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When I think of Electra, there is one word that immediately comes to mind:

NEEDY.

And I say that with love.

Mostly.

Electra wants attention. Constant attention.

She wants to be touching you. Sitting next to you. Lying on you. Following you. Staring at you. Reminding you that you haven’t touched her in approximately 14 seconds.

Personal space isn’t really a concept Electra believes in.

We don’t know exactly why she’s this way. Maybe it’s simply her personality. Maybe we brought her home a little too young. Maybe having giardia as a puppy and needing some extra distance from everyone during that time contributed to it.

Or maybe she was just born thinking the entire purpose of humans is to provide round-the-clock Electra service.

Whatever the reason, we eventually realized we needed to find something she could enjoy independently. Eventually, our search for a chew toy for our French Bulldog led us to the Benebone—and we finally found something Electra actually wanted to use by herself.

Especially while Zeus was recovering from his broken leg and couldn’t be her full-time entertainment department.

That turned out to be harder than expected.

Toys Were Apparently a Group Activity

We tried toys.

Electra liked toys…

…as long as Zeus was attached to the other end.

Tug-of-war? Fantastic.

Chasing something with Zeus? Wonderful.

Playing with a toy by herself?

Absolutely not.

Apparently toys weren’t entertainment. They were merely equipment for interacting with other living creatures.

So we moved on to enrichment toys and treat puzzles.

You know—the toys designed to challenge your dog’s brain and keep them mentally stimulated.

That didn’t exactly work either.

How do I put this lovingly?

Electra is pretty.

We’ll leave it at that.

The puzzles weren’t solving our problem.

Then She Started Eating the Furniture

One day, I noticed Electra happily chewing on the leg of our coffee table.

Not wood.

That would have been too normal.

She was gnawing away on a steel caster.

And she was committed.

At that point, I realized we had moved beyond finding her something entertaining and entered the territory of:

We should probably find this dog something appropriate to chew before she files all of her teeth down on the furniture.

So off to the pet store we went.

The Great Chew Toy Experiment

I took Electra to the pet store thinking she’d help choose something.

She showed absolutely no interest in any of it.

Very helpful.

So I grabbed several different options and decided we’d conduct our own highly scientific Frenchie chew-toy experiment at home.

We came home with:

• A Kong
• A Pupsicle
• A nylon bone with treats stuffed inside
• A Benebone

Surely one of these would work.

The Kong

The Kong never really got a fair trial.

Zeus immediately stole it.

Then lost it.

So that concluded the Kong portion of our experiment.

The Pupsicle

The Pupsicle eventually became a favorite treat in our house, but initially Electra wanted nothing to do with it.

I think that one may have been my fault.

I bought one that was too large, and with her little flat Frenchie face, she couldn’t really get her mouth around it properly.

We figured that one out later.

The Stuffed Nylon Bone

We’ve had other dogs who loved these.

Zeus and Electra?

Meh.

I suspect their flat faces make it harder to get to the good stuff inside.

I wasn’t particularly devastated by this outcome because those things stink.

So…

Moving on.

And Then There Was the Benebone

This one was different.

Electra loved the Benebone immediately.

Not mildly interested.

Not “I’ll chew this until something better comes along.”

LOVED IT.

Unfortunately, Zeus loved it too.

And Zeus did what Zeus normally did when Electra had something he wanted:

He tried to take it.

Usually, Electra didn’t care much. If Zeus stole one of the other toys, she’d basically let him have it.

But apparently he had crossed a line.

Because for what felt like the first time, we heard Electra find her voice.

She growled.

She snapped at him.

And in no uncertain Frenchie terms told him:

NO. THIS ONE IS MINE.

Zeus got the message.

Immediately.

He backed off.

And that’s when we knew.

We had found the one.

Naturally, We Bought Zeus His Own

Obviously, the solution was simple.

If they both loved Benebones, we’d buy another one.

One for Electra.

One for Zeus.

Problem solved.

Except we had temporarily forgotten that dogs don’t operate according to human logic.

Zeus didn’t want a Benebone.

He wanted Electra’s Benebone.

His perfectly good Benebone could be sitting two feet away completely untouched, and he’d still be staring at hers.

Electra eventually developed her own strategy.

She’ll happily chew on her Benebone…

while lying on top of Zeus’s.

You know.

Just in case.

Apparently possession isn’t nine-tenths of the law in our house.

It’s ten-tenths.

Why the Benebone Works So Well for Electra

What surprised us most wasn’t simply that Electra liked it.

It’s that she’ll actually entertain herself with it.

This is a dog who considers independence a character flaw, yet she’ll settle down with a Benebone and gnaw away at it for what feels like hours.

She’s also a serious chewer, so we needed something that could stand up to her enthusiasm. The Benebones we’ve used have lasted much longer than many of the other chew toys we’ve tried.

The size and shape also seem to work well for her Frenchie mouth. She can hold it between her paws, get a good grip on it, and happily settle into a chewing session without needing us—or Zeus—to participate.

For Electra, that’s practically a miracle.

Is a Benebone Right for Every Frenchie?

Probably not.

Like everything else we’ve learned from Zeus and Electra, dogs have opinions.

Strong opinions.

A toy one dog completely ignores can become another dog’s most prized possession.

And because Electra is such an aggressive chewer, we regularly check her Benebones for wear and replace them when needed. We also supervise our dogs with chew toys and choose sizes appropriate for them.

We’re sharing this one because it’s something we’ve genuinely had success with—not because every Frenchie on Earth is guaranteed to love it.

Although Electra would probably question the judgment of any dog who doesn’t.

What We’ve Learned

If there’s one thing Electra has taught us, it’s that sometimes finding the right toy takes a little trial and error.

We tried the classic.

We tried the trendy.

We tried treats.

We tried puzzles.

We apparently even tried the coffee table.

In the end, the winner was the toy that gave Electra something she actually wanted to do by herself.

The Benebone hasn’t magically transformed our needy little Frenchie into an independent woman.

Let’s not get carried away.

She still wants attention.

She still wants to be touching us.

She still believes personal space is an unreasonable human invention.

But every once in a while, she’ll grab her Benebone, settle down, and entertain herself.

And we’ll take the win.

🐾 Frenchie Tip

Every Frenchie has different chewing habits, so choose chew toys based on your dog’s size and chewing style rather than assuming one toy works for everyone. Check toys regularly for excessive wear or damaged pieces, and supervise your Frenchie—especially when introducing something new.

And if your dog starts chewing on a steel coffee-table caster?

Maybe take that as a hint.

💬 What Is Your Frenchie’s “One” Toy?

Does your Frenchie have a toy they absolutely refuse to share?

Or have you bought a pile of toys only to discover they’d rather chew on something completely ridiculous?

Tell us in the comments. We need to know whether Electra’s level of Benebone possessiveness is normal…

…or if we’re raising a tiny chew-toy dragon.