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About the French Bulldog

Origin: France
Typical life span
10-12 years
Size
Medium — from its typical weight
Weight
7-13 kg
Height
28-33 cm
FCI status
Recognised by FCI
FCI group
Companion and Toy Dogs
Origin
France
Also called
Bulldog Frances
Known hereditary risks
6 documented conditions, with the test for each

About

What is a French Bulldog?

Small, compact muscular companion dog known for its distinctive large bat-like ears, flat smooshed face, and short smooth coat. Originally developed as a beloved companion breed with a playful, alert disposition.

French Bulldog history and origins

Developed in 19th century France when English lacemakers brought Toy Bulldogs to France and crossed them with local French ratters becoming highly fashionable in Parisian society

French Bulldog appearance and size

Typically 7-13 kg and 28-33 cm at the shoulder — published as one range rather than separately for males and females.

What the breed standard says

Bred for
Companion and Toy dog
Behaviour and temperament
“Sociable, lively, playful, possessive, and keen companion dog”

Quoted from FCI standard n°101. It describes the breed the registry recognises, not any individual animal.

Breed reference from The Dog API.

Characteristics

Size
Medium
Exercise needs
2 of 5
Easy to train
—
Amount of shedding
1 of 5
Grooming needs
—
Good with children
—
Cost to keep
—
Tolerates being alone
—
Intelligence
—
Health of breed
6 conditions documented

Pros & cons

Pros & cons for the French Bulldog

What you get with the French Bulldog

  • Purpose stated in the standard: “Companion and Toy dog”
  • The standard describes the breed as: “Sociable, lively, playful, possessive, and keen companion dog”

What you are taking on

  • 4 serious inherited conditions are documented, mainly in bones & joints and eyes. The health guide tab has the test to ask for on each.
  • Shorter-lived than a crossbred dog — median 9.8 years across 11853 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; RVC VetCompass - French Bulldogs differ to other dogs in the UK in propensity for many common disorders (O'Neill et al.); 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 · French Bulldog

Coat and colour

As the FCI standard sets it out. Every line below is the standard’s own wording, tagged preferred and permissible.

Coat

  • Smooth coat
  • Close
  • Glossy and soft
  • Without undercoat

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.

Base colour

fawn, brindled or not, with or without white spotting

  • Coat with colouring: Brindle: Fawn coat moderately characterized by transversal dark brindling creating a ‘tiger-marked’ effect, strongly brindled coats must not cover out the fawn ground colour.
  • A black mask may be present.
  • Limited white spotting is admissible.
  • Preferred: Fawn: Solid coat, from light fawn to dark fawn, sometimes presenting a paler colouring of the inclined parts, with or without a black mask, although masked subjects
  • Sometimes accompanied by limited white spotting.
  • Coat with white spotting: Brindled with moderate or important white spotting: So-called ‘pied’, the spotting being ideally distributed over the entire subject.
  • Some blotches on the skin are admissible.
  • Fawn with moderate or important white spotting: So-called ‘fawn and white’, the spotting being ideally distributed over the entire dog.
  • Permissible: Some blotches of the skin
  • The nose is always black, in all coat colours, never brown or blue.
  • The all-white subjects provided the edge of eyelids and nose are black – but not bred for, because of a risk of deafness

Shortened from FCI standard n°101 — each label is the standard’s own wording with the verdict lifted into the tag beside it. Read the full clause at source.

What the standard penalises

What a judge marks the French Bulldog down for, and what puts one out of the ring, in the registry’s own words. This describes the breed standard — it is not a checklist for the animal in front of you, and a pet with a disqualifying fault is an unshowable dog rather than an unhealthy one.

Severe faults

Marked heavily against a specimen in the ring.

  • Muzzle too long or excessively short.
  • Tongue visible when mouth is closed.
  • Light eyes (hawk eye).
  • Excessive depigmentation of the lips, nose, eyelids, the rim of which should never be entirely depigmented.
  • Pincer bite.
  • Arch back (camel back)

Disqualifying faults

Puts an animal out of the ring altogether.

  • Lacks type: insufficient ethnic characteristics which result in the dog not really resembling other subjects of the breed.
  • Completely closed nostrils.
  • Torsion or lateral deviation of the jaw, resulting in the tongue constantly being visible.
  • Dog with lower incisors articulating behind upper incisors.
  • Dog with permanently visible canines (fangs), mouth being closed.
  • Heterochrome eyes (wall eye).
  • Colour of nose other than black.
  • Ears not carried erect.
  • Taillessness or ingrown tail.
  • Dewclaw on hindquarters.
  • Reversed hock.
  • Long, wired-haired or woolly coat.
  • Colour not in accordance with what is prescribed in the standard, namely black, black with fawn markings (black and tan) and all dilutions of black with or without white spotting.
  • Size and weight outside the standard limits.
  • Respiratory distress.
  • Deafness

FCI standard n°101

FCI varieties

FCI divides the French Bulldog into these varieties, listed in the registry's own words. Depending on the breed they separate colour, coat, size or line — they are not a full list of colours, which no registry we hold publishes. Ask a breeder which variety their line is.

