When you’re contemplating getting a French Bulldog, or any dog for that matter, it’s common to ask yourself “How long do French Bulldogs live?” Will I be able to dedicate that many years of my life to ensuring the safety and happiness of my companion? How often do I need to travel? Will I have to board my beloved French Bulldog, a very delicate and demanding breed, while I am traveling for work or leisure? It’s important to ask how long your French Bulldog can be expected to live in order to get a sense of the responsibility you’re taking on. Conversely, you must consider the reality that one day, you will have to say a harsh goodbye to your companion and the pain and melancholy that follows can greatly affect your life thereafter.
How to Do French Bulldogs Live, Realistically?
French Bulldogs have a relatively moderate life expectancy under ideal conditions, especially compared to other small breeds, clocking in at around 12 years of happy, chubby, and healthy life. Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule and some French Bulldogs have been known to live up to 15 or 16 years, while others have tragically died much younger. French Bulldogs are replete with health problems within the breed and there are many factors to consider when trying to get a sense of how long your French Bulldog will live. If your Frenchy came from a suspicious breeder or a puppy mill, and you rescued them, then there’s a good chance that they’ll have health problems later in life that their responsibly-bred counterparts will not have. Kennel cough and other common canine ailments can severely degrade the length and quality of life your French Bulldog enjoys. The easiest way to ensure your Frenchie lives a long and happy life is to only work with AKC-registered breeders who are professional, clean, caring, and responsible. A breeder trying to manage 4-5 litters at once with limited space and resources should never be trusted. In fact, you should report breeders who even make you feel as though they’re being irresponsible with their pets. Animal cruelty laws go a long way and shutting down an irresponsible breeder is a moral duty we all share.
Beyond picking a good breeder to work with, you should also understand that French Bulldogs are like small children. They’re highly curious and will dig and root around in anything in your home. You must “baby proof” your house if you’re going to own a French Bulldog. One need look no further than what happened to The Rock’s (Dwayne Johnson) French Bulldog Brutus. They will chew up nearly anything if they’re left along with it long enough. They have powerful jaws that require safe chew toys to exercise the muscles and stave off discomfort. Without safe chew toys, a Frenchie’s jaws can ache and hurt and their teeth and gums can suffer from various dental diseases. A high quality, grain-free, meat-based hard kibble will ensure your Frenchie’s teeth are clean and healthy. The occasional wet good mixed into their food every few days or so will remind your Frenchie that you love them. Love can go a long way in elongating your French Bulldog’s lifespan.
Denise Richard’s deceased French Bulldog, Hank, lived a beautiful life of 13 years!
Several studies have shown that animals confined to cages for long periods of time have shortened lifespans. We are not against “crating” or “kenneling” dogs, but we’re vehemently opposed to forcing a dog to stay in a crate for more than an hour at a time. A dog should never be forcibly kept in a container it did not ask to be placed in. A crate is a cage and a cage is a jail cell. Although dogs are, in an evolutionary sense, cave dwelling animals, their sociobiology has changed drastically since the time when dogs roamed in packs and slept in caves. Dogs have evolved with their domestication and are no longer psychologically fit to be contained in cages when they become inconvenient. The kennel or crate can be a safe-haven for your dog if the door is kept open and a small blanket is draped on the outside. If your French Bulldog is trained to understand that the crate is a safe place they can choose to go into when they feel threatened or lonely, then they will treat it as such and go to their crate when they feel the need. If you use the crate as a means of punishment or as a “time-out” place, then you’re only hurting your animal. It is cruel and inhumane to place a dog in a crate if the premise is punishment or mere lack of convenience for the dog to be out of the crate. Further, it is even more unjust and inhumane to keep a dog in a kennel for more than an hour or so. Crating a dog while you go to work for 12 hours suggests that you didn’t consider the well-being of your animal before you purchased their companionship. Keeping a dog in a crate all day can severely degrade their mood, morale, and therefore, their lifespan. If you want your French Bulldog to live a nice, long, happy, and loving life, then dedicate a room in your house to be your Frenchie’s room. Fill it with toys, a bed, an always-open crate with a bed and blanket, water bowl, and a television or radio and let them play in that room all day while you’re out working or running errands. Do not condemn your dog to a crate. It will shorten their life.
