The appearance of a French Bulldog
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Height at the withers: Males 30 cm, Females 30 cm
Average Weight: Males 12.5 kg, Females 11 kg
French Bulldogs are small yet extremely muscular and strong looking dogs. Heavy in bone with a smooth coat and compactly built, they are powerful little dogs. The head should be large and square with a slightly rounded skull with skin folds and wrinkles typically found around it.
The muzzle is broad and deep with a nose that should be extremely short and black in colour, except in the case of the lighter-coloured dogs, where a lighter colour is acceptable. The underjaw is undershot and turned up, but neat.
Eyes are wide apart, set low down in the skull, as far from the ears as possible, being round and moderate in size. A French Bulldog’s ears are a distinctive shape often referred to as ‘bat ears’, they are broad at the base, elongated, rounded at the tops and set high on a dog’s head.
A Frenchie’s neck is well proportioned and thickly set, muscular and well arched, with loose skin at the throat leading to short, straight forelegs that are set wide apart. The body is short and well rounded, muscular and compact with broad shoulders leading into a deep chest which gives the French Bulldog their powerful appearance. Hind legs are notably longer than the forelegs giving the appearance of a higher rump than withers. The tail can be either straight or screwed, but never curly.
A French Bulldog’s coat is short and fine and comes in variety of colours with the accepted colours for Kennel Club registration being as follows:
- Brindle
- Fawn
- Pied – and all-white French bulldogs are also classed with pied dogs for showing purposes.
The dominant colour within the breed as a whole is brindle, then fawn with pied being less common than the other colours. Breed clubs do not recognise any other colours or patterns. The dog’s skin should be soft and loose, especially at the head and shoulders, forming the French Bulldog’s characteristic folds and wrinkles.
Other colours that can be found within the breed like brindle and white or fawn and white are often very popular but fall outside of the breed standard. Most such colours can still be registered with the Kennel Club, but there are some exceptions.
It is worth noting that “rare” colours do not exist in French Bulldogs and that merle, blue/lilac as well as black and tan coloured dogs are undesirable according to Kennel Club breed standards although a Frenchie may still be KC registered, but their official documentation will clearly state the following “Colour Not Recognised”. For more information, read this article on undesirable colours in the French Bulldog.
Gait/movement
When a French Bulldog moves, they do so freely with a flowing movement and soundness in a dog is vital.
Faults
The Kennel Club frowns on any exaggeration or departure from the breed standard and would judge faults on how much they affect a dog’s overall health and wellbeing as well as their ability to perform.
Male dogs should have both testicles fully descended into their scrotums and it is worth noting that dogs can be a little shorter or taller as well as slightly lighter or heavier than stated in the Kennel Club breed standard, which is given as a guideline only.
