The toy bulldog is an
extinct unrecognized
breed of small
bulldog
The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is of medium size, a muscular, hefty dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose.[England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...]
during the 18th and early 19th centuries.
The same name is used for unrelated, but similar-appearing dogs, that are mostly modern crosses between bulldogs and pugs, which are also not a recognized
dog breed
A dog breed is a particular strain of dog that was purposefully bred by humans to perform specific tasks, such as herding, hunting, and guarding. Dogs are the most variable mammal on Earth, with artificial selection producing around 450 globall ...
.
Original attempts
Early dog breeders worked in two different directions, to decrease the weight to a desirable 20 pounds or so and create a new toy bulldog breed:
# One method was to downsize the
bulldog
The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is of medium size, a muscular, hefty dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose.[dwarf
Dwarf or dwarves may refer to:
Common uses
*Dwarf (folklore), a being from Germanic mythology and folklore
* Dwarf, a person or animal with dwarfism
Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities
* Dwarf (''Dungeons & Dragons''), a humanoid ...]
bulldog puppies are occasionally borne by normal-sized parents, but they were neither the healthiest, nor the most fertile dogs, and their own puppies were often regular-sized dogs. Thus, this version of the breed was never established.
# An alternate attempt at creating a
toy
A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment. Simple examples include toy blocks, board games, and dolls. Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed specifically for adults and pet ...
bulldog was via crossbreeding
French bulldogs with standard bulldogs or with the crossed offspring. Several dogs were presented as breed candidates by "The French Toy Bulldog Club of England" to the
Kennel Club. English
breeder
A breeder is a person who selectively breeds carefully selected mates, normally of the same breed to sexually reproduce offspring with specific, consistently replicable qualities and characteristics. This might be as a farmer, agriculturalist, ...
s and Kennel Club representatives refused to call a mixed-breed dog a "bulldog", and this variety of dog has also not developed to the point of a recognized breed.
The breeding programs were dropped, and the line of dogs bred from these early attempts died out.
Modern dogs
Nowadays, the term ''toy bulldog'' is occasionally used to describe a small variety of another cross also called a ''miniature bulldog''. They are not an established breed, but rather a
hybrid
Hybrid may refer to:
Science
* Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding
** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species
** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...
produced by crossbreeding bulldogs with
pug
The Pug is a breed of dog originally from China, with physically distinctive features of a wrinkly, short-muzzled face and curled tail. The breed has a fine, glossy coat that comes in a variety of colors, most often light brown (Fawn (colour) ...
s or the crossed offspring.
They come in a variety of different colors ranging from pale yellow, light fawn to solid red.
[
]
Temperament
Modern toy bulldogs are stubborn and hard to train. They also do not socialize and cannot live together with other dogs that have been introduced to them as mature dogs. Toy bulldogs do not need much care and love being indoors along with afternoon naps.
References
Extinct dog breeds
Toy dogs
Bulldog breeds
Dog breeds originating in the United Kingdom
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