Extreme brachycephalic pug.
There are two big problems facing purebred dogs today: health conditions that are exacerbated and exposed through inbreeding and health problems that are the result of conformation.
When we complain about the health of purebred dogs, as we often do on these sorts of blogs, there is a tendency to mix the two types of problems, but there is certain amount of error that comes from doing so. The dachshund’s back issues are not caused by inbreeding, and the Italian greyhound’s autoimmune problems are not the result of selecting for a particular body type. The former’s problems come from breeding for such a long back on a dog with such short legs, and the iggie’s immune system problems come from very tight breeding at their foundation,.
It is very important that we keep these two types of purebred dog health problem distinct. The solutions for each type are very different. In the dachshund’s case, all we’d have to do is start breeding for more leg, which already exists in the working population of the breed. In the Italian greyhound’s case, we’d have to do an outcross to increase heterozygosity in its DLA/MHC genes. That means that we’d have to cross one with a whippet or maybe a miniature pinscher to correct the problem.
But there are some breeds that actually have both problems. Yes, some breeds are unlucky to have both compromised genetic diversity and extreme conformation issues that prevent them from having optimal health.
Perhaps the most common breed to suffer from both these sorts of problems is the pug. Pugs are a very popular toy breed these days, and the dogs do have a lot going for them. They tend to have fairly stable temperaments, though they are known for being stubborn and sly. They are not border collies that require tons of exercise and mental stimulation. They can live nicely in an apartment without wrecking it, and they normally are not snappy little dogs, which means they could be a choice for an urban family.
And did I mention they do have rather distinguished looks. Some people think they are quite ugly, but they do have a sort of monkeyesque cuteness that also has tendency to humanize them. Its their tendency to look like little monkeys or, dare I say it, human babies that draws people to this breed. More so than perhaps any other breed, the pug is the one that gets dressed up in little costumes and photographed for memes on the internet.
The most obvious problem pugs face is actually the result of that monkey mug.
Pugs were always brachycephalic dogs. It is one of their distinguishing features, and almost all dogs are brachycephalic when compared to wolves and other wild canids. We need to be a little bit careful in condemning shorter muzzles, because it is possible for a dog to have a shorter than normal muzzle and have no health problems.
The problem is in extreme brachycephaly.
And this is precisely the problem that pugs exhibit.
We’ve bred them so brachycephalic that the dogs now have upper respiratory systems that are entirely stenotic– “scrunched up.” Many individuals have an elongated soft-palate, which is the fleshy bit that runs from the back of the roof of the mouth into the throat. Pugs have undergone such a rapid transformation into extremely flat-faced dogs that they often still retain a normal dog’s soft palate, which winds up become a real hindrance to the upper respiratory system. The tissue winds up blocking the airway at times, making breathing that much more difficult. The nasal passages are often similarly scrunched up, making it very difficult for the dog to oxygenate itself fully. Many pugs will not sleep with their heads down, because if they put their heads in a prone position, the respiratory system becomes blocked. Dogs breathe through their noses, and if the nostrils are squashed in, they are going to have a very hard time breathing.
Now, if that weren’t bad enough, dog use their respiratory systems as their primary method of thermoregulation. Dogs pant to cool themselves. They pass air overt their moist mucus membranes, which causes evaporation on those membranes, which then cools the dog. When pugs cannot pass air over their mucus membranes efficiently, they cannot cool themselves. Furthermore, the muzzle in domestic dogs contains a cavity that is vital in passing air through the respiratory system during panting. In pugs, that cavity is extremely reduced.
The problems with the respiratory/thermoregulation system in pugs are just the most severe. Pugs still have the same number of teeth that all other dogs have. However, when the teeth come in, there is often not enough room for them in the mouth, and the teeth have to be pulled.
And that cute little skin fold above the muzzle is actually just excess skin. The pug evolved its extreme brachcephaly very rapidly, so it often still has a bit of excess skin that normally would be stretched out over a longer muzzle. That fold is just above the dog’s nose. Dogs have wet noses,and they do produce a bit of snot. That snot winds up getting gummed up into that skin fold, and if it’s not cleaned regularly, it can be a haven for bacteria, making infections rather commonplace.
The short muzzle also exposes the eyes to injury, which are bred so they will appear somewhat bugged out. It makes them look cut, but the result is pugs are always having problems with their eyes. At the most extreme, it’s not uncommon for the eyes to fall out due to some rather banal blunt trauma. The eyes can also prolapse if the dog pulls to hard on a lead, which is rather abnormal. Such bugged out eyes can have problems in simple maintenance. Often, they don’t produce enough tears to keep their eyes fully hydrated and clean, or they have eyelids or eyelashes that rub up against the eye so much that it causes ulcers.
