The United States' new favorite dog breed — the comical, controversial French bulldog — has never won the nation's pre-eminent dog show. Yet.
NEW YORK — The United States' new favorite dog breed — the comical, controversial French bulldog — has never won the nation's pre-eminent dog show.
If all that says something about these stumpy-snouted, pointy-eared, deep-chested, quizzical little bulldogs, what does it say about the culture that loves them?THEIR MEDIA IMAGE IMPACTS THEIR POPULARITY"Just like humans, dogs get characterized for what they can do, but more importantly what they can symbolize," says Cameron Whitley, a Western Washington University sociology professor and the chair-elect of the American Sociological Association's Animals and Society section.
French bulldogs have a colorful, centuries-long history involving English lacemakers, the Parisian demimonde and Gilded Age American tourists who brought the dogs home. But the breed's U.S. heyday soon ended. Yet that hasn't translated into wins at Westminster, where each dog is judged against an ideal for its own breed, not against others.
If a pooch can get a competitive edge through osmosis, the cream-colored 4-year-old probably has. He lives with part-owner Morgan Fox, a Los Angeles Chargers defensive end, and fiancee Kailyn Provin when not on the show circuit with handler and part-owner Perry Payson. The British Veterinary Association has"strongly" recommended against buying any flat-faced dogs, and the Dutch government has prohibited breeding very short-snouted canines. In the U.S., the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association — a professional group with a focus on animal welfare advocacy — wants"to counter the dramatic increase in demand" for push-faced dogs, partly by discouraging their use in advertising.
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