- Whole or smut, (i.e. whole colour with black mask or muzzle).
- Only whole colours (which should be brilliant and pure of their sort). viz., brindles, reds with their various shades, fawns, fallows etc., white and pied (i.e. combination of white with any of the foregoing colours).
- Undesirable: Dudley, black and black with tan highly
About the Bulldog
Origin: Great Britain
- Typical life span
- 8-10 years
- Size
- Medium — from its typical weight
- Weight
- Male
- 23-25 kg
- Female
- 18-23 kg
- Height
- 36-38 cm
- FCI status
- Recognised by FCI
- FCI group
- Pinscher and Schnauzer - Molossoid and Swiss Mountain and Cattledogs
- Origin
- Great Britain
- Known hereditary risks
- Not researched yet
About
What is a Bulldog?
Medium-sized muscular dog with loose wrinkled skin, distinctive wrinkled face, and pushed-in nose, known for its gentle but courageous disposition
Bulldog history and origins
Originally developed in medieval England for bull-baiting, descended from ancient mastiff-type dogs. After blood sports were outlawed in 1835, refined into the gentle companion breed known today
Bulldog appearance and size
Males typically weigh 23-25 kg and females 18-23 kg.
What the breed standard says
- Bred for
- Dissuasion and Companion Dog
- Behaviour and temperament
“Conveys impression of determination, strength, and activity. Alert, bold, loyal, dependable, courageous, fierce in appearance, but possessed of affectionate nature”
Quoted from FCI standard n°149. It describes the breed the registry recognises, not any individual animal.
Breed reference from The Dog API.
Characteristics
- Size
- Medium
- Exercise needsRead from what the breed was bred to do, in the registry’s own words: “Dissuasion and Companion Dog” That is a working purpose, not a measured exercise requirement — an individual dog’s needs depend on its age, health and household.
- 2 of 5
- Easy to train
- —
- Amount of shedding
- —
- Grooming needs
- 2 of 5
- Good with children
- —
- Cost to keep
- —
- Tolerates being alone
- —
- Intelligence
- —
- Health of breed
- Not researched yet
Pros & cons
Pros & cons for the Bulldog
What you get with the Bulldog
- Purpose stated in the standard: “Dissuasion and Companion Dog”
- The standard describes the breed as: “Conveys impression of determination, strength, and activity”
- Low grooming needs, fitting for a busy owner — the coat is “Fine texture, short, close and smooth (hard only from shortness and closeness, not wiry)”
What you are taking on
- Shorter-lived than a crossbred dog — median 9.8 years across 11143 animals, against 12
Drawn from sources rather than written as an opinion — cited health research, the registry’s own standard, and peer-reviewed longevity. FCI breed standard; McMillan et al. 2024, median age at death. One breeder’s animals can differ from any of it, and an empty column means we hold nothing for that side rather than that there is nothing to say.
Characteristics
FCI standard · Bulldog
Coat and colour
As the FCI standard sets it out. Every line below is the standard’s own wording, tagged undesirable.
Coat
Fine texture, short, close and smooth (hard only from shortness and closeness, not wiry)
Colour
- Preferred
- Permissible
- Undesirable
- Disqualifying
Preferred, permissible, undesirable and disqualifying are FCI’s own words about the breed. They describe what the standard asks for — not an assessment of any individual dog, and not ours.
Shortened from FCI standard n°149 — each label is the standard’s own wording with the verdict lifted into the tag beside it. Read the full clause at source.
Breed-level information from The Dog API. It describes the Bulldog in general; any individual animal can differ.
Health guide
What to ask for in a Bulldog
No breed-specific health panel has been written up for the Bulldog on this platform yet. That is a gap in our records, not a clean bill of health — ask the breeder which hereditary conditions their lines are tested for, and ask to see the results for both parents, dated and from a named laboratory.
Gallery
No photographs yet
This is where Bulldog owners’ own photographs will go, from the pet profiles they keep here. Nobody has added one to a public page yet.
A photograph in a pet profile stays private to its owner. We will not put one here unless they ask us to.
Puppies
No puppies listed right now
No Bulldog breeder has a record on this platform yet, so there is nothing to list. That is a gap in our coverage, not a fact about the breed.