Say “NO” to a Revised Canadian French Bulldog Standard

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This was originally posted in November, 2011. I’m reposting it so that people can see what the proposed (passed? sort of) changes to the Canadian French Bulldog breed standard consist of, and why so many of us vehemently and vociferously object to them. Bear in mind that these changes will affect EVERY breeder in Canada, and everyone in Canada who loves French Bulldogs and chooses to add one to their lives as a pet, a show prospect or a performance sport dog.

Oh, a note about the petition link – we garnered 375 signatures in total, and those 375 signatures include most of the top breeders in Canada, along with some of the top breeders in the world. Veterinarians, geneticists and presidents of French Bulldog breed clubs from around the world signed. Pet owners, obedience competitors, pet owners from across Canada – all signed.

And what good did it do? NOTHING. No one on the board of the Canadian club gave ANY weight to the signatures, or the opinions, of anyone else, even though THEIR decisions affected all of us. The Canadian Kennel Club politely acknowledged receipt, and then informed us that they ‘don’t like to get involved in club matters’.

This is why the revelation that the VOTE itself to change the standard may have been .. well, what term do we use? Held incorrectly? Wrongly tabulated? Faked? Whatever, this is why it’s all so incredibly disappointing and upsetting, and why we MUST see justice done.

related link: An Open Letter to the French Bulldog Fanciers of Canada

Canadian French Bulldog enthusiasts have been stunned by the recent move by the French Bulldog Fanciers of Canada (the Canadian Kennel Club parent club for the breed in Canada) to overhaul our current breed standard.

In almost every case that we are familiar with, a breed standard is changed in small, carefully considered increments – a single sentence change to a standard can take well over a year to finally come up for vote. This sounds unconscionably slow, to some people, but it is actually the correct way for such changes to be done. A single sentence can change the entire look of a breed, and create changes that can alter the appearance and structure of a breed for all future generations.

The French Bulldog Fanciers of Canada have pushed through not a single sentence change, nor even a single paragraph change, but rather twelve changes to the breed standard – changes which will, inevitably, result in an entirely different French Bulldog than the one we currently know today.

We are not personally aware of another single instance, in any breed, where so many broadly sweeping changes have been proposed for a breed standard. It is a monumental change, and worst of all, it is fundamentally flawed in numerous cases.

Most disturbingly, one change in particular could result in a skyrocketing instance of color linked deafness within our breed. At a time when other breeds are working within the confines of their breed standards to improve the health of their dogs, the French Bulldog Fanciers of Canada, through either ignorance of the genetics behind deafness, or a willingness to prioritize aesthetics over health, have made a change that could result in dramatically increased possibilities of deafness within our breed.

Dr. George Strain is the Professor and Interim Head of Comparative Biomedical Sciences at Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine, and is considered to one of the world’s leading researchers into Canine Deafness. Here is his comment to me on the link between pigment and deafness in French Bulldogs –

I am confident is saying that deafness in Frenchies is probably greatest in those dogs that are nearly all white. The real issue is how strongly the piebald gene acts in a given dog. If it acts strongly there will be reduced pigmentation/increased white, blue irises, and deafness.

Morally, this is simply unacceptable. We are custodians of our breed, not just for today, but for posterity. Allowing a change which can have such sweeping consequences for all future generations of French Bulldogs is beyond the boundaries of what any of us should ever allow, let alone enthusiastically encourage.

Another disturbing change is the new emphasis on the word ‘powerful’ throughout the standard – this, combined with a removal of the upper weight limit, a newly added penalization of dogs weighing less than 9 kg (19.8 pounds), and the removal of the word ‘short’ to describe the body conjures the image of a completely different dog than the one we currently know today – a larger, longer, heavier, more aggressively built dog.

Is this the image that we want for this most ‘charming’ of companion breeds? Is this the image that you, as a fancier, envision when you think of a French Bulldog?

Shockingly, even with these objections being raised by Frenchie owners and breeders from across Canada, many with decades of experience in the breed, the French Bulldog Fanciers of Canada still voted to pass their proposed changes. This move, by a minority of Canadian French Bulldog breeders, will affect every single Canadian French Bulldog breeder, exhibitor, owner and enthusiast.

These changes will also affect French Bulldog breeders and enthusiasts from the USA who have traveled to Canada to show and exhibit their dogs, and who have incorporated Canadian bred French Bulldogs into their breeding programs.

Will the new, altered version of the standard make American bred French Bulldogs noncompetitive in the Canadian ring?

Will American French Bulldog breeders still want to use Canadian bloodlines in their breeding programs, if our entire breed alters so drastically from the US standard for French Bulldogs?

We ask you to join with us to make our objections to these changes known to the Canadian Kennel Club, so that the CKC can evaluate the feelings and concerns of ALL Canadian Frenchie fanciers before they approve these proposed changes. Please don’t allow a few people to speak for our entire breed.