It really isn’t that odd to see pugs missing eyes. It certainly adds to the character and to the mystique of owning a monkey-faced dog, but it isn’t something of which someone should be proud.
It’s rather horrifying.
So the pug’s “headpiece”– as the dog show people like to call it– is really quite defective.
But that’s not the only conformation problem they have. Breeding for the double curl in the tail is actually a selection for abnormally-shaped vertebrae. Breeders want the tail vertebrae to be strangely shaped so it will curly, but they can have the same thing happen to any of their vertebrae.
So it’s not unusual for them to have severely deviated spines.
Then they are the joint problems.
According to the OFA, 80.2 pecent of all pugs that it evaluated that were born between 2006 and 2010 were dysplastic.
It’s not really a working breed, so people haven’t really paid that much attention to the problem.
Hip dysplasia is also a difficult condition to classify. There are clearly both genetic and environmental causes, and it is also difficult to trace it down to breeding for a particular conformation type.
But there are also a series of problems that pugs have solely because of their reduced genetic diversity. In the UK, an analysis by Imperial College, London, found that the effective population of pugs in that country is only 50 individuals. At the time, there were an estimated 10,000 pugs in the UK, which means they have a significant amount of inbreeding.
This inbreeding, which is actually the result of the closed registry system that runs riot in the world of purebred dogs, has exposed a tendency to develop necrotizing meningoencephalitis, which is now called “pug dog encephalitis.” Only a little over 1 percent of all pugs will develop the condition, and now there is a genetic test for it. It is associated with homozygosity within the DLA/MHC genes, which is what happens when inbreeding is done without trying to maintain DLA/MHC diversity. This condition is fatal, and there is no cure.
The weakened immune system that comes from such an inbred population also makes pugs more susceptible to demodectic mange. Most dogs have no problem with demodex. Demodex mites live on dogs and normally cause no problems. However, when a dog’s immune system is weakened, the mites can get out of control and cause mange.
So here we have a dog breed that is fairly common and growing in popularity that has severe issues with its unusual conformation and its compromised genetic diversity.
And no one really seems to care.
The pug, as it exists, is no longer under the selection pressures of natural selection.
Nor are most domestic dogs.
However, in this case, not only have the selection pressures from nature been relaxed, artificial selection has run amok.
We have succeeded in producing an animal so fragile that we cannot leave it out on a balmy spring afternoon. It is an animal so fragile that it is quite prone to having its eyes fall out of socket.
It is a perverse creation, but the perversion is simply not seen.
It is almost impossible to have a conversation about changing the pug without having a discussion about outcrosses, which of course leads to the attack on puggles. Puggles are designer dogs that are the result of breeding a beagle to a pug. They were heavily milled and mass-produced in the US a few years ago, and they developed a bad reputation.
But no one is talking about puggles. What is normally suggested is that one do a simple outcross to a less extreme breed, but of course, the pug fanciers won’t have anything to do with it.
Many are under the delusion that this breed has existed in its current form for thousands of years, which even a simple Google search for old pug photos and paintings will show you that it simply isn’t true.
Further, the breed in its current form was developed in the past 400 years in Europe, not in China. For a very long time, it wasn’t even known that it was a Chinese breed, and if black pugs had not been imported to England from northern China int he 1880’s, we would have never known about their origin. Though they became established in the seventeenth century in the Dutch Republic through trade with China, no one seemed to remember where they came from.
This breed could be fixed if we thought it through a bit, but that’s unlikely to happen.
There are no “working-type” pugs, and any dogs of this type still living in China are likely to be quite rare and quite different from the Western pug.
The entire existence of this breed is as a pet. Not that there is anything wrong with breeding a pet breed, but because it is a pet, it is possible to create fantasies about them.
It is possible to delude oneself about how healthy these dogs actually are.
It possible to delude oneself into believing that there is nothing wrong with breeding for such extremes.
Without any sort of working test or ancient landrace for which one can compare the Western pug, the breed can exist as the monkey dog. One etymology of the word pug is that pug was used to describe a type of New World monkey– probably a marmoset or tamarin–and there were “pug monkeys” and “pug dogs.”
And that goes to precisely the problem these dogs face. People have forgotten that this animal is still dog, and dogs have a particular anatomy and physiology. We can bend it and distort it through selective breeding, but at some point the bending becomes a perversion. It becomes burlesque.
