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About the Griffon Bruxellois

Origin: Belgium
Typical life span
12-15 years
Size
Small — from its typical weight
Weight
4-5 kg
Height
18-25 cm
FCI status
Recognised by FCI
FCI group
Companion and Toy Dogs
Origin
Belgium
Known hereditary risks
Not researched yet

About

What is a Griffon Bruxellois?

A small, intelligent toy dog from Belgium with a distinctive bearded, almost human-like expressive face and alert demeanor. Available in rough and smooth coat varieties, known for their big personality despite their small size.

Griffon Bruxellois history and origins

Developed in Brussels as stable dogs and ratters from local rough-coated terriers in the 1800s, refined by crossing with Pug and English Toy Spaniel, became popular with Belgian nobility and coachmen

Griffon Bruxellois appearance and size

Typically 4-5 kg and 18-25 cm at the shoulder — published as one range rather than separately for males and females.

What the breed standard says

Bred for
Small guardian and companion dog
Behaviour and temperament
“Well-balanced little dog, alert, proud, very attached to its owner, very watchful. Neither timid nor aggressive”

Quoted from FCI standard n°80. It describes the breed the registry recognises, not any individual animal.

Breed reference from The Dog API.

Characteristics

Size
Small
Exercise needs
2 of 5
Easy to train
—
Amount of shedding
3 of 5
Grooming needs
5 of 5
Good with children
—
Cost to keep
—
Tolerates being alone
—
Intelligence
—
Health of breed
Not researched yet

Pros & cons

Pros & cons for the Griffon Bruxellois

What you get with the Griffon Bruxellois

  • Purpose stated in the standard: “Small guardian and companion dog”
  • The standard describes the breed as: “Well-balanced little dog, alert, proud, very attached to its owner, very watchful. Neither timid nor aggressive”

What you are taking on

  • High grooming needs — the standard’s own description is “The hair is naturally harsh, slightly wavy, not curly, it is trimmed.”

Drawn from sources rather than written as an opinion — cited health research, the registry’s own standard, and peer-reviewed longevity. FCI breed standard. 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 · Griffon Bruxellois

Coat and colour

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

Coat

Quality of coat: The Griffon Bruxellois and the Griffon Belge are rough- coated with undercoat.

The hair is naturally harsh, slightly wavy, not curly, it is trimmed.

The hair must be long enough for its structure to be appreciated.

Hair which is too long destroys the outline and is not sought after.

The Petit Brabançon is short-coated.

The hair is harsh, flat and gleaming, and at most 2 cm long.

Head furnishing: With the Griffons the furnishing (beard and moustache) begin under the nose-eye axis and goes from one ear to the other, covering the muzzle and the cheeks with thick hair which is longer than on the rest of the body.

Above the eyes, the hair must be longer than on the rest of the skull, forming eye-brows

Notes

  • A silky or woolly coat is a serious fault.

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.

Griffon Bruxellois

Base colour

Red, reddish

  • Permissible: A little black on the head furnishing
  • Griffon Belge: Black, black and tan.
  • The tan markings must be pure and of a sustained colour.
  • They are situated on the front legs, from foot to wrist, on the hind legs from foot to hock.
  • They go up the inside of the legs.
  • They are also situated on the chest, on the cheeks, on the chin, above the eyes, inside the ears, below the tail and around the anus.
  • Permissible: The black can be mixed with red-brown, which although pure black and black and tan are. 3 6 Petit Brabançon: The same colours are accepted as for the Griffons
  • It has a dark mask.
  • Grey or frosting in the mask for older dogs should not be penalised.
  • Permissible: In all three breeds, a few white hairs on the chest but not sought after

Shortened from FCI standard n°80 — 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 Griffon Bruxellois 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.

Disqualifying faults

Puts an animal out of the ring altogether.

  • Nose lacking pigment or other than black.
  • Tongue permanently visible, the mouth being closed.
  • Wry lower jaw.
  • Upper jaw protruding beyond lower jaw.
  • Any other colours than those laid down in the standard, such as grey, blue and tan, brown and tan, liver colour.
  • Any white patch

FCI standard n°80

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

Health guide

What to ask for in a Griffon Bruxellois

No breed-specific health panel has been written up for the Griffon Bruxellois 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 Griffon Bruxellois 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 Griffon Bruxellois 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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