The French Bulldog

Our French Bulldog Mattie is our baby. She follows us around, sleeps with us and loves us a lot. Frenchies are ugly to the point of cute and are often mistaken for pugs for those who are not familiar with the breed. Here's a look at the colors: First is Mattie, who is brindle, then a black/white frenchie, fawn, and white.

French Bulldogs are becoming more well-known. Martha Stewart has had hers on her show and the cover of magazines. A white frenchie costarred appeared in the movie Secondhand Lions(which I highly recommend not for that reason alone). Patty Hearst's (yes, that Patty Hearst) Frenchie won Best of Breed in 2008.

French Bulldog Did You Know?

• It is fairly well established that one of the ancestors of the French Bulldog is, not surprisingly, the English Bulldog (most likely one of the toy variety).
• Two distinctive features of the French Bulldog are its bat ears and half-flat, half-domed skull.
• Originally called the Boule-Dog Francais, though the english later scoffed at the idea of calling an English dog by a French name.
• Had it not been for the objections of American fanciers, the bat ear of the French Bulldog would have been bred out of the breed and replaced with a rose ear, resulting in a miniaturized version of the English Bulldog.
• The first specialty club was the French Bulldog Club of America, and fanciers gave a specialty show in the ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria in NYC in 1989, the first specialty show to be held in such deluxe quarters. Receiving serious press coverage, French Bulldogs were thrust into vogue, reaching a peak in 1913 with an entry of 100 at the Westminster Kennel Club.
• While bred primarily as pets and companions, Frenchies are remarkably intelligent and serve as good watchdogs.

From The American Kennel Club

No offense to French Bulldogs or the AKC, but Mattie is not very intelligent nor a good watchdog. She has a very limited number of things she can do and things that she knows. She will bark at unfamiliar sounds, but make fast friends with anyone who speaks kindly and will pet her. If you are thinking about adding a Frenchie to your family, please use the links in this post to see if they are for you. If so, congratulations! you are about to own one of the most cute, funny and friendly dogs. They are great lap dogs, love to play and go for walks and/or nap whenever you do - in fact, Mattie will insist on a nap if I am home during the day.

French Bulldog Link Directory