It is believed that the Papillon (meaning butterfly in French for it’s beautiful ears that look like butterfly wings) originated from the Continental Toy Spaniel, the favorite lap dog of the royal class. You can see this beautiful little dog in many old paintings. It looks much like the Papillon of today but with ears that lay down rather than stand erect. Marie Antoinette owned the little darlings and there is rumor that she carried her beloved little dog with her on the way to her execution although this has not been confirmed. However she had a little porcelain one among her possessions when she died. Madam de Pompadour had two Papillons named “Mimi” and “Inez”. There is a famous engraving of her with one of them on her lap and it’s called “The Faithful”. After all this love and devotion from the royals the little dogs declined in popularity due to the fact that they had been prized by the aristocracy. But after all that mess was out of the way the little beauties were once again captivating people of means and eventually starting showing up in cherished family portraits again. In the United States in the year of 1915 The American Kennel Club recognized the Papillon breed. That is the time also that the first championship was earned by a dog named Joujou.

Our Papillons of today are happy little dogs filled with the joy of life. They love their people and want to be with them to play or cuddle on the couch. They are very smart and somewhat easy to train. They will do well in obedience and can also excel in Agility. They may be little but little doesn’t mean they don’t have the ability to accomplish the same task as big dogs. In fact they are so smart that one will need to be one step ahead of them or they may take the lead. They are very good with children as long as parents teach their little ones how to treat small puppies. Supervised play times are a must when they are little puppies with a fragile structure.

Their coats are silky soft and they do not have the doggie odor of big dogs. Grooming only requires weekly brushing and comb outs and bathing no more than once a month. Adult coats are not at their full potential until around the age of three years. By that time they will have a beautiful plume of a tail and wisps of hair flowing from the edges of their beautiful butterfly ears.

In short these precious beauties are smart, sassy little ones with the personality of regal royalty. They are happy in any sized home and are the perfect companion dog. But remember that they also love to learn and accomplish task and so people can also have great fun teaching them some of the dog sports of today like the ever popular agility course.