Capitalization of dog breeds
August 19th, 2009 by Jenn
When referring to “French” and “English” bulldogs, the geographic part of the breed will always be capitalized. What are the rules about capitalizing the stand alone word “bulldog?”
From what I understand, AKC dropped the requirement to use “English” in front of the word “bulldog” (or so I’ve been told….) so I am left with the word “bulldog.”
Should I capitalize or not? I referred to the AKC site to see how they were handling the capitalization and they begin by capitalizing the word then use a non-capitalized version throughout their article.
Thoughts?
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If you have kids and own an iPhone, please check it out. It's $2.
When it comes to dog breeds, etc., I only capitalize the name when it functions as a name: Chesapeake Bay retriever, Labrador retriever, but not when the name has become a sort of generic descriptor: french fries.
So “English bulldog” but just “bulldog” when it is alone. I think that the Chicago Manual of Style and the AP style book both prefer the lowercase then.
Thanks, Chas.
I am working on copy for a club that holds shows and competitions for the bulldog breed. I think I will use the “bulldog” version of the word. It seems awkward to have the word capitalized throughout the document.
Thanks again.
#1 is right–except I’m not sure if I should capitalize “”French fries” now. Great.
Only capitalize the proper name words: “German,” “Labrador,” “English,” “Newfoundland,” and “Dalmatian.” Dog breed ITSELF is not a proper name, so “bulldog” and “English bulldog,” “poodle” and “French poodle.” Okay?
When using the name of a dog, i.e.; “My poodle, Alphonso…” is only the given name capitalized but not the breed (“poodle”). Please advise.
Thanks!
Sylacat ~ thank you for prompt response. Vonda