However their real success began in the 1880, when the Parisian French Bulldog breeders started organizing weekly meetings. Five years later in the 1885, the first provisional registry of the breed was established.

In the 1887 the French Bulldog officially participated in an exhibition under it’s own name. At that point both bat ears and rose ear (floppy ears) were considered the breed standard. The American socialites  fell in love with the breed and started importing them to America, and started showing them at the Westminster for the first time in 1896. However, the French Bulldog enthusiasts were infuriated when the judge declared the “rose shaped ears” as the preferable look over the “bat shaped ears”. They pulled their dogs, the American Judge refused to participate in the show, and the club organized their own show, for bat-eared dogs only, to be held at the luxurious Waldorf-Astoria. French Bulldog club of American was the first ever French Bulldog dedicated club in the world.

After World War I. French Bulldog popularity began to decline drastically due to multiple reasons. The general interest for pure bred dogs dropped due to during Great Depression, French Bulldogs couldn’t whelp naturally, they didn’t do well in heat and also the were pushed aside by another small brachycephalic  breed – Boston Terrier.  By 1940 they were considered extremely rare and on the verge of extinction. Only about 100 were registered in the AKC database at that point.

Before 1950 brindle and pied were considered the breed standard, other colors like fawn and cream were considered rare, until a French Bulldog breeder from Detroit started showing her “rare” cream Frenchies with amazing success. The popularity started sky rocketing in the 1980 when younger breeders got involved with show organization and gained alot of attraction by the general public.

Nowadays French Bulldogs are considered on of the most popular dog breed in the US. We see them featured in ads, movies, on magazine covers and in celebrities laps. You can’t say no to a smushed face with adorable bat ears.