  • BRINDLED
  • FAWN
  • BRINDLED WITH MEDIUM OR PREDOMINANT WHITE PATCHING (PIED)
  • FAWN WITH MEDIUM OR PREDOMINANT WHITE PATCHING (FAWN AND WHITE)

Breed-level information from The Dog API. It describes the French Bulldog in general; any individual animal can differ.

Health guide

Health & screening guide for the French Bulldog

Known hereditary risks for the French Bulldog breed, and the specific documentation to request from any breeder before paying a deposit. A responsible breeder will have these readily available; deflection is a red flag.

6 conditions documented

Health checklist (PDF)

Bones & joints

Vertebral malformation (hemivertebrae) and intervertebral disc disease

SeriousInherent to the breed

The gene(s) that produce the breed's screw (kinked) tail also cause malformed, wedge-shaped vertebrae elsewhere in the spine, most often in the chest. This can destabilise the spine and compress the spinal cord, causing pain, incoordination or hind-limb paralysis. Radiographic hemivertebrae have been found in up to 94% of French Bulldogs, including many with no clinical signs, and the resulting spinal instability is linked to later disc herniation.

What to ask for

There is no blood or DNA test. Ask whether the parents have had spinal radiographs (or MRI, if surgery was ever considered) and what the finding was.

2 sources

Patellar luxation

Monitor

The kneecap slips out of its groove, causing intermittent skipping or lameness. The same RVC VetCompass study found French Bulldogs at increased risk relative to other dogs, and a patella exam is part of the breed's recommended OFA/CHIC panel.

What to ask for

OFA (or equivalent vet) patellar luxation examination, graded 0-4, on both parents.

2 sources

Eyes

Corneal ulceration (exposure-related)

MonitorInherent to the breed

Prominent, shallow-set eyes leave more of the cornea exposed and reduce corneal sensation, so minor irritation is more likely to progress to an ulcer. The same RVC VetCompass study that examined BOAS also found French Bulldogs at increased risk of eye ulcers compared with other dogs.

What to ask for

No genetic test exists. Ask whether either parent has a history of recurrent eye ulcers, and check the annual ophthalmic exam record if one exists.

1 source

Juvenile hereditary cataracts (HSF4)

Serious

An early-onset, autosomal recessive cataract that starts before one year old and can progress to blindness by two to three years of age. Screening for it is one of the tests the parent club recommends for a CHIC number in the breed.

What to ask for

DNA test for the HSF4 mutation on both parents (reported on OFA as CATARACTS (CAT): HSF4-1), alongside an annual ACVO ophthalmologist exam.

2 sources

Breathing

Brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome (BOAS)

SeriousInherent to the breed

The shortened muzzle packs a normal amount of soft tissue into a much smaller airway, obstructing airflow. It shows as noisy breathing, snoring and poor heat tolerance, and can worsen with age or weight gain; severely affected dogs need surgery to breathe adequately. A VetCompass study of over 2,700 French Bulldogs found the breed 30.9 times more likely than other dogs to be diagnosed with BOAS, and 42 times more likely to have narrowed nostrils (stenotic nares).

What to ask for

The Kennel Club/University of Cambridge Respiratory Function Grading Scheme (RFGS) result (grade 0-3) on both parents, performed by an accredited assessor.

2 sources

Birth & whelping

Dystocia (difficult birth) requiring caesarean delivery

SeriousInherent to the breed

The breed's narrow pelvis and the puppies' relatively large heads make natural whelping difficult and risky for the dam. An RVC VetCompass study found French Bulldog bitches 15.9 times more likely to suffer dystocia than crossbred bitches, and a large share of litters are delivered by planned caesarean rather than naturally.

What to ask for

No laboratory test exists. Ask the breeder for the dam's whelping history (natural versus caesarean) and whether a vet was involved in planning the birth.

1 source

How long the French Bulldog lives, in the records

Median survival 9.8 years

95% confidence interval 9.4–10.1 years, from 2,495 recorded deaths among 11,853 dogs

Mortality hazard 2.22 (2.13, 2.31) relative to crossbred dogs, whose median is 12.0 years.

Measured in the United Kingdom from 584,734 dogs. Median survival is not a prediction for an individual dog.

McMillan, K.M., Bielby, J., Williams, C.L., Upjohn, M.M., Casey, R.A. & Christley, R.M. (2024) Longevity of companion dog breeds: those at risk from early death. Scientific Reports 14, 531.

Gallery

No photographs yet

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Puppies

No puppies listed right now

No French 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.

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