FCI-Standard
N° 101 / 06. 04. 1998 / GB
ORIGIN
: France.
DATE OF PUBLICATION OF THE ORIGINAL VALID STANDARD : 28.04.1995.
UTILIZATION : Companion, watch dog, pleasure
dog.
CLASSIFICATION F.C.I. : Group
9 Companion and Toy Dogs.
Section 11
Small Molossian Dogs. Without
working trial.
BRIEF HISTORICAL SUMMARY : Probably issued, like all the mastiffs, from the Epirus and the Roman
Empire molosses, relative of the Bulldog of Great Britain, the Alans (tribe of
the Middle Age), the mastiffs and small type mastiffs of France, the bulldog we
know is the product of different crossings done by enthusiastic breeders in the
popular quarters of Paris in the years 1880.
During that period, the Bulldog being a dog belonging to butchers and coachmen
of « les Halles » (market place), he soon knew how to conquer the
high society and the artistic world by his particular appearance and character.
He then rapidly propagated himself. The first breed club was founded in
1880 in Paris. The first
registration dates from 1885 and the first standard was established in 1898,
year in which the « Société Centrale Canine » of France recognized
the breed of the French Bulldog. The first shown dog was from 1887. The standard, modified in 1931, 1932 and 1948, was
reformulated in 1986 by H.F. Reant and R. Triquet (F.C.I. publication 1987),
then in 1994 by the committee of the Club of the French Bulldog with the
collaboration of R. Triquet.
GENERAL APPEARANCE
: Typically a small size molossian. Powerful
dog for its small size, short, compact in all its proportions, smooth-coated,
with a short face, a snub nose, erect ears and a naturally short tail. Must have
the appearance of an active animal, intelligent, very muscular, of a compact
build with a solid bone structure.
BEHAVIOUR /
CHARACTER : Sociable, lively, playful, sporty, keen.
Particularly affectionate towards his masters and the children.
HEAD : The head must be
very strong, broad and square, the skin of the head forming almost symmetrical
folds and wrinkles. The head of the
bulldog is characterized by a contraction of the maxillary-nasal part; the skull
has taken up in width that which it has lost in length.
CRANIAL
REGION :
Skull : Broad, almost flat, forehead very bulging. Superciliary arches prominent, separated by a particularly
developed furrow between the eyes. The
furrow must not extend onto the forehead. Occipital
crest is hardly developed.
Stop : Deeply accentuated.
FACIAL
REGION :
Nose : Broad, very short, turned up, nostrils well open and symmetrical,
slanting towards the rear. The
inclination of the nostrils as well as the snub nose (i.e. upturned) must,
however, allow a normal nasal breathing.
Muzzle : Very short, broad, with concentric symmetrical folds coming down on
the upper lips (length of muzzle about 1/6 of the total length of the head).
Lips : Thick, a little loose and black.
The upper lip rejoins the lower lip at its middle, completely covering
the teeth which should never be visible. The
profile of the upper lip is descending and rounded.
Tongue must never show.
Jaws : Broad, square, powerful. Lower
jaw shows a broad curve, terminating in front of the upper jaw.
The mouth being closed, the prominence of the lower jaw (prognathism-undershot)
is moderated by the curve of the lower mandibular branches.
This curve is necessary to avoid a too important shifting of the lower
jaw.
Teeth : The lower incisors must never be behind the upper incisors in any case.
The arch of the lower incisors is rounded.
The jaw must not show lateral deviation, nor torsion.
The disposition of the incisoral arches should not be strictly delimited,
the essential condition being that the upper and the lower lips rejoin to
completely cover the teeth.
Cheeks : The muscles of the cheeks are well developed, but not prominent.
Eyes : Lively expression, set low, quite far from the nose and especially
from the ears, dark coloured, quite big, well round, slightly protruding,
showing no trace of white (sclera) when the dog is looking straight ahead.
Rims of eyelids must be black.
Ears
: Medium size, wide at the base and rounded at the top.
Set high on the head, but not too close together, carried erect.
The orifice is open towards the front.
