FAD COLOURS
WHAT ARE THE CORRECT COLOURS FOR THE FRENCH BULLDOG?
There are TWO basic colours and THREE patterns, so, we can say that a French Bulldog comes in THREE colours.
Fawn – with or without a black mask, ideally fawn should be clean and clear.
Brindle – a mixture of black and fawn hairs creating brindle patterning (striping).
Pied (Pattern) – White base with either brindle or fawn patches. Ideally, the white base should be clean and clear of ticking or spotting.
WHAT IS A FAD COLOUR?
These are the colours that are not, nor have ever been recognised as desirable in the French Bulldog standards WORLDWIDE. These may include; solid black, blue, blue brindle, blue fawn, blue pied, black and tan, blue and tan, chocolate, chocolate fawn, chocolate pied, lilac and lilac and tan ... the list could go on. Basically, no DILUTE colours have ever been accepted as part of the French Bulldog Breed Standard as desirable. Regardless of the information that is being put out there, there is no official French Bulldog Standard that accepts these colours as desirable.
ARE THE FAD COLOURS UNHEALTHY?
Apart from Merles – which are not purebred French Bulldogs in any case – the colour of a dog doesn’t necessarily mean better or worse health. It’s the breeding practices that have occurred in order to get a litter. Fully health screened, healthy specimens should only be bred from. When colour is the main and at times only reason for reproducing a litter, health can and is at times compromised.
Dilute coloured dogs have been linked to a particular skin condition – Dilute Alopecia as the condition is known, causing severe and permanent hair loss to parts or all of the body.
_______________________
French Bulldog Club of NSW, Breed Standard Extension (Online, PDF, FBcolourFCI) <https://www.frenchbulldogclubnsw.asn.au/Breed-Standard-extension.php>