tired and may sleep quite a bit.. When you arrive home do not introduce her to family, friends and other pets. Put her in a crate with a handful of food and a bit of water. Spend some time with her to see what she wants to do. Some will be docile and quiet and others may want to play right away.

Make a VET appointment. Your new puppy needs to see a vet so you can set up shots. If you have noticed your puppy has diarrhea get her tested for coccidia and giardia. She may need meds. (This is very common in Frenchies)

Over the next few days introduce her to children (If you have children) one at a time. Let them hold your pup and maybe even some supervised play. You do not want rough housing at this point. Your puppy is small and learning her new environment.

Make sure you are taking your new puppy to a potty spot every couple of hours. She has a very small bladder at this point.

We recommend that you keep your Puppy isolated from other household pets until she has finished her shots.Do not take your new puppy out with with other animals until she has completed her shots. If she contracts Parvo she can die. If she dies there is nothing we can do for you.

First Months

The first few months that your puppy is with you are critical to her physical and emotional development. During this phase they are growing and and developing a ton of energy. Make sure you have a variety of toys and chews. The French Bulldog loves to chew. If you don't keep them occupied with their toys they will naw on anything they can find. During this time they are like a velociraptor with razor sharp teeth. The more they chew and the harder they chew the sooner these baby teeth fall out and the sooner the razor teeth are gone.While your Frenchie will think she is indestructible the truth is that she can hurt herself if you are not watchful We encourage all of our clients to discourage your Frenchie from jumping from great heights. It is best that they are not constantly jumping off of furniture. You do not want them to do things that can lead to a back injury. Treat them like you would a human baby. While they are durable, we do not want to test the limits of their durability.

First two Years

As your Frenchie nears being a year old she will noticeably change. If you have spent quality time with her she will become more loving and attached to you. She will want to play and cuddle. She will be very loving and very loyal. You must keep up on your vet visits. You want to always keep her at maximum health. If you have chosen the breeding route you are entering into the heat cycles. We recommend Not breeding until 18 months. Some do it sooner and some say wait until two years. You will have to decide where you stand on breeding thoughts.

If you have decided to not breed it is important to get your Frenchie spayed or neutered. This is especially true for females. You do not want your female going through heat cycles if you are not going to breed her. Studies show that this is very hard on the female dog.

The PLP Way

How we raise them

When we bring a puppy home we keep her isolated from our pack. We want to make sure she is not overwhelmed by the noise and the hustle and bustle, We also do not want her to be wrestling with the bigger dogs or battling for food. She gets her own room with her own crate. We let her go potty on puppy pads. We don't potty train until they join our pack. We take her out and play with her daily.

We take the puppy to our vet the first week we have her. We treat for any parasites if the vet finds any. Our puppy remains in the quarantine set up until she receives her final puppy shot. We then begin to have her play with the pack in a supervised manor for limited time. We move her crate into the dog room and she begins to live there. After about a week they all become buddies and they live as a crew.

The PLP gang has their own section of the house to live in. They live in our dog room/kennel. They run around the yard and they come in the house and hang out with the family when we are down stairs. When they are not with us each of them has their own crate. We have found that they enjoy this space quite a bit. We used to keep them in a large area as a group but over time we saw that they enjoyed their own space when they wanted to sleep/rest. As they get older they earn more time in the house unsupervised. This is earned when they stop trying to chew things and they stop going potty in the house. At night they all return to their crates to sleep. There are dogs that have earned the right to sleep on the couch or in rooms with us or our children.

How we feed them.

We feed only Royal Canin. We keep them on puppy food until they are two. years old. As they grow we move them from the small size kibble to the medium size kibble. We have found that the puppy food keeps them filled with protein and energy. We do not have any overweight dogs. We are careful with dog treats. Some Frenchies have sensitive stomachs so treats can cause loose stools. We do give them fruit on occasion. (They love blueberries). How you feed will be up to you.

We do not allow our dogs to free range eat. They are fed in the morning and again at night. After they go out and go to the bathroom in the morning we bring them in and feed them. They have about 15 to 30 minutes with their food and water. (Once they learn the drill. They will eat all their food) Once this time is up we take whatever is leftover away and they go outside to play for another hour or so. During the day they sleep in their crates and take an extended nap. When they wake up they go out and play and go potty. They drink water and run around the house. We feed them dinner at the same time everyday. We repeat the same ritual as in the morning. After they play outside they come in the house and run around until we go to bed. At this time they return to their crates and we repeat the process the next day.

Our way is not the only way. Different Frenchie owners will have an opinion on what is best. You will have to decide which way works best for you.