Right as far back as the 1860’s, when breed standards were first being written, the Miniature Bulldog was recorded in a variety of colours. For whatever reasons, whether it be fashions of the time, some views as to the “purity” of colour, or a desire to simplify the breeding process, most lighter colours were considered “undesirable”. The colours breeders concentrated on were brindle, fawn, cream and brindle/white (pied). With the advent of the Breed Standard for the French Bulldog in 1902, these colour preferences were carried forward, specifying that all grey and other light-coloured dogs were undesirable.

With the recent advances in DNA profiling for all pedigree dogs, we now realise exactly how many colours are being carried forward as recessive genes in the French Bulldog, and many breeders have become intrigued and addicted to the myriad of possibilities. Blue Frenchies have always been produced, as have chocolates and lighter or darker shades of fawn, these dogs usually petted out to homes where they will be desexed and not bred from. Now that’s not always happening, and the explosion of colour is starting to happen.

There have been many misconceptions and untruths perpetuated over the years about the “undesirable” colours of the French Bulldog. Many claim that blue is bad because of the alopecia gene (causing dogs to go bald). Blue is an expression of the dilute gene; blue is a dilute of black, and lilac is a dilute of chocolate. The Alopecia gene can now be tested for by DNA, but it has just been removed from the Full Breed Profile for the French Bulldog because it IS NOT EXPRESSED. That means no blue or lilac dog goes bald because of its colour. It’s often claimed that the lighter colours, such as cream, lilac fawn, chocolate fawn, etc, have difficulties with their vision because of their light eyes. There is simply no basis for this claim in science. It’s like claiming blue eyed humans suffer from vision loss because their eyes aren’t brown or green. There are also other, vague, “health issues” that are claimed to be associated with the alternative colours to the French Bulldog. When pressed, though, no one can seem to name what these “health issues” are. It’s just all designed to scare people into sticking to the traditional colours of brindle and fawn. Rest assured there are no health issues associated with the colour of a dog’s fur. A French Bulldog’s health issues all arise from their physical stature and brachycephalic nature.

French bulldogs are possible in so many combinations. Such as black, black and white, brindle, brindle and white, blue, blue and white, blue brindle and white, chocolate, chocolate and white, chocolate brindle and white, lilac, lilac and white, lilac brindle and white, black and tan, blue and tan, lilac and tan, tri-colour (in black, blue, chocolate or lilac base), standard fawn, fawn and white, red fawn, red fawn and white, blue fawn, blue fawn and white, chocolate fawn, chocolate fawn and white, lilac fawn, lilac fawn and white, (and all fawns can be either masked or maskless… that is with or without darker colour on the front of their faces), cream, cream and white, chocolate cream, chocolate cream and white, blue cream (often called platinum), blue cream and white, and the list goes on.