So a little bit of background. I have had dogs before, a Westie and a miniature Dachshund. My sausage was a typical sausage, stubborn, difficult to train, high prey drive, took forever to toilet train him, in comparison my Westie was easy. My Westie died nearly 4 years ago, and my sausage died last year. Aged 13 and 14 respectively.
We do have cats, and children, and our daughter has special needs. I miss having the dogs, and I feel like I have fallen into a depression without them. I feel stupid going for a walk alone, I don't like talking to myself and I miss that unconditional love. The dogs were my escape, my 'excuse' for me time.
We did a huge amount of research for a new dog, something friendly, trainable, good with other animals, family dog. We came up with a Bernese Mountain Dog. We found a breeder who said all the right things, and we went and got him. Honestly it was a nightmare. This poor puppy had never lived around people, never lived inside, and he was so incredibly stressed. He was biting us and not in a playful way, bit our daughters face twice, would grab her hair and not let go, he was incredibly destructive, the only time he was happy was outside in a kennel on his own, he became aggressive towards my husband and was snarling at him. The only thing we could do was return him to the breeder, which was heart breaking.
Now, we still want a dog but are still taken aback by what happened earlier this year. Our first instinct is to go back to a smaller dog, and we have done a ton of research and a French Bulldog keeps coming out on top. Family dogs, low grooming needs, smart enough for basic training, good with kids and other animals and affectionate. Does anyone have any real life experience? Can anyone give me an insight on what reality looks like with a Frenchie? I know about the health risks, but in a practical sense what do you look for?