England, France and America are all important in the history and creation of the popular, sweet, quirky French Bulldog. England provided the beginnings of our modern Frenchie, the old bulldog. French breeders developed the smaller bulldogs into a distinctly “French” type and American breeders set the standard with the all-important “bat ears.”

The Frenchie began with the bulldog in England, where many of our current AKC breeds originated. The ancestral type was not our current short bulldog but the bulldog of 150-200 years ago which was a strong, athletic dog that had longer legs, and was capable of being used in that barbarous activity known as “bull-baiting.”

English bulldog breeders began to change the breed around this time to the more current look creating a bigger, heavier dog with exaggerated features. Some breeders crossbred them with terriers resulting in the bull-and-terrier breeds commonly used for dogfighting, ratting, etc. Other breeders developed a smaller, lighter toy bulldog, around 12-25 lbs with a rounded forehead and short under jaws with terrier liveliness. These new smaller variety were quite popular with workers in the English midlands, in particular the artisans in the lace making factories around Nottingham.

When the Industrial Revolution shut down many of the smaller mom & pop craft shops, these lace makers immigrated to the North of France with their little bulldogs. The popularity of these smaller, toy sized dogs spread from Normandy to Paris and soon the English breeders began exporting small bulldogs to France where they were called Bouledogues Français. They were bought and favored by ordinary Parisians such as butchers, cafe owners and salesmen in the rag trade and became notorious as the favorites of the Parisian streetwalkers, “les belles de nuit”. The well known artist Toulouse Lautrec depicted in several pieces Bouboule, a Frenchie owned by Madame Palmyre, the proprietress of a favorite restaurant “La Souris.”

High society Parisians noticed these cute petite bulldogs and before long they were ‘a la mode’. The British did not care for these French bulldogs, so it was the French who were guardians of the breed until later in the 19th century. They began to develop a more uniform breed—a dog with a compact body, straighter legs, but without the extreme underjaw of the English Bulldog. Many had the erect “bat ears” while others had “rose” ears. Wealthy American travelers visiting France fell in love with these endearing little dogs and brought them back to the USA. The Yanks preferred dogs with erect ears and the French & British breeders preferred the rose ears.

Society ladies first exhibited their Frenchies in 1896 at Westminster and a Frenchie was even featured on the cover of the 1897 Westminster catalog even though it was not yet an approved AKC breed.

At the event, both bat eared and rose eared dogs were exhibited, but the English judge preferred the rose-eared specimens. This infuriated the American Frenchie fanciers who quickly organized the French Bulldog Club of America and drew up the modern breed standard allowing only the bat ear. At the 1898 Westminster exhibit show, the Americans were outraged to find that both bat-eared and rose-eared dogs were to be shown despite the fact that the new breed standard allowed only the bat ears. The American judge refused to participate in the show and the Americans pulled their dogs out. The club decided to organize their own show, for bat-eared dogs only, to be held at the luxurious Waldorf-Astoria in New York City.

This was the famous first event for the French Bulldog Club of America, which, incidentally, was the first breed club anywhere in the world to be dedicated to the French Bulldog. The winner of that first show was a brindle dog named Dimboolaa.

Popularity of Frenchies skyrocketed, particularly among the East Coast high society. After World War I, the breed’s popularity began to decline for the next fifty years. The enormous popularity of another small brachycephalic breed, similar to the French Bulldog, the Boston Terrier, contributed to the decline. Also many Frenchies had problems whelping naturally due to their large distinct head. Many years later, vets learned safe ways of c-sections to allow for the larger, more distinct head. Interest in purebred dogs generally declined during the Depression of the 1930s. By 1940 French Bulldogs were considered a rare breed and only 100 were registered with the AKC. The years during World War II were difficult for many dog breeders and especially for those in Europe where many purebred dogs starved or were put down for lack of available food.

Most Frenchies were brindle with a few pied and white. Creams and fawns were rare and not popular until the 1950s when a breeder from Detroit, began showing cream Frenchies with phenomenal success. From then on, creams and fawns were more and more common in the events and show rings. Frenchie registrations totaled only 106 in 1960 and an article in the AKC Gazette stated, “There are many advantages to owning a dog of this breed but there are very few bred and very few exhibited. If the trend keeps on, eventually the breed will become extinct. No one wants to see the breed over popularized but certainly the breed deserves to be known and appreciated by the public.”

The 1980s had a rapid rise in Frenchie registrations due to a newly energized French Bulldog Club of America that brought in younger breeders who transformed the annual shows into major events and who contributed to The French Bullytin, a new unique magazine devoted solely to Frenchies. Since then, the popularity of these petite dogs has soared. Nowadays it’s common to see Frenchies featured in ads, movies or in stories about celebrities.