Overview: Papillons are small, friendly elegant toy dog of fine-boned structure, light, dainty and of lively action. They are distinguished by their butterfly wing-like ears. Papillon meaning butterfly in French. The drop-eared variety are Phalenes, or moth in French.
Temperament: Happy, alert, energetic and very friendly. Not aggressive towards people or dogs.
Size: 8-11 inches at the shoulder. Slightly longer in body than tall.
Coat: Abundant, long silky single coated of white with coloured patches. There is no importance to where colour patches are located. However, colour around both eyes and on ears is required for conformation. A white blaze and nose band are preferred over a solidly marked head. Papillons come in a variety of colours: white and black, tri coloured (black, white with brown accents), red sable, red, and yellow.
Activity: Papillons may be a toy breed but do require a fair bit of exercise. They are not content to just sleep on a pillow without playing, going on walks and/or retrieving a ball first.
Training: Papillons are very trainable but one must take their time to do it. Papillons have a willing to please but do not like to repeat the same exercise multiples times. A recall is a must from the very beginning. Papillons excel at agility, obedience, tracking, lure coursing, barn hunts and flyball.
House training: Papillons are easily house trained but owners must be consistent in their training. Papillons can be easily litter box trained for inclement weather conditions.
Crate training: A must for travelling safely in the car and for times you can’t watch them.
Diet: Papillons do well on a high-quality kibble, raw or home cooked diets. You will want to make sure they have things to chew on to assist in the removal of plaque and tartar on their teeth. If not, then manually brushing their teeth 3-4 times a week is a must.