The French Bulldog (Bouledogue Francais)

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French Bulldog pictures

Author: Robert Leighton

There appears to be no doubt that the French Bulldog originated in England, and is an offshoot of the English miniature variety Bulldog, not the Bulldog one sees on the bench to-day, but of the tulip-eared and short underjawed specimens which were common in London, Nottingham, Birmingham, and Sheffield in the early 'fifties. There was at that time a constant emigration of laceworkers from Nottingham to the coast towns of Normandy, where lace factories were springing into existence, and these immigrants frequently took a Bulldog with them to the land of their adoption. The converse method was also adopted.

Prior to 1902 French Bulldogs were imported into this country with the object of resuscitating the strain of bantam Bulldogs, which in course of years had been allowed to dwindle in numbers, and were in danger of becoming extinct.

There are superficial similarities between the English and the French toy Bulldog, the one distinguishing characteristic being that in the French variety the ears are higher on the head and are held erect. Until a few years ago the two were interbred, but disputes as to their essential differences led the Kennel Club to intervene and the types have since been kept rigidly apart, the smart little bat-eared Bulldogs of France receiving recognition under the breed name of Bouledogues Francais.