Nottingham lace, Paris cafés, and the bat ear
The French Bulldog is French by adoption rather than by birth. Its ancestors were the small bulldogs kept by lace workers in Nottingham, companionable little dogs of no particular fashion, and when the Industrial Revolution moved the lace trade across the Channel in the 1860s the workers took their dogs to Normandy with them. There the small bulldogs were crossed with local French dogs, and the shape we recognize today began to settle.
Paris took the breed up next, and took it up thoroughly. The bouledogue français became a fixture of the city — first with market porters and shopkeepers, then with the artists, writers and café society of the Left Bank, who found it the ideal size for a small apartment and excellent company at a table. Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec both put them into pictures, which is how a lace worker’s dog ended up in the permanent collections of museums.
The ears are the part that was decided in America. English breeders of the day preferred a folded rose ear; American fanciers were emphatic about the upright bat ear, and they organised to get their way. The French Bull Dog Club of America was founded in 1897 and staged a specialty show at the Waldorf-Astoria the following year that put the matter beyond argument. The bat ear went into the standard, and the American Kennel Club recognized the breed in 1898. Every Frenchie you meet today, fluffy or smooth, carries that decision on the top of its head.
What the long coat actually is
A Fluffy French Bulldog is a French Bulldog with a longer coat, and nothing else about the dog is different. The long coat comes from a recessive gene that has been in the breed for a very long time, sitting quietly in dogs that look entirely standard.
Recessive means both parents have to carry a copy for a puppy to show it. Two smooth-coated carriers, bred together, can produce a litter that is part fluffy and part smooth, which is why fluffies turn up in ordinary litters and why they remain relatively uncommon. A puppy that has inherited two copies is identifiable from the start, though the full effect takes time to arrive: the feathering keeps filling in over the first several months, so a young fluffy always looks less dramatic than it eventually will.
Where the extra length shows is worth knowing before you go looking. The fringe collects around the ears first and most obviously, softening the outline of those famous bat ears. Then comes a ruff around the neck and across the chest, feathering down the back of the legs, and a longer, softer plume on the tail where a smooth Frenchie has almost nothing. Across the back and the flanks the coat stays comparatively short, so the outline of the dog underneath is still perfectly clear. The texture is the other difference — soft and slightly wavy where a standard Frenchie’s coat is fine, short and close to the body.
Size, build and colour
Underneath the coat this is entirely the breed you already know. Adults stand about eleven to thirteen inches at the shoulder and the standard asks for a dog under twenty-eight pounds. What surprises most people who have only seen photographs is the density: a Frenchie is a great deal of dog for its height, heavy-boned and thickly muscled through the chest and shoulders, and lifting one feels closer to picking up a bag of sand than a small dog.
The outline is compact and square-ish, with a broad chest that narrows toward the rear, a short back with a slight rise behind the shoulders, a thick neck and a short tail. The head is large and square with a flat skull between the ears, and the eyes are dark, round and set wide and low. The expression is alert, curious and faintly amused, which turns out to be an accurate summary of the dog.
The colours are the breed’s usual range: brindle in every depth from a nearly black tiger stripe to a light fawn ground, fawn from cream through to red, cream itself, white, and the piebald pattern that puts patches of colour on a white dog. Black masks, white blazes and white chests all show up freely. On a fluffy the colour reads slightly differently, because the longer hair around the ears and chest catches light in a way a smooth coat does not, and a brindle fluffy in sunlight has real depth to it.
Grooming a feathered Frenchie
The long coat wants a little more than the standard smooth routine, and it is a companionable job rather than a chore. Brush two or three times a week to keep the feathering smooth, paying attention behind the ears, through the ruff at the neck and down the back of the legs where the hair is longest, and follow behind with a comb to make sure you have reached the skin. Most Frenchies lie on their side and go to sleep partway through.
The rest is quick. Wipe the folds around the muzzle and eyes with a soft damp cloth and dry them properly afterwards, as part of the same weekly session. Ears get a wipe while you are already there. Nails grow steadily on a heavy little dog, so trim a little and often rather than waiting. Teeth from the first week, the way you would for any breed, so a puppy decides early that the toothbrush is simply another thing that happens. Baths are occasional rather than scheduled, and the drying matters more than the washing on a coat with feathering in it.
Temperament is pure French Bulldog
Coat length has nothing whatever to do with personality, so what you get is the breed’s usual character: funny, affectionate, deeply attached to people, and much quieter than a dog with this much presence has any right to be.
Frenchies are companion dogs to the core, and they have been for a hundred and fifty years. A Frenchie wants to be in the room with you, preferably on the furniture, ideally against your leg. It will follow you from the kitchen to the sofa and back, take up a position where it can see both, and produce a running commentary of grumbles, sighs and small conversational noises that owners find completely addictive.
They are sociable and confident with visitors, they take children in stride — particularly children who have learned to sit on the floor and let the dog come over — and most are relaxed and friendly with other dogs after ordinary, unhurried introductions. The comic streak survives well into adulthood. A Frenchie that has decided something is funny will do it again to see whether it still works.
Training and the shape of a day
Training works best as a game. This is a clever breed with its own opinions and a short attention span for repetition, so two-minute sessions, excellent treats and a sense of humour get results that drilling never will. Ask for one thing at a time, mark it the moment it happens, and finish while the dog still wants another go. House training goes best when it is boring and predictable: out first thing, after meals, after naps, after play, and a proper celebration every single time it goes right outdoors.
Exercise needs are modest, which is a large part of why the breed does so well in apartments. Two short walks a day, some indoor play and something to think about covers it — a food puzzle, a scatter feed, five minutes of trick training, a toy hidden behind a door. Give a Frenchie a problem rather than a distance to cover and you get a dog that comes back in and sleeps flat out for two hours.
In a Florida or Tennessee summer the early and late hours are the pleasant ones for both of you, with shade, cool water and a tile floor through the middle of the day. Owners here settle into that rhythm within a week or two, and it suits the dog every bit as well as it suits you.
Come and see a fluffy Frenchie
Coat length and feathering vary noticeably from puppy to puppy, and a photograph flattens the difference entirely. Standing next to one, what you notice first is the weight, then the ears, then the fact that the dog has already decided you are interesting.
Our fluffy French Bulldog puppies come from our network of licensed breeders, and our team can tell you how a particular puppy’s coat is coming in and how it has been getting on with people. We have a store in Orlando and one in Nashville, and you are welcome to sit on the floor with a puppy for as long as you like before deciding anything. Find directions and hours, and ask about financing while you are here. Every puppy here goes home with its vet records, its vaccination history and a health warranty, and our team will walk you through what those cover.