Bolognese

About the Bolognese

Named for the northern Italian city, the Bolognese was a fixture in the courts of Renaissance Italy, given between noble families and painted by Titian and Goya. It belongs to the small group of white bichon-type companions that spread around the Mediterranean, and it has never done any job other than keeping people company.

It stands about 25 to 30 cm and is covered in a single, pure white coat that falls in loose flocks rather than curls, longer over the body than on the face. There is no undercoat and little shedding, but the flocked coat mats without regular work. The character sets the breed apart from its bichon relatives: Bolognese are quieter, more reserved with strangers and intensely attached to their own household. A stud should be serene rather than timid, and a nervous dog is a poor foundation for a litter.

Ask for a patella examination, since luxating patella is the usual orthopaedic problem in this size of dog, and for a current eye certificate as cataract has been reported. Hip scores are worth requesting, given the occurrence of Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease in small breeds. In a predominantly white breed it is reasonable to ask whether any deafness has appeared and whether BAER testing has been done. Numbers here are modest, so ask about relatedness between the pedigrees.

Health & breeding

We check every hip, elbow, eye and DNA result you give us against the Royal Kennel Club’s public records by hand, and we record who checked it and when. The Royal Kennel Club’s public records may not include all the screening a dog has had, so a dog with no Royal Kennel Club record showing is not necessarily untested.