Page 240 - Showsight March 2013

JUDGING THE FRENCH BULLDOG:
Finding The Diamond In The Rough!
By Luis Sosa The French Bulldog is
a small, cobby, square
dog with a large head,
bat ears and an off-level
topline. Right? NO!
Though this generic
statement is misleading and largely false,
it often appears that this “CliffNotes” ver-
sion of the Frenchie Standard is at times
rewarded in the show ring. This article will
hopefully help explain some of the most
important points of the Frenchie silhouette
that are often overlooked, and offer some
common sense suggestions on evaluating
our breed. Above all, please remember that
this is strictly our opinion as breeders and
exhibitors of this breed for over 30 years.
The first paragraph of the Standard
describes the Frenchie as an “active, intelli-
gent, muscular dog of heavy bone, smooth
coat, compactly built, and of medium or
small structure.” Two items of note in this
description are the “compactly built” and
the “medium or small structure”. While at
first you might think that this description
implies a square or overly cobby dog, when
you consider these phrases within the con-
text of the history of the French Bulldog,
it doesn’t.
These terms can be traced back to early
standards when the Frenchie was a much
longer-backed dog than what we typically
find in the ring today. “Compactly built”
means short, yet still having some length
of loin, meaning that the correct French
Bulldog will still have some overall length;
and we must be careful not to reward overly
short, “cobby” dogs. Without a correct
length of loin, it is not possible to have a cor-
rect topline or the pear shape which is char-
acteristic of the breed. Compact also does
not mean square, but more on that later.
In fact, the only thing square about the
French Bulldog is the head which is “large
and square” when viewed from the front.
Large is in relation to the size of the dog
and a correct square head is more impor-
tant than mere size. We unfortunately see
large, round-headed Frenchies, or dogs with
ears pointing straight up to heaven reward-
ed in the show ring. Remember that the
head is square with bat ears set at 11 and 1
on the dial. The ears are expressive and need
not be carried forward at all times.
Similarly, “medium or small structure”,
in our opinion, refers to the French Bull-
dog relative to its English counterpart, the
Bulldog. Being of medium or small struc-
ture does not make the Frenchie a “toy”
breed and certainly not a toy Bulldog. As
a breeder, my personal preference is for a
dog to weigh around 23-27 lbs. and a bitch
to be 20-26 lbs. However, as a judge, I
have no issue whatsoever in rewarding a
28-lb. dog or bitch that is in correct weight,
anymore than in rewarding a 22-lb. dog.
Remember that “over 28 pounds is a dis-
qualification”, but the Standard does not
give us a lower limit. However I would not
reward an oversized dog that is exhibited
in very poor weight so it will weigh in.
The Standard does state under “Sub-
stance: Muscular, heavy bone.” It is up
to you as judge to determine correct sub-
stance for the size of the dog, keeping in
mind that they are neither toys nor “little
Bulldogs”.
From a breeder’s perspective, the French
Bulldog topline is probably the single most
difficult aspect of the Standard to breed
correctly. The Frenchie Standard states
that the “back is a roach back with a slight
fall close behind the shoulders; strong
and short, broad at the shoulders and
narrowing at the loins.” The second part
of this sentence describes the characteris-
tic Frenchie “pear” body shape; the first
half the topline. The term “roach back” is
ambiguous, and has been subject to much
discussion within Frenchie circles, and so it
is open to a judges’ interpretation. Again,
help can come from the Frenchie’s ances-
tor, the Bulldog for insight. The Bulldog
standard gives a very detailed description
of the Bulldog roach: “Topline – There
should be a slight fall in the back, close
behind the shoulders (its lowest part),
whence the spine should rise to the loins
(the top of which should be higher than
the top of the shoulders), thence curving
again more suddenly to the tail, forming
an arch (a very distinctive feature of the
breed), termed ‘roach back’ or, more cor-
rectly, ‘wheel-back.’”
The 1926 book The French Bulldog, as
published jointly by the French Bull Dog
Club of America and the French Bulldog
Club of New England, states: a “roach
back” as explained in the standard of the
English Bulldog... is equally applicable to
the French Bulldog. We believe that this
statement is as valid today as when it was
written almost a century ago. What you
Well proportioned bitch.
Well proportioned bitch.
240 • ShowSight Magazine, March 2013