It becomes unworthy of the relationship between man and dog.
It is something that shouldn’t be honored.
And it certainly shouldn’t be promoted as cute.
It is a problem that no one wants to talk to about.
We have let the pug down, but no one wants to say anything about it, lest one be deemed an animal rights activist.
We could fix these problems, but then we’d have to break the delusions and fantasies.
And unfortunately, too many would rather cleave onto those than admit the reality of the situation.
Maybe the pug is doomed.
Right now it surely is.
Do you know what’s really sad? The OFA is such a poor measure of actual Hip Dysplasia that this statement likely means that almost all Pugs will get HD.
“According to the OFA, 80.2 pecent of all pugs that it evaluated that were born between 2006 and 2010 were dysplastic.”
While I have yet to see the actual data behind this, if we take it on face value, the pug is @#$%^&ed when it comes to their hips:
“Fully 50% of dog who score OFA “excellent” hips will be found to be dysplastic using DI and/or DLS. 67% of those who score OFA “good” are actually dysplastic, and 100% of dogs who score OFA “fair” are dysplastic.”
Yeah it’s not the best system, but it’s the only one with publicly available data.
BTW, shouldn’t they be breeding pugs to border collies if what Denise Wall says is true?
No, just take Pugs out to a sheep trial and let them eat some sheep poop… trot around for a few minutes, and the magic hip fairy will come and make your dog perfect and all better!
Well, I looked around and found what appears to be the original PowerPoint presentation (as opposed to what Christopher linked to, which was basically someone’s notes from the presentation) and here is the info from the relevant slide:
Of 65 large-breed dogs (did not say what the breed or breeds or mixes were)
All dogs graded OFA mild, moderate, and severe had DI > 0.3
50% (4 of 8) dogs graded OFA excellent had DI > 0.3
67% (22 of 33) dogs graded OFA good had DI > 0.3
100% (14 of 14) dogs graded OFA fair had DI > 0.3
Also does not say if those dogs actually showed pain or arthritic changes.
Link to the presentation: http://www.veterinariosenweb.com/campus/cdvl/memorias/material/135_WHAT.pdf
A DI (Distraction Index) greater than 0.3 does not automatically mean that the dog is dysplastic, only that joint laxity as measured by the PennHip method is of that degree. A significant percentage of dogs with DI over 0.3 will never develop CHD; see the Cornell study of a few years ago.
Right, M.R.S., which is one reason I am suspicious of this data–basically he is equating a distraction index of greater than .3 with dysplasia. If you look at the PPT further, he seems to think that any 16-week old puppy with a distraction index greater than .3 will be dysplastic and ought to be altered and have the pubic bone growth stopped at that time (forgot the name of the surgery). That’s troublesome to me, especially since further research seems to implicate early spay-neuter as a contributor to the development of all kinds of joint problems.
But to generalize from his sample (4 of 8 large breed dogs, breed or mix unspecified, with OFA Excellent hips have a Penn Hip DI of greater than .3) that 50% of dogs with OFA Excellent hips are actually dysplastic doesn’t work for me.
As I remember from the Cornell report, using PennHIP on puppies to predict future development of CHD was not reliable. I hesitate to give details as I don’t have the report at hand. As I remember, dogs with a D.I. over 0.7 (but i don’t remember at what age) generally did develop CHD. between 0.3 to 0.7, flip a coin. Additionally, some breeds, including Goldens and Rottweilers, tolerated greater degree of laxity without developing osteoarthritis and other signs of CHD. This was a study following dogs for several years.
I would love to know what this reference is about. Border Collies improve all other breeds LOL?
Denise Wall (Ph.d) believes that border collies need some mild dysplasia to be able to work better.
Although….Radiographic HD is a much stronger predictor of clinical HD in large breeds. Small breed dogs commonly have mediocre hips and don’t go lame.
Agreed. I’ve known several dogs, OFA-certified “good” or “excellent”, that became dysplastic. One, a male Lab scored OFA excellent, sired several litters with a high percentage of dysplastic dogs before he himself became so crippled that he had to have a bilateral hip replacement.
Question: if a dog that has been OFA certified later develops hip dysplasia, what procedures (if any) are in place to re-evaluate that dog?
This is a great article that I have just recommended to friends over Facebook. It reminds me of details I first found out about in Pedigree Dogs Exposed, and is very insightful and, dare I say it, LOGICAL!
