Excerpt from-FRENCH BULLDOG BREED COLUMN: AKC Gazette Sept. 2002 Continued
Soon afterward, some disqualifications were added, among them being
“mouse-grey,” which referred to the blue-grey hue caused by the recessive
blue dilution gene, ‘d’. By 1926, the acceptable colors in our Standard were
“All brindle, fawn, white, brindle and white,” and Disqualifications included
“Black and white, black and tan, liver, mouse or solid black (black means
black without any trace of brindle.” At some point, the ‘-grey’ part of
‘mouse-grey’ had been lost, and our Standard still lists ‘mouse’ as a
disqualification. However, in the French Standard, the ‘grey’ remains, and
disqualifying colors are “Robe de couleur noir et feu, gris souris, marron “
which translates as “coat color black and tan, mouse grey, or chestnut.”
Most countries in the world are members of the Fédération Cynologique
Internationale, and abide by the French Standard for French Bulldogs.
Recently, blue Frenchies have become a hot topic and a major bone of
contention here and abroad. Although some people find blue Frenchies
attractive, neither they nor their offspring should be sold for show or for
breeding, as they all carry a diqualifying genetic fault. If a blue dog (b/b) is
bred to another blue (b/b), all of the resulting puppies will also be blue (b/b).
If a blue dog (b/b) is bred to a non-blue who is NOT a carrier of the blue gene
(B/B), ALL of the puppies will be carriers of, but will not express, the blue
gene (B/b). If a carrier of the blue gene (B/b), is bred to a non-carrier
(B/B), 1/2 of the puppies will be normal non-carriers (B/B) and 1/2 will be
carriers (B/b). If two carriers are bred together (B/b X B/b), 1/4 of the
puppies will be blue (b/b), 1/2 will be carriers (B/b), and 1/4 will be normal
non-carriers (B/B).
Some people mistakenly believe that even though a dog may have a blue dog
in its ancestry, that if no blues have been produced in several generations
that means that their dog can’t be carrying the blue gene. This is wrong. It
is not like mixing paint in a bucket, progressively diluting out the undesirable
gene; a recessive gene will keep passing hidden and unchanged through an
infinite number of generations of carriers. The insidious thing about a
recessive gene is that carriers pass the gene on to 1/2 of their get,
producing another generation of carriers; then those carriers pass it on to
1/2 of their get, and so forth, so that the gene spreads unnoticed through
the gene pool as people unaware of an affected ancestor breed its
descendents. It will only surface when a carrier is bred to another carrier
(or to a blue), which happens when people do linebreeding. This is one of the
beneficial things about linebreeding; it exposes the presence of undesirable
recessive genes in a line, so that responsible breeders can undertake to
eliminate them.
Breeders outside the US who import American dogs are becoming very
concerned about the introduction of the recessive ‘blue’ gene into their
countries. People in the US and abroad who are looking for a Frenchie to
breed should educate themselves about the relatives of any pup that they
are considering, so as to avoid introducing this undesirable gene into their
lines.
Jan Grebe- (Jan is currently the FBDCA president since 2007)
4820 West 57th St.
Shawnee Mission, KS 66205
http://frenchbulldogclub.org/about-frenchies/understanding-frenchies/our-breed-standard
The following graphic is found in "Judging the French Bulldog" pg 88
To download "Judging the French Bulldog" click link below
http://frenchbulldogclub.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Judging-the-French-Bulldog-comp.1.pdf
Here is more information from the French Bulldog Club of America-
http://frenchbulldogclub.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/interpretation.pdf
The color "mouse" in the AKC standard refers to the
mouse-grey coat shown by dogs expressing the recessive ‘blue dilution’ (D/d)
gene. Many people call this color blue. It has become quite widespread and
it’s possible a judge might see a French Bulldog with this disqualifying
color. In dogs expressing the "blue" gene
that produces the color that our standard calls "mouse,"
*** The fawn hairs on a fawn or fawn pied (white with fawn markings)dog, are a silvery fawn "mouse" and the nose, the dark mask (if there is one) and paw pads are slatey blue-grey.
** Any French Bulldog that has mouse colored hairs should be disqualified as mouse.
Mouse can occur as a solid, brindle, pied, fawn and dark masked fawn. The coat color constitutes a disqualification - as does the nose color.
The French Bull Dog Club of America has a CD that is used as part of our judges education program that goes into detail on what are acceptable and disqualifying colors and includes representative photos of these colors.
Any judge interested in getting a copy of the CD should contact Virginia Rowland, Judges Education Chair, blackslate@aol.com / 978-424-1044 The Breed Standard Illustrated of the French Bull Dog Club of America can be downloaded at http://www.frenchbulldogclub.org/ht/d/sp/i/269/pid/269
