THE TOY BULLDOG 619 



good dog in the city was descended from it. I don't know if there 

 is any one else living in Notts who has bred them ; possibly there may 

 be. Yours truly, , 



R. HILL. 

 PARLIAMENT-STREET, NOTTINGHAM. 



Assuming the writer to be correct in his suppositions, and there 

 is no reason to believe otherwise, it will be seen that the so-called 

 French Bulldog is a mongrelised and dwarfed member of the 

 Bulldog family, which, exported to France years ago from England, 

 has lately been reintroduced into this country, after having been 

 crossed with the Pug and probably other breeds of which no records 

 have been kept, or at any rate revealed to English fanciers. 



It must, however, be admitted that the bat or tulip ear, which 

 is one of the characteristic points of this breed, is probably of 

 English origin ; for as Mr. Hill points out in his letter, those that 

 were exported to France were mostly possessed of erect ears, a point 

 which no doubt the French breeders strove to perpetuate and 

 exaggerate, and which has resulted in the enormous upright ears of 

 the modern French Bulldog. 



In at least one other point the French Bulldog differs from the 

 English-bred dog. While turn-up of under jaw is a point continu- 

 ally bred for and much desired by breeders of the British Bulldog, 

 it is a point in which the French specimen is noticeably deficient, 

 there being little or no projection of the under jaw ; and in some 

 cases the French dog is actually overshot. These two points alone 

 ears and under jaw are sufficient to make a considerable difference 

 in the appearance and type of the English and French-bred dogs, but 

 there are many other points of dissimilarity, though less marked. 

 The French dog rarely possesses the shoulders and front with the 

 depth of brisket, nor the roach or wheel back and the low set-on of 

 tail, all of which points are characteristic of the English breed. In 

 short, the so-called French type of Toy Bulldog and the English type 

 are entirely distinct, and the mating together of these two breeds for 

 the purpose of producing small specimens is a course which the 

 writer would strongly urge on breeders not to adopt. 



Assuming, as we have the right to assume in view of statements 

 made by many who are the champions of the French Bulldog cause, 

 that crossing with other breeds has been resorted to by the French 

 breeders, it follows that the mating of a small British Bulldog with 

 a French Toy will result in producing small puppies, no doubt, but 

 at the expense of their purity of blood. 



A writer of considerable experience and of undoubted ability has 

 recently recommended the crossing of the two breeds, the mating 

 together of a dog of French parentage with a small bitch of the 

 English strains, the object to be achieved, diminution in size of the 

 offspring, contributed by the small French father, and improvement 



