Why is my French bulldog scared of me?

Whenever I get home after work, one of the most important things that I do is understanding what my French bulldog wants. Whether he is feeling low or something. Sometimes I feel that my Frenchie is scared and anxious about something that I’m unaware of.

And, I try to find out the root cause. Is my Frenchie afraid of me? This is the first question that pops into my mind whenever I feel so. But there could be other things associated with the situation. As you know, dogs have a similar kind of emotion to us.

Is your French bulldog scared of you? Don’t fret, I’ll help you out on things that allow you to find out what makes your French bulldog edgy and how you can resolve the issue. So, let’s jump straight in.

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Why is my French bulldog scared?

Before you think about resolving issues related to your dog’s strange behavior, it is important to find out the real cause that has led to this situation. I mean, you have to know about the psychology of your pet dog.

One good reason could be that Frenchies are small dogs. And, they might get scared because the world favors people-sized animals. We may even step on them accidentally. The worst part is that we can’t even communicate with them effectively.

So, if your Frenchie seems to get scared, there are some common reasons for it. I must say that the reasons that I’m going to share with you are my experiences with them.

You may have punished your pet – One of the things that instill fear in your dog is the physical abuse that they receive during training sometimes. It is common that whenever you find your pup acting a bit differently, you react with quick actions.

Punishments make your dog anxious and they become scared of you. Moreover, it isn’t necessary always.

You are unable to read your Frenchie’s body language – Sometimes you can’t read your dog’s body language and get the false notion that they might be in a comfortable situation. As a result, you try to do things differently and scare them off.

So, how to resolve this issue? Make sure that you spend more time with your pet and understand their body language. While it may take some time, but it’s worth it. When I brought my Frenchie three years back, I faced a similar issue. But now, everything’s fine.

You haven’t developed a strong bonding with your French bulldog – Another great reason for your Frenchie to get scared is that you haven’t bonded well with your pet. And, this is visible if you find out that your pet avoids you.

Again, you must manage your time and bond with your dog. This becomes more important if you recently brought them home. If you don’t correct this on time, your French bulldog will always live in fear.

Your dog might have experienced some kind of trauma – As you know, dogs are emotional like humans. And, it takes one or two bad moments for them to understand that humans can’t be trusted.

So, whenever you adopt a dog from a rescue, shelter, or puppy mill, you don’t know whether your pet experienced horrible conditions. As such, your dog may fear being surrounded by people, whether you or other people. Getting in sync with your pet by spending more time, is the only way out of this situation.

Your Frenchie isn’t socialized – Regardless of the breed, every dog has to be socialized to be well-adjusted. One of the major causes of excess fear in French bulldogs is that they aren’t socialized well.

Moreover, they get scared when introduced to intimidating situations. Take them for a walk in a park so that they become accustomed to the environment and reduce their fear.

How can you tell whether your Frenchie loves you or not?

Whenever you find out that your French bulldog behaves mysteriously, the first thing that worries you is that your pet doesn’t love you. The last thing that you don’t want is your French bulldog scared of you.

However, there are ways to ensure that your pet loves you. So, when you learn those signs of love from your pet, it means your dog is happy with you.

Your Frenchie wants affection from your end – Whenever your pup comes to you willingly asking for affection and attention, he enjoys being around you. A relaxed face, wagging tail, and stretching out his head toward you are signs that you shouldn’t avoid at any cost.

Your pet brings you broken things – While this might seem frustrating, but when your pet brings you broken toys or items or even dead animals, it means your Frenchie trusts you. He believes that you can fix the issue.

Your Frenchie makes constant eye contact – In general, dogs make eye contact in almost every situation. Soft, calm eye contact is a positive sign that your pet loves and trusts you. And, you won’t betray or hurt him. This is paired with a happy, calm body language.

Your Frenchie comforts you when you are depressed – Your French bulldog will comfort you whenever you are upset. So, the next time you’re feeling low, pay attention to whether your pup comes to cuddle you. The attempt to soothe you proves that your dog cares about your feelings.

Getting your French bulldog to love you:

So, you have found out that your Frenchie doesn’t love you. What should you do now? Well, getting dogs, especially Frenchies to love you isn’t rocket science. With simple changes, you can rest assured that your pet will learn to love you.

Focus more on positive training – When it comes to training your Frenchie, you can use positive reinforcement. Instead of punishing them for the wrong behavior, you have to reward them for the right one.

Believe me, it works great. When you train like that, your pup receives training that’s enjoyable and builds positivity all around.

Respect their body language – When you respect your French bulldog’s body language, it helps you in many ways. However, make sure to recognize the signs that make your puppy feel uncomfortable in a particular situation.

So, when you respect and react to what your pup says, it develops trust and increases affection.

What are the signs that prove that my French bulldog is scared of me?

There are lots of ways through which you can become sure that your Frenchie is scared of you. I’ve split the signs into two distinct categories so that you have no trouble finding them.

1. Fearful behavior

Destructive behavior
Being clingy
Biting tendency
Barking & growling
Dilated pupils
Making their territory inside the house
Urinating frequently in the house
Crying and whining

2. Fearful body language

Yawning
Showing their teeth and pulling their lips back
Raised hackles on their back
Cowering
Ears tend to go back and flattens later
The body remains closer to ground
Avoids eye contact
Lick their lips

What are the things that I can do whenever my Frenchie gets stressed?

After you become sure that your Frenches is stressed, scared, or fearful, you need to implement a few things in that situation. If you want your dog to move forward you have to handle the situation in the right way.

That way, your French bulldog can come out of the current situation with ease. I’ve listed four things that you can apply whenever you feel your pup is stressed.

Find out what triggers them – The first and foremost thing that you should consider is finding out the cause that makes your Frenchie look stressed, afraid, or anxious. Dogs will bark and lunge at other dogs across the street.

However, doing that all the time isn’t good. Pay close attention to their body language in search of clues of any kind. Is your pet staring at objects constantly? Cowering or running in the opposite direction?

Looking everywhere frantically means that your dog is stressed about a particular environment. These are some of the factors that may trigger your pet to act differently. However, it can’t figure them, take help from a professional dog trainer.

Removing the trigger – The more your pet is exposed to the factors that trigger them, the more they will become stressed. The best way out of this situation is to remove the trigger so that it soothes your dog.

After learning about what triggers them, it is best to avoid them as much as possible until you have other plans to get him over his fears.

Never force your dog to confront fears – There are times when I believed that if I force him to the object that he fears, he will become fearless. Later I’ve learned that dogs don’t work that way.

When you force your pet into a situation that puts stress, it escalates to a point where your dog becomes aggressive. Moreover, he can attack you.

Dog train him – Using dog training is the only way to overcome his fears and make him stress-free. There are different techniques you can use depending on the trigger. So, choose the technique that works best for your French bulldog.

Conclusion

To help your French bulldog overcome their fear of you, it’s important to understand why they have this emotion in the first place.

Some common reasons for a dog being scared include feeling threatened by something, lacking proper socialization with humans and other animals during puppyhood or adolescence, having been abused or attacked at some point in their lives, not receiving enough mental stimulation from owners who don’t play games with them often enough or provide an enriched environment that stimulates all five senses (sight, sound, touch etc.).

If you’re struggling to figure out what might be causing your pup’s anxiety around you specifically while also trying to reduce any stress levels caused by larger issues like separation anxiety or lack of exercise due to chronic health problems.