Logic and evaluating the facts are something that most every breeder has trouble comprehending and/or listening to. I am especially glad that you have written about the pug’s current popularity as a meme dog or “internet sensation” as I am getting to know more and more people who think they are “cute”. I find them rather atrocious, but I know that this is human error, not dog. It saddens me that the poor creatures must suffer until the day of their death.
People do delude themselves into thinking these dogs have clean bills of health. As with any animal, especially dogs; they adapt to their circumstances. The absolute need to breathe means that these poor dogs will struggle their whole lives, but find ways to cope, such as not resting their heads on the ground during sleep. This may elude people to think that there is nothing wrong, when the fact is that their dog is doing its best to not asphyxiate itself.
Again, thank you for a wonderful and insightful article, as always. I have been following your blog for a number of years and have always loved the insight. This is my first comment. You are on the right track, may we both continue to open hearts and minds to responsible pet ownership advocacy.
—-MS
Most of this came from PDE and PDE Three Years On.
“They tend to have fairly stable temperaments, though they are known for being stubborn and sly. They are not border collies that require tons of exercise and mental stimulation. They can live nicely in an apartment without wrecking it, and they normally are not snappy little dogs, which means they could be a choice for an urban family.”
I wonder how much of that has to do with their physical limitations.
I think a lot. Hard to be a monstrously hyper little shit when you can’t breathe & have back & hip problems.
I don’t know about pugs, because I’ve seen the less exaggerated ones and they really charming little dogs. There is an account of a longer muzzled pug in Rawdon Lee that sounds like a perfect toy dog. He claimed it was a mix, but these dogs are actually heavily admixed.
BTW, I didn’t this post because I detest the breed. There needs to be a small dog with a good temperament that doesn’t have the problems of a Cavalier King Charles spaniel, which are actually much worse than pugs.
A (don’t laugh) pug x Chihuahua cross is usually a good, relatively trouble-free, merry little dog. I’ve known several of them. My dad had one & it lived to be nearly 19 years old. They still have the small size and that cute pug look, but not as exaggerated as purebred pugs. Dad’s never had any problems that one would associate with either parent breed, except for an intermittent luxating patella. He was a terrific little creature, bold but not mean & always acted like he was tickled to meet a new person.
I really like Chihuahua crosses;.Chihuahuas are one of those breeds that, while the purebred version may have temperament problems and health issues, the crossbreed is usually a smart, cute, healthy little critter. Even a Chihuahua/Peke cross is usually a good dog.
I thought I had a photo of Dad’s little dog but I can’t find it among the gazillion photos I have stored. Here’s a photo of one I found online. (I would die before I’d call it a Chug, though.)
http://www.allmutt.com/chihuahua/pug-chihuahua-mix/
I met a cute little mixed-breed dog a week or so ago. He was very tiny but his owner said he was full grown. He was a dark, mahogany-colored brindle, brindle all over, with a black mask, and he looked like what you might get if you crossed a Chihuahua with a pug (or maybe a Boston, hence the brindle color) and then crossed the offspring to a Chihuahua. Cute as hell, weighed maybe 5 or 6 lbs. The owner had adopted it from the shelter as a puppy & wasn’t sure of its actual parentage. It looked like the world’s teeniest boxer.
I’ve met a lot of pugs who were monstrously hyper little shits. They can’t keep their activity level up for long, though. They gag, “reverse sneeze”, nearly asphyxiate from tracheal collapse (sometimes popping their eyes out from the strain), fart, sleep, then get up and start bouncing around again.
I think that’s a good question, and I believe in the case of bulldogs, it is the reason they are so quiet. Get one with a bit less exaggeration and they are very much like Staffies, very drivey.
I think that may be one of the reasons that people have tolerated some degree of health issues, at least in lapdogs. And maybe also why some people don’t try to keep them from getting fat. Lower activity level (from whatever cause) means less the person has to get up and do.
I see a lot of Pugs in my area (semi-urban with lots of greenspace, dog parks and dog-friendly areas, and a fairly well-educated population owning dogs). I’ve often thought I would consider owning a Pug one day if I wanted a small dog; since they seem to have pleasant temperaments; but I could never get past my concerns about getting a dog bred to have breathing problems, not to mention the eye problems. (I’ve had purebred spaniels, two different breeds – Welsh Springer and now English Cocker, who have lived long and mostly healthy lives, for over 20 years). Bulldogs are nearly as popular; a breed I would not own, they seem even more physically messed up.
