The Miniature French Bull Terrier is an intentionally
crossbred dog, a combination of the French Bulldog, a small companion animal and watchdog that was favored by English
makers of lace in the mid 1800s, and the Miniature Bull Terrier, a compact
version of the Bull Terrier, first bred as a fighting dogs, then as a “Gentleman’s
Companion”. The French Bulldog is believed to be the descendant of the English Bulldog of the 1800s, designed to be
a smaller, lighter variety of Bulldog to be employed as a companion animal and
a watchdog. These dogs became especially popular with artisans and lace-makers
who later moved to northern France during the Industrial Revolution. Once in
France, their popularity exploded and fanciers of this breed began to develop a
more uniform breed; like the French Bulldog of today, they were characterized
by straight legs, and a compact body, with a slightly undershot jaw, but at the
time either rose or bat ears were acceptable. A new breed standard was drawn up
by the French Bulldog Club of America during the tail end of the 1800s,
specifying the bat-eared trait. The breed
remained rather rare until the 1980s when
they began to enjoy another rise in popularity due to their suitability for
urban life. The Bull Terrier’s original ancestors are very similar to the ancestors
of the Pit or Staffordshire Bull Terrier and
the Bull Terrier of the 1800s not only had a similar body structure, but it
also had a head shape that was somewhat similar to these related dogs, rather
than the distinct arched skull shape that is devoid of a stop that we see in
modern Bull Terriers and Miniature Bull Terriers. At the time, they could be
distinguished from these other breeds instead by their trademark white coloration
instead, but problems that were genetically
linked to color, such as deafness, encouraged breeders to begin adding dogs
with different colorations as well. Although the Bull Terrier was recognized by
the AKC in 1885, it wasn’t until the early 1900s that the first dog with the characteristic
egg-shaped head was born. In 1991 the American Kennel Club recognized the
Miniature Bull Terrier, a variety of Bull Terrier that is, on average, around
half the size of the modern Standard Bull Terrier.