The skin must be fine and soft to the touch.
NECK : Short, slightly
arched, without dewlap.
BODY :
Topline : Rising progressively at loin level to slope rapidly towards the tail.
This conformation which must be sought after, is the consequence of the
short loin.
Back : Broad and muscular.
Loin : Short and broad.
Rump : Oblique.
Chest : Cylindrical and well let down; ribcage barrel shaped, very rounded.
Forechest : Wide.
Belly
and flanks : Drawn up without excessive tuck up.
TAIL : Short, set low on
the rump, close to the buttocks, thick at the base, knotted or kinked naturally
and tapering at the tip. Even in
action, must stay below the horizontal. A
relatively long tail (not reaching beyond the point of the hocks), kinked and
tapering is admissible, but not desirable.
LIMBS
FOREQUARTERS : Forelegs vertical and parallel seen in profile and from the front,
standing well separated.
Shoulder : Short, thick, with a firm and visible musculature.
Upperarm : Short.
Elbows : Close to the body.
Forearm : Short, straight and muscular.
Pastern
joint - Pastern :
Solid and short.
HINDQUARTERS : Strong and muscular, hindlegs a little longer than the forelegs, thus
raising the hindquarters. The legs
are vertical and parallel as seen both in profile and from behind.
Thigh : Muscled, firm without being too rounded.
Hock
joint :
Quite well let down, neither too angulated nor certainly too straight.
Hock : Solid and short. The
French Bulldog should be born without dewclaws.
FEET :
Forefeet
round of small dimension, i.e. « cat feet », well set on the ground,
turning slightly outward. The toes
are compact, nails short, thick and well separated. The pads are hard, thick and black. In the brindle subjects, the nails must be black.
In the pieds (caille = brindled fawns with medium white patching) and
fawn subjects, dark nails are preferred, without however penalising the light
coloured nails.
Hindfeet well compact.
GAIT / MOVEMENT
: Free movement, the legs moving parallel to the median plane of the body.
COAT
HAIR : Beautiful smooth coat, close, glossy and soft.
COLOUR :
·
Uniformly fawn, brindled or not, or with limited
patching (pied).
·
Fawn brindled or not, with medium or predominant
patching.
All
the fawn shades are admitted, from the red to light brown (café au lait) colour.
The entirely white dogs are classified in « brindled fawn with
predominant white patching ». When
a dog has a very dark nose, dark eyes with dark eyelids, certain depigmentations
of the face may exceptionally be tolerated in very beautiful subjects.
SIZE AND WEIGHT
: The weight must not be below 8 kg nor over 14 kg for a bulldog in good
condition, size being in proportion with the weight.
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.
·
Nose tightly closed or pinched and chronic
snorers.
·
Lips not joining in the front.
·
Depigmentation of the lips.
·
Light eyes.
·
Dewlap.
·
Tail carried high, or too long or abnormally
short.
·
Loose elbows.
·
Straight hock or placed forward.
·
Incorrect movement.
·
Coat (hair) too long.
· Speckled coat.
SERIOUS FAULTS
:
·
Incisors visible when mouth closed.
·
Tongue visible when mouth closed.
·
Stiff beating movement of the forelegs.
·
Pink spots on the face, except in the case of
brindled fawns with medium white patching (« caille ») and fawns
with limited or predominant white patching. (« fauve »).
· Excessive or insufficient weight.
DISQUALIFICATIONS
:
·
Aggressive or overly shy.
·
Colour of nose other than black.
·
Hare lip.
·
Dog with lower incisors articulating behind
upper incisors.
·
Dog with permanently visible canines, mouth
being closed.
·
Eyes of two different colours (heterochromatic).
·
Ears not carried erect.
·
Mutilation of ears, tail or dewclaws.
·
Taillessness.
·
Dewclaws on hindquarters.
·
Colour of coat black and tan, mouse grey, brown.
Any
dog clearly showing physical or behavioural abnormalities shall be disqualified.
N.B. : Male animals should have two apparently normal testicles fully descended into the scrotum.