England, and is an offshoot of the English miniature variety Bulldog,
not the Bulldog one sees on the bench to-day, but of the tulip-eared
and short underjawed specimens which were common in London,
Nottingham, Birmingham, and Sheffield in the early 'fifties. There
was at that time a constant emigration of laceworkers from Nottingham
to the coast towns of Normandy, where lace factories were springing
into existence, and these immigrants frequently took a Bulldog with
them to the land of their adoption. The converse method was also
adopted. Prior to 1902 French Bulldogs were imported into this country
with the object of resuscitating the strain of bantam Bulldogs, which
in course of years had been allowed to dwindle in numbers, and were
in danger of becoming extinct.

There are superficial similarities between the English and the French
toy Bulldog, the one distinguishing characteristic being that in the
French variety the ears are higher on the head and are held erect.
Until a few years ago the two were interbred, but disputes as to their
essential differences led the Kennel Club to intervene and the types
have since been kept rigidly apart, the smart little bat-eared
Bulldogs of France receiving recognition under the breed name of
Bouledogues Francais.




CHAPTER IV

THE ST. BERNARD