The big row on this blog last week was about bulldogs.
I received so many poorly written and poorly reasoned comments bashing some of my bulldog posts that I just wanted to scream.
And well, I did scream.
However, I noticed that not a single person refuted anything I wrote.
All they wanted to do was to either make a smokescreen and claim that because the Kennel Club (of the United Kingdom) has forced a rewrite of the bulldog standard that things were just fine now. Of course, this isn’t true– mainly because too many judges and the various self-appointed mandarins of the bulldog fancy have simply decided to ignore the changes. The implementation of vet checks for best of breed at certain shows is something these people really hate. That’s because those vet checks continue to reveal that judges are putting up very defective dogs, and the bulldog fancy as a whole really doesn’t care how unhealthy the typical bulldog actually is.
And they really don’t.
And now we have proof.
One of the main talking points I kept seeing from the bulldog nutjobs last week was the claim that goes something like this: “My dog is healthy! You’re wrong!”
Well, it now turns out that we have evidence that many owners of brachycephalic dogs are actually quite deluded about the real health of their dogs.
A recent study in the journal Animal Welfare (Packer 2012), revealed something rather disturbing:
A questionnaire-based study was carried out over five months on the owners of dogs referred to the Queen Mother Hospital for Animals (QMHA) for all clinical services, except for Emergency and Critical Care. Owners reported the frequency of respiratory difficulty and characteristics of respiratory noise in their dogs in four scenarios, summarised as an ‘owner-reported breathing’ (ORB) score. Owners then reported whether their dog currently has, or has a history of, ‘breathing problems’. Dogs (n = 285) representing 68 breeds were included, 31 of which were classed as ‘affected’ by BOAS either following diagnostics, or by fitting case criteria based on their ORB score, skull morphology and presence of stenotic nares. The median ORB score given by affected dogs’ owners was 20/40 (range 8-30). Over half (58%) of owners of affected dogs reported that their dog did not have a breathing problem. This marked disparity between owners’ reports of frequent, severe clinical signs and their perceived lack of a ‘breathing problem’ in their dogs is of concern.
Whoa.
So now when someone with a brachycephalic dog comes on here and blasts me with the talking point that his or her dog is fine, keep this little study in mind.
This person may be quite deluded about the actual health and welfare problems associated with brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome– or just a liar.
The literature on the health and welfare problems associated with extreme brachycephaly is quite extensive– and quite damning.
The bulldog people have decided they don’t like what the literature says, and they’ve decided to try to shut down any criticism through trying to shout down anyone who uses this literature to expose the real welfare issues associated with trying to breed a dog that looks like a toad.
You cannot believe these people.
You cannot trust what they say.
They simply refuse to acknowledge.
And if you won’t acknowledge a problem, it will never be solved.
Denial isn’t just a river in Egypt.
But delusion is even worse.
Finland says you are welcome.
Tell Finland that I said thank you very much.
[…] Where can I get my Golden Retriever puppy trained in GA so that he may serve as a guide dog for my blind childOwners of brachycephalic breed are often deluded about their dogs’ health […]
Does Ecuador have an embassy near you…..?
Elizabeth
LOL I’m sure the US would let me go, though.
“Denial isn’t just a river in Egypt.”
Ah, I have to read Sam Clemens in his native language. I did a triple take on that one. (“Wha… Quote … Punny!)
Dodging bull isn’t just a dog species in UK.
Torbjörn, I see you share the Scandinavian fascination with English language puns. This is a phenomenon I’ve witnessed more than once among Scandinavian visitors I’ve entertained. I once hosted a business dinner for a mixed crowd of US, British, German and Danish reps. After a round or two of decent wine, one particular British gentleman and I got into a game of punning–some of it in musical form. The Germans looked a bit confused, but the Danes were practically falling off their chairs with laughter.
Two brachyBreeds live in my house: a Pug and a Boxer. The Pug is larger than the standard calls for, but he is proportioned exactly as a Pug should be (stupid autocorrect, I don’t want pig!) which means that he can’t breathe. Once the temperature gets into the 70s he starts mouth breathing pretty heavily, especially if he exerts himself at all by barking at the neighbors or the other dogs or the cat or birds or bushes or rocks or gnats. (Yeah, he’s psycho like that.) He snores and sniffles and snuffles and snorts and hacks and grunts. It’s sad.
The Boxer’s muzzle is a bit longer and more narrow than the standard calls for but she’s still pretty brachy. Her breathing becomes labored when the temperature hits the 90s. Her nares are pretty open and any snoring is minimal. She can keep up with horses on a two and a half hour trail ride.
My biggest health issue with her is gluttony.
I’ve got Labs. Agree. Gluttony is at least as much of a problem than brachy. So is aggressive behavior (not in Labs . . . thankfully, they tend to be well balanced)..
As for survival in high temperatures, you also need to worry about double coats. My poor Labbies suffer in hot, humid weather.
I’ve never owned a brachy breed . . . but I think I could live with breathing problems if the dog was going to be mostly inside anyway. After all, humans are by-in-large brachy.
Lots of dogs breathe heavy in the 90s. My Australian working kelpie is supposedly bred to deal with the heat and he grew up in Virginia. But two years and a couple of NYC winters later, and the summers have started to take a bit more of a grip on him than when I first got him. He’ll play but he needs to get conditioned to it and with enough humidity, he’ll peter out soon enough. When winter picks back up, watch the get-up-and-go increase. I guess he never read the texts on his breed.
Ditto fr the saints. Our Sammie practically goes into estivation on most summer days.
Thank you for this post. I want a bulldog badly but am concerned about health issues.
I totally agree. I know quite a few bulldog owners who will simply deny that their dogs can’t breathe properly. I’m actually even talking about a lot of French bulldogs! They snort while they are awake. All day, every minute, every second of their life. And it even gets worse when they fall asleep. Our neighbour used to have a Pekingese (flat face dog); same problem with that dog too. Everyone knows how much it sucks when you have a flue and your nose is blocked. Fortunately there is nose sprays and a flue only lasts a couple of weeks. Now imagine what a dog must endure having “a blocked nose” all it’s life. It’s even a lot worse: Humans don’t even need to smell so much nor do we rely on our noses to cool down. I think people just can’t imagine HOW terrible this is for a dog!
Great post Scottie- as always!
The Swedish Kennel Club made a video on how to assess a dog’s breathing capacity:
It appears that the Swedish Kennel Club is one of the most pro-active, for example in their education of judges, in providing an open database of genetic testing, and more. Sweden has some of the dog world’s most respected judges, and breeders. Other kennel clubs would do well to follow their example.
I really like the idea of vet checks being mandatory for dog shows. I think every breed would benefit from that. I’m very wary of getting some of my favorite breeds because of the health problems that are so prevalent.
I also really like your suggested name change for “Toaddogs”. It’s much more appropriate.