Finally, your French Bulldog’s life can be dramatically improved with regular (and I mean regular) visits to a veterinarian. French Bulldogs require all the standard means of health care that any other dog would, plus the added reality that Frenchies have lots of health problems and you must actively monitor your dog’s health in order to ensure that they’re happy, healthy, and ready to live a nice long life. Veterinarian visits should be regularly scheduled every 3 months at minimum and you should always keep contact information for an emergency 24/7 animal clinic stored in your phone. Your French Bulldog should receive heartworm treatments, flea treatments, blood panels, and other diagnostic tests as regularly as your veterinarian suggests. Blood panels will give you an exhaustive overview of your French Bulldog’s general health and will give you a greater idea of how long your French Bulldog will live relative to any deficiencies they may have. This will allow you to correct your Frenchie’s diet and provide vitamins and supplements to ensure your French Bulldog is receiving optimal nutrition. Taking your French Bulldog to the veterinarian only when you think there’s an emergency will not suffice. French Bulldogs are a delicate breed and their health must be actively monitored to ensure that they’re happy and 100% healthy.
Other hazards that can reduce your French Bulldog’s life:
Poor education. Go read this post on how to perform CPR on a dog, how to perform the Heimlich Maneuver on a dog, and download the free printable posters and put them all around your house. Knowing this procedure can save your dog’s life.
Not monitoring your French Bulldog near water.
how long do french bulldogs live
how long do french bulldogs live
how long do french bulldogs live
My French Buldog Bobow past away 2 weeks ago and I am devastated . He was 10 years and 5 month old. Didn’t have any problems. Have been seeing a dermothologyst on regular basis. Lately, before his death, developed a little more severe case of skin problem, was waiting for his appointment to see the vet on the 10th of August. He died sufdenely. I came home from work and he was dead under the table . Didn’t see any signs of him being in pain or different behavior. Trying to understand what happened to him
I’m so sorry. That is so sad to hear you found him dead and with no warning. My heart goes out to you. Thank you for sharing. I’m glad you had him so long. I’m so sorry, I can imagine your pain.
Thank you for making me feel better by reinforcing my only concalation that he lived a long and happy life. Still can’t help but think that he could of been with us for another two years or so…. Have a quastion : can a dog dye a sudden death like that if he had a hidden cancer that went unnoticed ?is it possible? I always thought that cancer brings changes that are visual and a trip to the vet follows , then the day comes gradually, not sudden like that. I hope he just had a heart attack and died without suffering. Other vise, can’t help thinking that we missed some problem that could of saved or prolonged his life. Please, people respond if you know the answear , it’s eatting me alive…..
Dear Ella –
I am very sorry to read about your loss of Bobow. I can’t imagine the pain you feel after returning home to find your “baby” dead without any warning. By chance did you have your vet perform an autopsy to find out the cause of death? That would be one way to ascertain whether he died from a heart attack or other cause. My Cooper is 12 years – 13 in DEC. He is definitely slowing down and while each day is a blessing to have him, watching him age and slow down has its downside as well. I have no doubt that Bobow was well looked after by you and – though he has moved on – he will never be forgotten.
To answear your quastion about autopsy:no, I did not have one performed on Bobow, I was considering it at the beginning,but reconsidered after they told me that it’s never absolutely accurate,the cost is $1500,and will not bring my dog back.most likely,will leave even more unanswered quastions then answers and hopes for a clear understanding of why he died suddenly like that. So,I left it alone,barried deep in my mind ,and just dived into my daily live. Luckily I am very busy with work,and don’t have a lot of time to get depressed during the day,because I have a very high demanding job. But still get depressed on my only day off , or occasionally out of blue. Still think about Bobow every day and can’t imagine yet to get another dog.i don’t know how I would be able to fall in love with an animal in future and loose him after,especially now,when I know how it feels,and would be scared to come home to find what I foun 2 month ago.