If you are an owner, breeder or simply an enthusiast of French Bulldogs, please click here to sign our petition

link: Objections to the Revised Standard

link: Proposed and Passed CKC Breed Standard Changes

Below the cut, you will find the ENTIRE proposed changes, with annotations, along with links to word document format files outlining the changes, and our draft of our objections to the changes.

This letter of objection is endorsed by the French Bulldog Club of Western Canada, and the Eastern Canada French Bulldog Club (pending CKC recognition). PLEASE share this post, and ask your friends to sign the petitions. We appreciate your support, on behalf of Frenchies, and the people who love them.

 

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In which I meet a Puggle Breeder – Repost

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The parking lot should have been my first clue. Not content to just fill every spot, there are cars parked on the grassy verge next to the clinic, cars parked on the shoulder of the road in front of the clinic, and cars double parked in front of each other.

Going inside, it doesn’t get much better.

This is possibly the most crowded veterinary waiting room I’ve ever seen, and I’ve sat in Guelph’s waiting room more than a few times. Tula and I are crowded in next to a man with a tiny, sweater wearing Yorkie on his lap. Across from us sits a big, bully headed cross breed of some type or another.  It’s probably one of those mystery blends that are being marketed as ‘rare’ – a Victorian Bulldog or some such thing. Whatever it is, it’s adorable, and it’s stressed out. A baby sits next to it in a stroller, and every so often, when the baby shrieks in excitement, the bully leans over and licks the baby on the shin, eyes shining with worry. Mom tells me that her Bully loves the baby more than she loves anyone else in the house, and it’s clear that she not exagerating in the least.

There’s an adolescent Doberman, looking like nothing so much as gazelle in dog form, all gawkiness until it moves, when it become fluid and graceful. An older European couple have matching black and white Shih Ttzu type dogs on their laps, and one more peeks out of the sweater of the girl sitting next to them. There’s a Great Dane by the door, a quietly watchful Border Collie sitting behind a potted plant, and a pair of madly twirling Pugs in the corner.

In the middle of all these dogs sits a woman with a single cat in a carrier. The cat is keeping just as quiet and just as still as it possibly can, and I am thinking to myself that I would not want to be the tech who has to try to take that cat out of the carrier.

Tula is anxious about all of this, but she behaves herself like a lady. Every so often, when another dog really worries her, she’ll reach up and pat one paw on my leg, staring at me with her liquid brown eyes. I ruffle her ears and tell her it’s all fine.

Most of the dogs are well behaved, especially given the stress and the crowding and the long, long wait times. We’d arrived at nine to check in for Tula’s spay, and had been waiting for forty minutes when the woman with the Puggle walked in. As soon as she came in the door, she began a litany of the same command – “Sit sit sit sit sit, you sit now, sit good boy, sit sit sit”. Not once did the dog do anything even remotely approaching a sit, but every once in a while, as he was leaping at her legs and twining the leash around ankles, she’d reach down and pet him, telling him he was a “good good boy, momma’s good boy”, so it’s possible he had been immaculately trained to act like a lunatic.

Every word she said to her dog was pronounced in a loud tone that was obviously meant to draw attention. She’d tell her dog to ‘sit sit sit’, and when he ignored her she’d look around the room, smiling proudly, waiting for us all to acknowledge the utter adorableness of her dog’s behaviour. The breeder sitting across from me had a gaggle of puppies in a crate at her foot, none of which had made a sound since we’d arrived. She and I looked at each other, shrugged, and rolled our eyes, which left me too distracted to notice that there was an empty seat next to me.

The Puggle Mommy sat down next to me, while her dog sprang repeatedly to the end of his flexi, lunging at every dog he could reach. She was alternating ‘sit sit sit’ with ‘good boy, momma’s boy’, and I tried to remember my New York/Toronto subway training – don’t make eye contact with the crazy people. Eventually, Puggle noticed that there was a foxy cream Frenchie standing right next to him, so he lunged at Tula and proceeded to ram his nose up her butt.

Tula, as I said, is a good girl, but her patience for boys is nonexistant, outside of those one or two times a year when she’s willing to pursue them like a liquored up Cougar at a team sports bar. The rest of the time, Tula would be quite happy to see boys all kept on some remote island where there are no boats, which is pretty much just what she told the Puggle. There were teeth and snarling ‘and get the hell away from me, you misbegotten wretch’ type insults flung in his general direction. Puggle, being not altogether stupid, immediately backed off, giving Tula a concilatory play bow and tail wiggle.

His mom, on the other hand, was laughing indulgently at the antics of her ‘good good boy’, and when Tula snarled at him she proclaimed (loudly), “Oh honey, she just thinks you’re too studly for her, with all your manliness, so leave that little girl be”. She then beamed at me, clearly waiting for me to agree with her. When I didn’t, she took a closer look at Tula and said ‘what kind of dog is that?’.

‘French Bulldog’.

