The poor photoshopping skills notwithstanding, the image seen here is unsettling, but it makes the point that a French Bulldog is more than its famous bat ears. There are two distinctive features in this breed, and when you take away the ears, what remains is a singular head.
Looking at the dog head on, the French Bulldog’s head a square, but that squareness comes not from padding or cushioning, but from structure.
At the risk of hyperbole, a correct Frenchie head is so level and flat between the ears that the dog could serve you a cocktail delivered on its head. The forehead, however, is slightly rounded directly above the eyes giving the head a domed appearance. The stop is well defined with a hollow groove between the eyes, and heavy wrinkling forms a soft roll over the dog’s extremely short nose. The muzzle is broad, deep, and well laid back, while the under jaw is also broad and deep, but also square. Put them all together, and the Frenchie has a unique head that even in profile is distinctly “Frenchie.” We don’t think it’s helpful to talk about “type” in a dog with explaining what it is that gives a dog type, and in this breed, the head and ears have a lot to do with it.
Some might say that the English Bulldog’s head is similar, and we would concur that it is similar, but only in that it is also unique. The fullness of skull in a French Bulldog is proportionally greater than it is in a Bulldog, but it’s still a more moderate skull. The Bulldog’s under jaw is more undershot and has more turn-up than a Frenchie’s, and the ridges and grooves are more marked than on French Bulldog skull. And finally, there is a furrow in Bulldog forehead that is absent in a French Bulldog. Both are unique heads, but they are not all that similar to each other. Furthermore, without its famous ears, the French Bulldog’s head is still “all Frenchie.”
Image: Deposit Stock Photo; lousy photoshop job credit goes to the author.
What utter stupidity. Only humans care about flat heads that don’t even serve any cocktails because dogs are living breathing animals, not tables! Your breed standards cause disease and suffering so you can have deformed dogs that are so far removed from the natural form of the canine that many struggle to breathe, mate, whelp, swim and have hemivertebrae too!!
Thank you for making the case as to why education is so important, why breeders are not all alike, and that ignorance is alive and well. We can’t pay for the kind of advertising you just gave well bred, purpose bred dogs.
I am happy you chose a Frenchie with open nares and a bit of a muzzle. I’d like to see hemivertebrae and movement and structure looked at next, to see if any positive changes could be made to the breed standard.
Lovely to see such a moderate head and open nares. A great choice of Frenchie. Although not sure that anyone who shows them would agree.
Honestly a beautiful frenchie! Decent length of muzzle, eyes that aren’t bulging out of its head, and well open nares. If only they were all this nice
Thanks for the comment, Hank. We don’t know any breeders who approve of extremes of a breed standard. Great breeders creating the next generation of sound, healthy dogs are out there for the person who does their homework, asks questions, and looks in the places. Sadly, substandard breeders get the attention.
I have actually never seen such good nostrils on a show-bred Frenchie. And most have far flatter faces/bigger nose rolls. For comparison this dog went BOB at Westminster this year.NB the dog you’ve featured is a non-standard colour.
Oh how beautiful, our Carlson. He is registered as stud dog with us in Germany and gives us a huge pleasure. We also kept his first daughter, she turned out just as wonderful as he did.