French Bulldog Breed Standard in Canada
Coat & Colour in French Bulldogs
The recent proliferation of ads promoting ‘blue’, ‘chocolate’ black and tan’ ‘lilac’, ‘lavender’, ‘merle’ etc french bulldogs or dogs with coat variations such as ‘long haired’, ‘fluffy’ or ‘hairless’ is of major concern to the French Bulldog Fanciers of Canada. Promoters suggest these variations are rare, exotic, highly desirable and more valuable than dogs with coats and colours that are universally recognized and accepted in our breed. This is not true.
As members of a National Breed Club it is our responsibility to honour and maintain our Canadian Breed Standard.
A Breed Standard is a set of guidelines covering specific externally observable qualities such as appearance, structure, movement, and temperament and is considered the standard of perfection for each dog breed. This standard is the yardstick against which breeders and confirmation judges measure a dog’s quality. Colour and coat guidelines are included in most standards and the breeder’s goal is to produce and maintain these desirable traits.
The Canadian French Bulldog Breed Standard lists acceptable colours as: all brindle, fawn(cream through to red fawn), white, brindle and white. Nature of coat is ‘moderately fine, brilliant, short and smooth.
It is important for potential pet owners to understand that dogs exhibiting certain disqualifying and undesirable colours can occur from time to time but breeders who breed to standard do not intentionally aim to produce them. They could be the result of recessive traits that only appear when puppies inherit a recessive gene from each of their parents, or they may be throwbacks to distant ancestors. Other colours and coat textures seen today are not historically present at all in the french bulldog genome and can only be produced by the intentional introduction of other breeds. Dogs produced in this manner are not purebred. There is also the risk of introducing additional health problems into the breed. Health issues involving skin, hearing and eye problems can be colour linked.
No matter the means of inheritance, in deference to our standard, puppies and dogs exhibiting or carrying disqualifying or undesirable traits should be spayed or neutered and placed as companion dogs with a dollar value no greater than any companion puppy.
Please do not be taken in by advertisements suggesting that French Bulldogs with coats or colours that do not comply with Club Standards are more valuable or desirable than those that are correct.
CKC Breed Standard for French Bulldogs
General Appearance
The French Bulldog should have the appearance of an active, intelligent, muscular dog, of heavy bone, smooth coat, compactly built, and of medium or small structure. The points should be well distributed and bear good relation one to the other, no feature being in such prominence from either excess or lack of quality that the animal appears deformed or poorly proportioned. In comparison to specimens of different sex, due allowance should be made in favour of the bitches, which do not bear the characteristics of the breed to the same marked degree as do the dogs.
Size
A lightweight class under 22 lb. (10 kg); heavyweight class, 22 lb. (10 kg) and not over 28 lb. (10-13 kg).
Coat & Colour
Acceptable colours are: all brindle, fawn, white, brindle and white, and any colour except those which constitute disqualification. The skin should be soft and loose, especially at the head and shoulders, forming wrinkles. Coat moderately fine, brilliant, short and smooth.
Head
The head should be large and square. The top of the skull should be flat but slightly rounded. The stop should be well defined, causing a hollow or groove between the eyes. Muzzle should be broad, deep, and well laid back; the muscles of the cheeks well developed. The nose should be extremely short; nostrils broad with well defined line between them. The nose and flews should be black, except in the case of the lighter-coloured dogs, where a lighter colour of nose is acceptable. The flews should be thick and broad, hanging over the lower jaw at the sides, meeting the underlip in front and covering the teeth which should not be seen when the mouth is closed. The underjaw should be deep, square, broad, undershot, and well turned up. Eyes should be wide apart, set low down in the skull, as far from the ears as possible, round in form, of moderate size, neither sunken or bulging, and in colour dark. No haw and no white of the eye showing when looking forward. Ears shall hereafter be known as the bat ear, broad at the base, elongated, with round top, set high in the head, but not too close together, and carried erect with the orifice to the front. The leather of the ear fine and soft.
Neck
The neck should be thick and well arched, with loose skin at throat.
Forequarters
The forelegs should be short, stout, straight and muscular, set wide apart.
Body
The body should be short and well rounded. The back should be a roach back, with a slight fall close behind the shoulders. It should be strong and short, broad at the shoulders and narrowing at the loins. The chest, broad, deep and full, well ribbed with the belly tucked up.
Hindquarters
The hind legs should be strong and muscular, longer than the forelegs, so as to elevate the loins above the shoulders. Hocks well let down. The feet should be moderate in size, compact and firmly set. Toes compact, well split up, with high knuckles and short stubby nails; hind feet slightly longer than forefeet.
Tail
The tail should be either straight or screwed (but not curly), short, hung low, thick root and fine tip; carried low in repose.
Disqualifications
Other than bat ears; black and white, black and tan, liver, mouse or solid black (black means without any trace of brindle); eyes of different colour; nose other than black except in the case of the lighter-coloured dogs, where a lighter colour of nose is acceptable; hare lip; any mutilation; over 28 lb. (12.7 kg) in weight.
Scale of Points
General Properties
| Proportion & Symmetry | 5 |
| Expression | 5 |
| Gait | 4 |
| Colour | 4 |
| Co | 2 |
| Total for section | 20 |
Head
| Skull | 6 |
| Cheeks & Chops | 2 |
| Stop | 5 |
| Ears | 8 |
| Eyes | 4 |
| Wrinkles | 4 |
| Nose | 3 |
| Jaws | 6 |
| Teeth | 2 |
| Total for section | 40 |
Body, Legs, etc
| Shoulders | 5 |
| Back | 5 |
| Neck | 4 |
| Chest | 3 |
| Ribs | 4 |
| Brisket | 3 |
| Belly | 2 |
| Forelegs | 4 |
| Hind Legs | 3 |
| Feet | 3 |
| Tail | 4 |
| Total for section | 40 |