French Bulldog History

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The French Bulldog, with their large bat ears and even disposition, is one of the world’s most popular small breed dogs, especially with people living in the city and apartments. The Frenchie is playful, alert, adaptable, and completely irresistible!

In the mid 1800s, a toy-size Bulldog found favor in some English cities. The toy Bulldog became something of a mascot for Nottingham’s lace makers. This was the height of the Industrial Revolution in England. Cottage industries such as as lace making were threatened. Many in the lace trade relocated to northern France, and they brought their toy Bulldogs with them.

The little dogs became popular in the French countryside where lace makers settled. Over decades, the toy Bulldogs were crossed with other breeds, such as terriers and Pugs and they developed their famous bat ears. They were given the name Bouledogue Français.

Paris eventually discovered the delightful new breed, and thus began the Frenchie’s reputation as city dog par excellence. The breed came to be associated with Paris café life, and with the bon vivants and fancy ladies who sought nocturnal pleasures in Parisian dancehalls. Edgar Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec depicted the Frenchie in paintings of the Paris demimonde.

By the end of the 19th century, the Frenchie’s popularity had spread across Europe to America. The breed was not as liked in England. The Bulldog was a national symbol by the 1900s for Europe. Englishmen whom rivaled Europeans had a hard time adapting to the French Bulldog.

Americans in the early 1900s contributed to the breed by insisting that the bat ear was the correct Frenchie type. It is by this distinctive feature that the Frenchie is instantly recognizable to the world.