CHAPTER LXII 



THE FRENCH BULLDOG 



T the time of the war of the ears, when all doggy society hung 

 breathlessly while the momentous question was being de- 

 cided as to whether it was to be an erect or a rose ear upon 

 the gentleman from France it is a pity that the question of 

 the proper name was not also taken up. At home it is the 

 Bouledouge Francais and as it has not sufficient in common to be a bull dog 

 proper the French name might well have been perpetuated, as it has now been 

 in England, where there is also a toy bulldog which takes care of miniature 

 bulldogs under 20 pounds. The English toy bulldog club was started as 

 an opposition to the Toy Bulldog Club which had decided to recognise bat- 

 ears and dogs up to 28 pounds. This club was recognised as the rightful 

 one to look after the toy bulldog, but after a great deal of trouble the sup- 

 porters of the bat-eared dog have received recognition and a classification 

 has been made for the Boule-Dogue Francais. This we think is a better 

 title for the dog than what we know it by, the propriety of translating it into 

 English and thus making a bulldog of it being questionable. 



Another thing that the club of this country has done is to draw up a 

 standard of its own, making alterations from that of the home club in Paris. 

 When writing on other breeds we have held that the home club is the rightful 

 one to formulate the standard and keep it up to date and that it is not proper 

 for a foreign club to make material alterations so long as the home standard 

 is lived up to at the headquarters of the breed. The Paris club does not 

 grade the colours, merely stating the preference for brindles, and it does 

 distinctly state that black and tans are to be disqualified. Here we have 

 graded colours and anything can be shown. A cut tail is a disqualification 

 in Paris while here it is merely "not desirable. " A cut tailed dog in a breed 

 where cut or docked tails are not proper is a "faked" dog and we are at a 

 loss to know under what circumstances the French bulldog club of this 

 country countenanced the docking of a tail which should be shown naturally 



and is only docked when it is not correct in shape or carriage. In the 



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