Dogue de Bordeaux

[Fawnfour]

Hello there,
I would like to hear from any dogue de Bordeaux owners, we have a 12 week old DDB puppy.
He is lovely and cuddly, I know he will grow up to be a very strong and powerful dog.
Does anyone have any experience of this breed of dog?

No advice but am so jealous - a gorgeous breed!

My advice would be to make sure he’s insured. Medication is expensive for dogs that size.

I don't have any firsthand experience of the breed but I second making sure you have excellent insurance - ideally lifetime cover with a high limit. They're big dogs and the costs of any medication/surgery required will reflect their size!

I would also recommend working on lead work pretty much straight away. You don't want a big dog that's reactive and pulls on the lead.

Good luck - they're gorgeous dogs.

My MIL has had 2. They are beautiful dogs with wonderful natures. Train properly, neuter and enjoy!

My only piece of advice would be to really socialise them. Sadly smaller dogs can really take against large ones out of fear and you need to make sure yours won’t be reactive.

I'd definitely get insurance. I knew two DDB crosses and they both had elbow problems which cost a bloody fortune.

Great thanks for your advice,
We definitely plan on having a v good insurance plan. We have a good large garden and plan on training classes asap.
We know he will need v good socialisation and traing

I would also like to add that we have 3 children, between the ages of 5 and 12.
Does anyone have any advice or experience regarding DDB and children?

My dad had one when I was younger and I've worked with a few - they are lovely dogs.

His was great with me and my sister when we were young children. Like any puppy they do need to be trained to be gentle around children but they are very obedient dogs and in my experience pick up training well.

Like a PP said, working on walking on a lead is definitely something to focus on, they are very large dogs and the last thing you want is them pulling, especially when out a walk with the children too, it makes life easier if they walk well on a lead.

Also, I would try and train him the "down" command early on aswell, as again, they get very big and with you having the children the last thing you want is him jumping up on them.

Like I say though, they're lovely dogs and pick up training really well - very good temperament and make great family dogs I've found!

I loved ours and would definitely consider getting one again in the future!😁

Thankyou so much for your advice,
We have been doing a lot of research, and if found some really good books on training, specifically for dogue de Bordeauxs. We have started lead training, and it is going well

Beautiful dogs! You need to add a pic.

I've trained German Shepherds not DdB, but same rules apply - socialise as much as pos, train and train some more, get your kids involved too so they'll take commands from them not just you, lead training even in the garden is good and have him neutered.

With any big dog, the key is often to treat them as if they are big from day one! This means if you dont want them doing it when they are big dont let them get started.

Its really cute when a puppy is sleeping on the sofa/your bed/ lap but less cute when they are big and dont settle else where! Same goes for things like pulling on the lead, rough housing with kids, pushing through doors etc.

Its also worth thinking about what a post covid routine would look like. Dog trainers here have been highlighting issues where puppies have been bought home, had someone home 24/7, and are now struggling with seperation or with things like visitors. They are doing socially distanced puppy classes etc and o would make sure that the socialising with other dogs starts asap, but also with things they might encounter in life (strangers, shopping trollies, cats etc)

My first dog was very unruly and i would always describe him as a monster of my own creation! Lots of his bad habits were created by me. Eg. I gave him empty cartons to play with thus he grew to steal them! I used to play with him with soft toys, play chase etc, he didnt learn the difference between that and running with a prized toy. We never went to the pub, or stayed at peoples houses so he never learnt to settle there. It can be really easy to see things from the outside but trust me its easy to make those sort of choices when your in the midst!

Its really hard to picture them as an adult, but bad habits are so hard to break!