French Bulldogs & Jogging | 4 Facts, 5 Dangers & Risks

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Either you’ve recently brought home a new french bulldog puppy and want to run with them or you’ve decided to pick up jogging and want to bring your frenchie along.

Is it safe for french bulldogs to go jogging? Or should they stick to walks?

Can French Bulldogs Go Jogging:

French bulldogs are not good at running long distances which makes them poor jogging partners. Because they’re a brachycephalic breed they have trouble breathing and can overheat easily. They are also more prone to hip, spine and joint conditions if they do vigorous exercise too often.

In this post you’ll discover:

How far french bulldogs can run before it becomes dangerous to their health
How fast french bulldogs can run
4 potential dangers that can come from jogging with your frenchie
And much, much more

Let’s jump right in.

Table of Contents

How Fast Can French Bulldogs Run?

French bulldogs can definitely be quick in short bursts of energy.

Just like any other dog they’re capable of running anywhere between 15-20 mph at their top speed.

Depending on what kind of shape and how old your frenchie is will have a big impact on their max speed and how long they can maintain it.

When it comes to keeping up their max speed, that’s where frenchies aren’t the best.

They’re one of the weakest distance running breeds you can adopt.

Which brings us to our next section.

How Far Can French Bulldogs Run?

As a breed, french bulldogs aren’t well equipped to run for very long distances.

Even though the average jogging speed is only 4-6 mph and a french bulldog’s maximum speed is much higher than that, their body isn’t built for high paced exercise.

Because they’re a brachycephalic breed they have much more skin tissue around their nose and mouth making breathing more difficult.

They’re also likely to have deformed airways adding even more difficulty to how effective their breathing is.

The maximum distance you should jog with your frenchie is about 1 mile.

And even then it’s best to see how they handle half a mile first before having them run a full one.

How Much Exercise Is Too Much For a French Bulldog?

A healthy amount of exercise for a french bulldog largely depends on their age and weight.

It’s very unique to each individual frenchie.

While french bulldogs aren’t the best at running long distances, they still need a good amount of exercise each day.

At least 30 minutes, just at a slower pace.

But if you have a young, fit frenchie and you’ve gradually increased the amount of daily exercise they get you should have no problem walking with them for an hour per day.

You just have to be their voice of reason and look for signs of them excessively panting or starting to overheat.

For the most part they’ll keep going until they physically can’t anymore.

Do French Bulldogs Make Good Jogging Partners?

Unfortunately no, french bulldogs don’t make good jogging partners.

While they’d like to be able to join you for your runs, their body simply isn’t built for jogging.

Brisk walks are as intense as frenchies can handle without putting themselves at risk.

4 Risks & Potential Dangers When Jogging With a French Bulldog

1) Overheating

Dogs in general aren’t the best at regulating their temperature, but brachycephalic dog breeds have even more difficulties than other dogs.

For the most part, dogs cool themselves down by sweating through their nose, mouth and paws.

But mostly through their nose and mouths.

The same way that sweat on your skin helps cool you down when it evaporates from the warm air, so does the moisture in a dog’s nose & tongue.

As a dog pants they’re quickly bringing in warm, moisture filled air that evaporates helping cool them down from the inside out.

So because french bulldogs aren’t efficient breathers, they’re not able to do this process very effectively.

They have lots of skin surrounding their nose and mouth which blocks air from easily passing through and makes breathing more labored for them.

This makes their risk of overheating very high.

They need shade, cool water and time to catch their breath to ensure they won’t overheat.

Otherwise they’re at a big risk of getting heat exhaustion or even having a heat stroke.

2) Inability To Breathe Easily

The reason why brachycephalic breeds like french bulldogs have trouble breathing is because of their skull structure.

They have a short muzzle but have a similar amount of soft tissue (skin) around their nose, mouth and throat.

Because of the excess skin in these areas their airways are much more narrow or even partially blocked in some cases.

Their skin is forced to squeeze into a smaller space.

And on top of that, the windpipes of french bulldogs are often deformed or narrowed which means less oxygen can be taken in with each breath.

Both of these reasons contribute to french bulldogs really having a hard time with jogging.

Any prolonged, fast paced exercise is very challenging for them because they aren’t able to breathe easily.

Their genetic make-up doesn’t favor them in the running category.

3) Speed Up Painful/Uncomfortable Conditions

Running isn’t easy on anyone’s joints.

As a form of exercise, it’s one of the more impactful on a person, or a dog’s bones and joints.

When it comes to french bulldogs, they’re already more likely to get conditions like hip dysplasia or intervertebral disc disease (IVDD) than other breeds.

Another condition that is more common with french bulldogs if they run often is patellar luxation.

This is when their kneecap becomes dislocated which can be brought on from arthritis and consistent knee trauma (or from running many miles for example).

While these are more prone to french bulldogs as they get older, if they spend too much time running they can become problematic at an earlier age.

4) Accidental Injuries

Running, and any exercise for that matter, is taxing to the body and there’s always a possibility of injury.

And some injuries your frenchie might experience if they were to jog frequently could be burnt paw pads, salt in between paw pads, fractured or even broken bones, and joint pain/arthritis.