The Brussels Griffon is not an ancient breed, having
been known in its present form somewhere between 1870
and 1880. Though accepted as a pure bred dog now,
the Brussels Griffon started out as a combination
of various breeds. There is no doubt that the Affenpinscher,
the Ruby Toy Spaniel, and the black Pug were the basic
breeds which were crossed and re-crossed with the
stable dog called the Griffon d’Ecurie to produce
the breed of today.
In all probability crosses with other breeds were
made, possibly the Irish Terrier and the Yorkshire
Terrier. All helped to produce the monkey faced dog
with the flat face, upturned under jaw, the large
round expressive eyes and the domed forehead.
In the mid 1880’s several members of the Belgian Royal
Family became interested in this breed and began breeding
and showing many excellent specimens, This royal patronage
gave the Griffon great social prestige. which helped
to popularize the breed.
The early 1890’s saw several Brussels Griffons imported into England where they slowly became popular until 1900 when the breed was granted a place in the Stud Book Registry and found a place in the purebred dog world of great Britain. The hardships of World War One almost decimated the breed in its native land. Only a few were saved. Sometime later Griffons were bred again though not
in numbers and in trying to eradicate the webbed foot which was considered a fault, the Belgium Breeders shunned all breeding stock known to produce the webs. The end result was almost disaster and quality diminished as the best bloodlines were eliminated. Then the Second World War happened and stopped most of the breeding in Belgium. With the help of imports from other countries the breed was established again.
The British have done a great job of breeding top quality Brussels Griffons and the vast majority in Canada and the U.S.A. today are descended from England.