Hi Ella, I am very sorry to hear about Bobow! I share your grief and I am deeply sorry for your loss! I too lost my sweet Lilly a little over a year ago, but to a brain tumor (the symptoms came on and killed her in like 6 weeks). She passed a little more than a year ago on August 22, 2017. I was absolutely devastated as you were! And I still am a year later. They are so sensitive and loving and charismatic. They are like children with 4 legs and fur! Saying goodbye is tough either way. I had to put Lilly down and out of her misery, but just finding them lifeless upon getting home is no easier than putting them down. Either way tears your heart out! Lilly was less than a month shy of her 11th birthday. I was really hoping for 13-15 years, but it was not meant to be. I was able to be home with her most of her life thankfully, due to work schedule flexibility. I also home cooked her meals the last 6 years of her life. I don’t trust commercial dog foods! With thought and planning, you can economically give your pet excellent nutrition. And they love you for it, trust me! She also received regular vet visits, every 3-6 months! They are very expensive aren’t they? LOL I just knew that Lilly was going to be one of the longest lived Frenchies on record! But not meant to be 🙁 I wanted to reach out to you (and all who are reading these posts), to share in your grief, albeit two years after your post. I’m sure you still grieve as I do! The love they gave you never really leaves you. You can always feel it if you let it in! I know two people who have lost their Frenchies the same way as you. Both came home from either work or running errands, to find their beloved Frenchie lifeless. Sorry for taking so long to get to my point, but just wanted to share that both Frenchies received autopsy’s, and both were determined to have had heart attacks. Both vets said it was quick and probably in their sleep. I’m only sharing to let you know that your Bobow likely felt nothing or very little, and it was quick. I could not personally afford an autopsy, but our vet said he was 95% sure (without a ct scan), that it was a brain tumor that was causing her to not be able to see anymore, lose control of her back legs and bladder, and causing her to continually turn in circles to the left. It was very difficult to watch the transformation of such a bright engaged bundle of love and energy, decline to a gray, confused, circling and sad little creature. It broke my heart. I’m a grown man who rarely cries, but putting her down made me wail like a child! Pets, especially dogs, and I think especially French Bulldogs, are very childlike and bring out this paternal nurturing thing in us that steals our heart and turns you into mush! I’d love to get another someday, but they are so expensive and require so much attention. Sadly, most people don’t take being a pet parent seriously enough. Hopefully one day I will be up for the task again. They make your life so much better, but saying goodbye to them is one of the toughest things that I’ve ever had to recover from!
Dan, I’m so sorry that you had to go through that with your little girl–it broke my heart to read your story. Sounds like she had the best dad any animal could ask for. God bless your soul.
Hi,
I just found your website and I am a new frenchie pet parent and have some questions for you. My dog, Freya, came to my partner and I through a friend’s client who was going through a divorce and could no longer keep her. The back ground info we were able to get is that she is est to be around 4 yrs old. The man who gave her to us adopted her from a rescue, unknown which one, and his history with her is that she spent most of the day out side and most of the night in her kennel. He had her for about 2 years. The background information that the rescue gave him is that she was being bred and was kept in a kennel for the first 2 years of her life before the rescue picked her up. I can’t verify any of this info, but this is what I was told.
We took her to the vet within the first few days of having her, got her tested for heart worms (negative), and put on heart worm and flea/tick preventatives, received all her shots, but she does have a heart murmur, this was disclosed when we picked her up. The vet did not seem to find any other health issues other then a little bit of gingivitis and her teeth are flattened and worn down. The vet seemed to think it was from her chewing on a wire kennel for long periods of time. She was microchipped by the rescue, I registered the chip and licensed her with the county. Her previous owners never took her to the vet or got her vaccinated and we’ve had her for about 2 months now. She’s settled right in to our lives and our hearts.
My dog is very “mellow”, apprehensive, and quick to startle. She sleeps almost all day long/sits quietly in one spot and doesn’t act anything like a typical frenchie or any other dog I’ve had. We bought her a bunch of toys but she does not touch any of them. I gave her a nice bone with marrow last week and it took her a few hours to touch it and she chewed it for about 15 min and has not touched it since. She will not eat if she notices that you are watching her or looking in her direction or a lot of times if your are even in the same room. Actually, this has been our biggest challenge is to get her to consistently eat.