‘Oh, French Bulldog. I’ve never seen one before. Where did you get it?’

‘I bred her’.

‘Oh, do you breed them? I’m a breeder, too!’.

She was practically ready to explode with excitement, and happily shared with me that she had a litter at home (of course) of ten (naturally) “Pure Bred” Puggles. I was as polite as I could possibly be, but I couldn’t help asking “Aren’t puggles a cross between Beagles and Pugs?”. ‘No, no’ she protested – hers weren’t like that. Hers were all real purebred Puggles. I was just too tired to either fight about it or to try to educate, so I shrugged and went back to my magazine. Two minutes later, Puggle mom asked me ‘So is she spaded?’ (yes, really – she really said “spaded”, I swear to God).

‘No, she’s here today to be spayed’.

‘Oh, that’s too bad. Can you imagine what cute puppies they would have?’, as she indicated her dog, which was busy trying to strangle itself on the end of her flexi lead. I couldn’t help looking at her with an expression that I’m sure was three parts incredulity, and one part disgust. I pondered all the things I could say, and settled for just shrugging again, and going back to my magazine.

Tula and I finally got called to go in to the office and meet with the vet. When I left, Puggle lady was busy telling the European couple next to her that she still had puppies available for sale, for just “$200 for purebred ones”, and “wouldn’t Sheezoos crossed with Puggles be darling?”.

Her dog was peeing on the potted plant.

Adoptable Pair of Senior French Bulldogs Available

Senior French Bulldogs Need a Home for the Holidays – UPDATE!

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Thank you to all who have shown an interest in our two senior Frenchies.

We have been inundated with enquiries and are quite moved at the overwhelming response to them.   We apologize for the delay in responding to your enquiry but please be advised that we are carefully going through all applications and will be following up with all qualified applicants in the next 3 to 5 days. At this time, we’re not accepting further applications for their adoption.

Thank you once again for your interest – it’s truly inspirational to see how many people have reached out and offered to give them a home!

Pied French Bulldog Available for Adoption in Toronto

The lovely little pied girl is spayed, housebroken, lead trained and very sweet. She does have some ongoing skin allergies, which can managed with proper diet. She is approximately seven years old.

Brindle French Bulldog Available for Adoption in Toronto

 

Her brindle best friend is neutered, clean in the house, lead trained, affectionate and very eager to please. He does not mark in the house, from what his foster home can determine. He is approximately seven and a half years old.

Both dogs seem fine with adults, children and other dogs. They are so far untested with cats, but we suspect they will be fine. They are obedient, healthy and very eager for affection, although a little confused and unhappy about their abandonment. Because they are so pair bonded, they MUST BE PLACED TOGETHER.

The dogs are being boarded in the GTA area of Ontario, Canada. They must be adopted by a home willing to undergo a home visit, and to complete an application and pay the ECFBC placement fee. Because of their special circumstances, one fee will be waived. They will NOT be shipped, and must be picked up in person.

We can’t emphasize what a loving, sweet, well behaved pair of dogs these are. They just need a stable home where they can give back as much love as they get.

Please note: at this time, we’re not accepting further applications for their adoption.

Remember, sharing is caring – if you can’t adopt, please share.

Christmas at Pet Outfitters!

Christmas at Pet Outfitters!

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Join us Saturday, December 7th at Pet Outfitters in Durham for our First Annual Christmas Party!

There will be a ton of fun events, including –

  • refreshments for people
  • treats for pets
  • special Christmas gift ideas
  • Pet Photos with Santa Claus!!*

* Pet photos with Santa are done by appointment. A $10 minimum donation gets you emailed copies of your photo, or a  CD you can pick up later in the week. For an appointment, phone 226-432-3311

Party starts after the Durham Santa Claus parade, and runs from 12 noon to 6 pm. Our website with map link is here – http://www.petoutfitters.ca

Make sure to print out our flyer, for coupons good for December and January!

December is also the beginning of our food and supplies drive at Pet Outfitters for the Grey Bruce Animal Shelter – this area’s only no kill shelter. Like all no kill shelters, they receive ZERO dollars in municipal or provincial funding, relying entirely on adoption fees and donations from the public.

A short list of what they require:

– Paper towels
– dry cat and kitten food
– canned cat food
– grain free dog food
– senior dog food (how sad is that?)
– toys, cat toys in particular
– leashes and collars

You can donate goods purchased anyplace, not just from Pet Outfitters, but ANYTHING you buy in store for the donation box is automatically 20% off.

We’ll bring all filled boxes direct to the shelter. More items required by GBAS are listed on their website:

http://www.gb-animalshelter.com/wishlist.html

The Homecoming – a Bullmarket Puppy Movie!

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In between all of the craziness, I try to get in at least a few hours of French Bulldog puppy one on one play time every day. Lately, I’ve been practicing with the kids and their carrier bags, since all three puppies are flying under the seat to their new homes.

The cuteness inspired this new video…