HISTORY OF BREED

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The origin of the breed is still unexplained.
According to one version, the ancestor of Papillon was epanol-nen from Belgium, the favorite of the royal court.
According to others, Papillon is descended from a dwarf spaniel, known from the 16th century in Spain.

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But nevertheless two countries are considered the official homeland of toy-spaniels - France and Belgium. In France, the dwarf spaniels fell in the 15th century together with the Italian princess, the bride of French king Francis I. The future queen did not want to part with her favorites and brought them to Paris. From that time, the puppies of the toy spaniel began to be considered a valuable gift from the royal family, a sign of special location. So dogs appeared in the royal families of Poland, Denmark and Sweden. In Paris, this breed was waiting for exceptional success: Henry II, Henry III, Louis XIV and XV, Marie-Antoinette, Madame de Pompadour - all of them did not dream in their spaniels.

Beginning in the 11th century, artists depicted continental toy spaniels in old paintings and tapestries. They were painted by Rubens, Watteau, Titian, Fragonard and Boucher. Noble ladies of that era considered their portrait unfinished if it was not depicted this dog. Because of this, we have many images of spaniels from different years.

The brilliant life of dwarf spaniels continued until the Great French Revolution, after which a long stagnation occurred in the history of the breed. A number of dogs remained in the homes of the bourgeoisie, but new breeds have already come into fashion.

And now, years later, the descendants of toy spaniels, papillon and falen, appeared on the scene. These were already slightly different dogs.

A distinctive feature of papillon became large erect ears, resembling butterfly wings (hence the name of the breed), a species with hanging ears was called "moth". It is believed that American breeders had a hand in changing the appearance and the formation of a new breed.

One way or another, but the new round of the popularity of the papilions is the merit of the British. The ability of this nation to perfection any breed is amazing.

The coming 20th century demanded an incredible brightness and decorative effect from dogs. The more it touched that breeds bred for the soul and the show. They decided to make very modest wool luxurious by adding blood of the spitz.

This bold combination helped lay a richly dressed tail on the back. Dogs with ears overgrown with hair, hair length of at least 15 cm were especially valued and selected. The result: abundant hair all over the body (but without fluff and undercoat), beautifully pubescent ears and a rich tail. Some of the negative effects of spitz cross-breeding that need to be tracked in breeding are fluffy hair and a sharp muzzle.

Following the British, the breeders of Sweden and Finland supported the standard, their papilions are among the leaders today. And what about France? With the help of Belgium, she defended the right to be called the birthplace of the breed, but there are no well-known kennels who achieved high results in breeding the breed.

 

Modern papillons are hardy for their size dogs.

They do not require special protection in winter and easily tolerate heat.

They feel great in the apartment, but they love to walk in nature. Elegant and charming, light and swift, quick-witted and very much with the right feeding ration and active walks - all that is needed to maintain the effective appearance of the papillon.

 

The official name of the breed is the continental toy spaniel.

This is a small lap dog (up to 28 cm at the withers), well balanced harmonious addition without any excesses. Unpretentious, very intelligent and intelligent, usually of a mild nature, getting along well with congeners and easily trained.

The breed got its name “Spaniel” due to its relationship to the Spanish Spaniels, dating back to the XIV century. But since then the selection work and the addition of blood of other breeds have greatly changed the look of this dog, today only the name reminds of the spaniel.

In the past, all toy spaniels had hanging ears, but in the XIX century, breeders received a new version - a dog with large erect ears, resembling the wings of a butterfly in shape and mobility. At first, both varieties were bred together, but were subsequently divided into two breeds. Mating between species is prohibited in the PC1 system today, but allowed in America.

 

The dog with standing ears has received the name PAPILLON - “butterfly”,

with hanging - FALEN, "moth".

Actually, both breeds have the same standard, except for the ears. Why are they divided and not allowed to breed together?

The fact is that the large erect papillon ears are a recessive symptom, that is, with the mating of papillons with lop-eared falenas, we risk losing the trimmed butterflies that made the papillons popular with time.

But falen has its admirers. In Finland, it is even more numerous than the papillon. Owners of fallen, say that hanging ears make the expression of a dog muzzle more touching.

 

Many crowned ladies and court ladies, including Henry IV, Ludowy, lost their heads from crumbs-spaniels.