Her previous owners fed her 1 c of dry old roy kibble each night in her kennel around 8pm 1x/day. I did not want to feed her that food, after trying taste of the wild, natural balance, core wellness, etc, and her barely touching any of it, we tried purina pro plan savor wet food and pro plan salmon senstive stomach dry food. This is the only thing she will almost always eat. We feed her a < 1/4c pumpkin, 1/2 c canned and, 1/4c dry. She won't eat more than that and if we try to mix in other stuff or give her teeny amounts of ppl food her stomach becomes upset.
Her previous owners had 2 other big dogs and I've found she does enjoy to go walk around and sniff at the dog park. She doesn't seem to know how or want to play with other dogs. She does not like other dogs in her face. She gets along really well with dogs that ignore her. She will just follow them around and sit by them.
So, here are my questions, should I be concerned about her sleeping all the time? I did mention it to the vet and she didn't say anything about it, though we are trying to find a different vet to go to. After reading a lot of your posts I am concerned that she is not getting enough food and that we are not feeding her properly with only one meal a day. I want to be the best pet owner I can be, and I think our pup is a lot better off in our home, then where she has previously been. Is there anything you know of that can help promote her to play with toys and other dogs? I want her jaws and teeth to stay healthy. I am concerned that her sleeping all the time is not healthy for her or helping to keep her mind sharp. I try to take her to the dog park 1-2x a week and we go on a mini walk before I leave for work and when I get home in the evening. She does not seem to have any skin issues, is it necessary to bathe her every week? I do clean her skin folds every evening after she eats. I've managed to trim her nails twice so far and she does really well with that. We are still working on how to brush her teeth as she does not take treats or food from hands or if you are in the same room. She has calluses on her elbows and really rough, sharp, dry food pads so I have been paw guard and it seems to be working really well.
She is our first frenchie. My partner grew up with pugs and I with dachshunds and we ended up with Freya on a whim. We weren't really planing to get a dog when it happened, but we had wanted a dog for a long time. She kind of just fell in our laps and after we saw pictures of her and met her, it was love a first sight. For a dog that was treated so badly in the first part of her life, she has really grown attached to us, me in particular. She normally does not show any kind of "emotion", but recently now, when I come home in the evenings she has gets very excited and will greet me by jumping into my lap and making some snorts haha, so that gives me hope that she is moving in the right direction of having a more normal dog life.
I apologize for this being so long and I appreciate any advice you can give!
Thank you.
Hey! Sorry for the belated reply. Can you shoot me an email at web@allaboutfrenchies.com so we can talk about your french over email? Thanks!
I’ll go ahead and reply here in the event you can’t get an email to me.
As for her behavioral problems: dogs are enormously sentient creatures. Just like us, they can think abstractly to a larger degree than we previously assumed. My guess is that your frenchie experienced a great deal of trauma before she was surrendered to the rescue. Unfortunately, there’s no good way to undo this other than time and liberal amounts of elbow grease. Frenchies are fiercely loyal, even under the most heart-wrenching circumstances. My best advice is to provide as much of a routine to your frenchie as possible. Second to that, and bear with me, you may try getting another frenchie, preferably a puppy. What you’re looking to do is setup your frenchie so that she becomes something of a surrogate mother to a puppy. This will activate myriad instinctual canine characteristics that may have otherwise gone stagnant during your frenchie’s early life. Further, you can continue trying to socialize your frenchie with other dogs and hope that she will acclimate over time. I wouldn’t recommend using a kennel, especially if there isn’t a reason to; i.e. chewing up furniture, marking, other territorial or anxiety-based behaviors. Just leave your frenchie out and give them plenty of space and room to play. Also ensure you play with her lots and lots, even if she seems a little tired. Try to get her riled up a little, but not too much with that heart murmur. I wouldn’t worry too much about the sleeping. Frenchies love to snooze. Mine sleep all day while we’re gone. Just make sure she gets plenty of daily exercise, a walk through the neighborhood is generally enough. Frenchies don’t require a lot of exercise.
