While
there has been a difference of opinion
as to the
origin of the French Bulldog,it seems
pretty well
established that one ancestor must have
been the
English Bulldog-
probably one of the
toy variety,
of
which there was a great number in
England around
1860.These toy Bulldogs, not finding
favor in
English, were sent in large numbers into
France.There they were crossed with
various other
breeds, and finally became popular in
fashionable
circles, particularly with women.It was
then
that
they were given the name Boule-Dog
Français,
although later on England scoffed at the
idea of
applying the word Français
to a breed
so
clearly showing a strong strain of
English
Bulldog.At the time there was little
informity of
type, and one found dogs with rose ears,
while
others had ears which have since come to
be
recognized as an outstanding feature of
the French
Bulldog.
There are
two distinctive features in French
Bulldogs: one,
the bat ear, as above mentioned; the
other, the
skull.The correctly formed skull should
be level, or
flat, between the ears, while directly
above the
eyes, extending almost across the
forehead, it
should
be slightly curved, giving a domed
appearance of the
French Bulldog.
The
preservation of the bat ear as a
distinct feature
has been due to the efforts of American
fanciers,
since in the early days of breeding
these dogs in
Europe the tendency was toward the rose
ear.Had this
movement not been opposed by America,
the breed
would eventually have lost the feature
that so
strongly accentuates its individuality,
and the
result would have been practically a
miniature
English Bulldog.
This
controversy over type was directly
responsible for
the formation of the French Bulldog Club
of America,
the first organization in the world
devoted to the
breed.Fanciers gave a specialty show in
the ballroom
of the Waldorf-Astoria in 1898, this
being thr first
of its kind to be held in such deluxe
quarters.The
affair proved a sensation, and it was
due, no doubt,
to the resulting publicity that the
quaint little
chaps became the rage in society.Show
entries
increased until the peak was reached
about 1913,
when there were exactly 100 French
Bulldogs benched
at Westminster, while the following
specialty shows
had even more.
Unquestionably the dog that did the most
toward the
establishment of the breed in America
was Ch.
Nellcote Gamin, imported in 1904 by Mr.
and Mrs.
Samuel Goldenberg.With the addition of
Gamin to the
splendid stock already in this country,
we were made
independent of further importation in
order to
produce the finest Frenchies in the
world.To Gamin
goes credit for the greatest influence
in molding
the breed that can be attributed to any
one dog.He
was a famous sire, and today it is
almost impossible
to find a Frenchie that does not have
Gamin
inheritance.
An ideal
French Bulldog should be a
well-balanced,compactly
built, sound dog, having
the
appearance of an
active, intelligent, muscular dog of
heavy bone,
with a smooth coat, and medium or small
stature.The
weight may vary (anything up to
twenty-eight pounds
being permissible under the American
Standard),but
it is generally conceded that the ideal,
or most
popular, size is between nineteen and
twenty-two
pounds. A "Frenchie" may be any
color except
black
(meaning without a trace of
brindle),black and
white,black and tan,liver,or mouse
color.Of the
allowed colors no one is considered
preferable.