Miniature English Bulldog Dog Breed

Below are details and specs for the Miniature English Bulldog breed.

While there is no standard size and weight for Miniature English Bulldogs, they do tend to have an informal limit implicitly handed down by the AKC's standard of "regular" English Bulldogs, and so most breeders have accepted that a female Mini is not more than 39 pounds and the male is less than 49 pounds. There is no AKC standard regarding height, however, and again there is an informal acceptance: they should stand no more than 13.5 inches tall.

Your Miniature English Bulldog should get along swell with children and strangers alike, but with other dogs they may be wary or even pushy.

Grooming is the easiest part of living with a Miniature English Bulldog; he will love the attention, and you may brush him more than his coat really requires. On the other hand, keeping him healthy will almost certainly require much more work as he may be resistant to exercise and is prone to a lot of diseases and other health concerns.

The Miniature English Bulldog is a conundrum: he is neither a pure breed nor a hybrid, and he has a long, rich history and essentially no history. How is this? you may ask. It is because the Miniature English Bulldog is not cross-bred with any other dog (such as the merely named Miniature Bulldog — a hybrid produced from cross-breeding the English Bulldog with a Pug) but is simply bred down for size. They are also neither runts (which can be deliberately produced from starving the pup-to-be in utero) nor dwarfs (which have genital birth defects) but very small English Bulldogs that are not recognized by the AKC despite coming from AKC-recognized English Bulldogs.

Miniature English Bulldogs remain, essentially, English Bulldogs and thus share a history. The English Bulldog — also called the British Bulldog or just a Bulldog — has its origin in England from when Mastiffs were cross-bred with Pugs. They formally acquired the name Bulldog in 1568, and they were bred for bull- and bear-baiting, a bloodsport that remained popular for a few centuries until the former was outlawed in 1835 (in England) and the latter became prohibitively expensive. During the remainder of the 19th century and into the 20th, English Bulldogs were cross-bred and interbred to attenuate their ferocity and produce the lovable, jovial and highly tolerant breed we know today, and those charming characteristics continue to be passed down to Miniature English Bulldogs.

Like a typical English Bulldog, the Mini has a broad, large head that nearly seems out of proportion to the body; huge, loose folds of skin that should not be excessively wrinkled; and a broad, stocky body that is somewhat low to the ground. The coat is smooth and short, and the tail is short, thick and stocky.

Miniature English Bulldogs are very affectionate, wonderfully loyal and rather extroverted — and they love attention. Still they can also be stubborn, a bit messy (especially when eating, drinking and sleeping) and difficult to train. It's best to use patience, persistence and firmness early on to make them understand that you are the pack leader lest they push you about and ignore your commands. As they are eager to please, they can be led to understand soon enough who is the alpha. They may not understand that they are small dogs, and they may slobber, drool and snore, but it is not difficult at all to love them endlessly!

Since they are not cross-bred but merely interbred down for size, Miniature English Bulldogs are not much different than standard English Bulldogs when it comes to health problems — and they tend to have many issues. Some of the many problems they may develop are cardiovascular conditions, heart disease, dermatological problems (due to excessive skin folds), endocrine diseases, thyroid ailments, respiratory problems, gastrointestinal and musculoskeletal conditions, poor eyesight, genetic dwarfism, tumors, deafness, a very active digestive system (i.e., excessive flatulence) and renal, urinary, and reproductive disorders.

If kept healthy and happy and regularly checked by a vet, however, your male Miniature English Bulldog should be expected to live about 10-12 years; females tend to live longer.