It sounds like you’re good on vet visits, so keep that up and your overall health concerns should be fine. It sounds like you’re more or less just dealing with behavioral issues–which are decidedly harder to suss out.
Do you sleep with her in the bed? I know this isn’t an option for some people, but we find that it really helps with bonding and building an emotional rapport with your french bulldog. We sleep with both of ours but we understand that just isn’t a possibly for everyone.
As for eating–this one is going to be hard to sort out, as well, but it isn’t impossible. You’re on the right track by trying to pin down precisely what your french bulldog likes and doesn’t like. Have tried raw foods? We occasionally (2-4 times every 2 weeks) feed our french bulldogs raw food meals that consist of raw beef (98% lean), a spoonful of cottage cheese, pureed pumpkin, and mashed sweet potato. They practically drool over it. Aside from that, we’ve had great luck with Fromm grain-free foods and wet foods. We find that wet food is generally enough to convince a stubborn french bulldog to eat. You could be dealing with a situational/behavioral issue where she’s just used to eating in her kennel, so you may want to try feeding her in a kennel. We definitely recommend that you feed her twice daily and keep it as routine as possible. We feed our frenchies first thing in the morning and then again in the evening between 6-8PM. This routine helps regulate their energy and sleep.
It sounds like you’re making progress if she’s greeting you–that’s a sign of that emotional rapport building. You’re on the right track and you’re being cautious which is good. Be sensitive to her emotions and you’ll nurture that even further. We’re here to help in any way that we can. Keep in touch with us and we’ll do our best to be a resource to you and your frenchie!
The heart worm combined with flea and tick prevention is killing dogs slowly if not immediately. Google the complaints of deaths due to these products. I’d say stop immediately and only give her heart guard for heat worms, also look into the over vaccination of our pets, get a titer test before any excessive vaccines.
Hi please can you me I’ve got a one year old frenchbulldog which has never been outside did all her poos x wee on pad I’ve had her just over a week and I take her out three time a day but she will not do anything outside what can I do to make her Do to her muck out side
Hey Lisa,
The most important thing when it comes to switching from training pads to going outside is patience and hard work. Continue your routine of going out 3x daily, or more often, if you can. Over time, she will adjust and adapt, I promise. Be patient with her and don’t scream at her or well. You can train her to go to the door when she needs to use the restroom by filling a plastic bottle with some pea gravel and rattling it when you suspect she is about to do her business.
We Lost our Frenchmen Peyton on May 5 2018.
My husband is still completely devastated and cannot get over his loss. He had multiple health issues. My husband still believes that we could have brought him home and saved him.
We or myself made the decision to have him put down. It was the most humane and so much of a relief for him to be no longer suffering and in pain.
Thank You for Sharing some inportant info. We still have his Sister and will aggressively watch her health.
Thank You All and Prayers for each one of your loss of Your Beloved Frenchie.
Our Frenchie,Winston, will be 14 on December 10th but is slowing down big time and has various old age issues!!
He has cataracts in both eyes,Arthritis,and has become incontinent as well !!
We are NOT going on any trips,vacations,etc. as I refuse to board him anymore,although The Pet Hotel where we boarded him is awesome and we love it !!
His interest in many former activities is almost zero and we are very concerned about him at this point!!
Hi our French Bulldog Hugo is 17 years and 3 months old. Is he the oldest living French bulldog. We still have his pedigree papers. He is in good health apart from arthritis which is being treated by a monthly injection. Would appreciate if you can advise if you are aware of any frenchies older than our Hugo
Wow your dog is old! Our French Bulldog (female) turned 15 years old yesterday. We love her so much. She lost an eye recently and she’s slow and can’t stand on her feet for long, but she’s enjoying a nice quiet old life, hopefully a long time yet.
My frenchie, Luna, just passed. She started having problems going poop. We thought she was constipated, but when we woke up she was gone. The vet told us she had way too much water retained. Can you guys please help by telling me what could have caused this? My whole family including me ain’t taking her passing well at all. Please help me at least have some kind of clue to why this happened to her. Thx in advance.