Breed standard

History
Speculations abound on the origin of the French Bulldog. The most popular opinion is that the breed originated from the miniature, or toy, Bulldog brought to France by the Nottingham lace workers during the industrial revolution and economic crisis in England. Others believe the French Bulldog descended from the Chincha Bulldog, which lived in ancient Peru. The French Bulldog first appeared in the U.S. in 1896 at the Westminster Kennel Club's show in New York, and was first registered by the American Kennel Club in 1898. Britain accepted the breeds club membership in 1912.

Category: Non-sporting

Registries: UCA, AKC, ANKC, CKC, FCI (Group 9), KC (GB), UKC

General Appearance
Sturdy, compact , solid, small dog with good bone, short, smooth coat. No point exaggerated, balance essential. Dogs showing respiratory distress highly undesirable.

Characteristics
Full of courage, yet with clown-like qualities. Bat ears and short undocked tail essential features of the breed.

Temperament
Vivacious, deeply affectionate, intelligent.

Head and Skull
Head square, large and broad but in proportion to dog's size. Skull nearly flat between ears, domed forehead, loose skin forming symmetrical wrinkles. Muzzle broad, deep and set well back, muscles of cheeks well developed; nose and lips black. Stop well defined. Lower jaw deep, square, broad, slightly undershot and well turned up. Nose extremely short, black and wide, with open nostrils and line between well defined. Lips thick, meeting each other in centre, completely hiding teeth. Upper lip covers lower on each side with plenty of cushion, never so exaggerated as to hang too much below level of lower jaw.

Eyes
Preferably dark and matching. Moderate size, round, neither sunken nor prominent, showing no white when looking straight forward; set wide apart and low down in skull.

Ears
'Bat ears', of medium size, wide at base, rounded at top; set high, carried upright and parallel, a sufficient width of skull preventing them being too close together; skin soft and fine, orifice as seen from the front, showing entirely.

Mouth
Slightly undershot. Teeth sound and regular, but not visible when the mouth is closed. Tongue must not protrude.

Neck
Powerful, with loose skin at throat, but not exaggerated. Well arched and thick, but not too short.

Forequarters
Legs set wide apart, straight boned, strong, muscular and short.

Body
Short, cobby, muscular and well rounded with deep wide brisket; roach back; strong; wide at shoulders and narrowing at loins; good 'cut up', ribs well sprung.

Hindquarters
Legs strong, muscular and longer than forelegs thus raising loins above shoulders. Hocks well let down.

Feet
Small, compact and placed in continuation of line of leg, with absolutely sound pasterns. Hind feet rather longer than the fore-feet. Toes compact; well knuckled; nails short, thick and preferably black.

Tail
Undocked, very short, set low, thick at root, tapering quickly towards tip, either straight or kinked, never curling over back nor carried gaily.

Gait/Movement
Free and flowing. Soundness of movement of the utmost importance.

Coat
Texture fine, smooth, lustrous, short and close.

Colour
Brindle, pied or fawn. Tan, mouse and grey/blue highly undesirable.
Brindle: a mixture of black and coloured hairs. May contain white provided brindle predominates.
Pied: white predominates over brindle. Whites are classified with pieds for show purposes; but their eyelashes and eye rims should be black. In pieds the white should be clear with definite brindle patches and no ticking or black spots.
Fawn: may contain brindle hairs but must have black eye lashes and eye rims.

Size
Ideal weight: dogs: 12.5 kgs (28 lbs); bitches: 11 kgs (24 lbs). Soundness not to be sacrificed to smallness.

Faults
Any departure from the foregoing points should be considered a fault and the seriousness with which the fault should be regarded should be in exact proportion to its degree and its effect upon the health and welfare of the dog.

Note
Male animals should have two apparently normal testicles fully descended into the scrotum.