Well known facts once again beautifully expressed. One day, the pug breeders and some other breed fraternities will wake up to the fact that their breeds are cruelly bred and certainly doomed without changes of direction and then hopefully they will get together to map out healthier futures – and pigs might fly, would be the cynical response to that. Meanwhile this is a clearly expressed example of what should be frequently presented for discussion among the owners and breeders of pugs and others – until some pennies drop. Keep saying it until they listen.
Of course, one could be sanguine about it, realising these breeds will eventually become unacceptable to the public. I say that more in hope looking at the way, for example, cavalier breeders persist with their ridiculously compromised breed in a “pure” form when all it would take is some intelligent outcrossing experimentation. Unfortunately it would be hard to find breeders with the necessary imagination, foresight, intelligence and good conscience to even contemplate a change of direction, although I hope I’m wrong about that in some cases.
If a Pug and a Manchester Terrier or a Min Pin were crossed,would the resulting puppies look like mini Rottis??
http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/carlinpinscher.htm
Hear, hear. Thanks for sharing this in such a clear, supported, and reasonable manner. I feel like printing out this post and sharing it with anyone who says they want a pug… At the very least, I’ll be sharing it online. :)
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I groomed a pug today , I literally nearly cried when it walked in , imagine that weird whining bark staffies make mixed with a chainsaw on every breath ( i’m sure it was trying to say “please kill me “)
I washed him in cold water,( ears and under his legs still very hot even after a good soak )blowdried him on cold ( which you are told to do in grooming school for these breeds ) and he was finally quiet, apart from nearly dying when we tried to cut his nails , he struggled and went blue from the effort.
then there was the raw skin in his wrinkles….
The main problem I could see with this dog was the amount of fat and loose skin around his head and throat. his back end wasn’t particularly fat.
One of my dogs is a Pug Pekingese cross, or so I was told when I got him. For some reason, this mix ended up with a longer snout and no breathing issues, unless he pulls hard on his leash. If his mix is accurate, I suspect even mixing Pugs with French Bulldogs would result in better breathing for the offspring. I’m not sure if that cross would solve the problems, but it might be a place to start.
What mix would you recommend?
This is my Pug/Peke mix. I wouldn’t be terribly surprised if he’s actually Pug/Pom, but they swore he was half Pekingese.
I have a Pug/Frenchie cross client who is also MUCH LESS extreme, with a short but not completely flat muzzle & eyes set well into her head. She also has a normal, straight tail & straight legs. She looks like the Pugs of old. She also have a wonderful, happy, confident, friendly, amenable temperament & is a great pet for the owners, a relatively active couple who enjoy camping & kayaking. Scout does everything with them. They take precautions in hot weather but otherwise she’s a normal little dog & totally adorable.
Let me know if you can see this picture of her:
She’s cute. She looks a little like a Boston Terrier. The ability for my dogs to be active is very important to me, since I go hiking and bike riding with them a lot. My Pug mix actually has a body type more similar to a sight hound. Deep chest, thin waist, longer legs than either of his parents. He’s very high energy and loves to run as fast as he possibly can. I’m definitely glad he can breath clearly. He’d be miserable if he couldn’t run.
The entire-body photos also make me think your little guy is Pom/Pug.
She’s a very pretty little dog. I’d be very surprised if she really was a pug x peke as even the “pet” type pugs rather than the poor little showring monstrosities don’t have a muzzle that long. My heart aches for both the above breeds as they are fantastic little characters. The poor peke has it even rougher than the pug as not only does it have a flat face, but diddy little legs and a superabundance of coat to deal with.
She reminds me a little of a Tibetan Spaniel, but they are an uncommon breed so I doubt she’s related. Pug crosses with chihuahuas, papillons, and poms are not unusual. Pugs seem to be very popular for crossbreeding with all sorts of small and medium sized breeds in the designer dog market.
I take it all back. It’s possible she really is a pug x peke. She’s just like Bentley on this website. http://hikeswithdogs.com/2013/another-pug-peke/
I need to go back to bed today. Bentley’s owner beat me to it – he-he!
Yes, I think you do need more sleep… I think you’re comparing Bentley to Bentley! LOL
She’s a Pug/Frenchie, the Pug/Peke belongs to the other guy. 8-) We know her parentage as she was purchased from a breeder. The parents were not super duper extreme Pugs or Frenchies & are natural breeders & whelpers, but the crossbred offspring are much less brachycephalic than either parent, & also have a straight tail & straight legs.
Yeah, Scout’s head is about like your Pug/Peke’s head, shortened but not smashed. She even has the same ears. She’s just black with a short coat. Interesting that crossing even two extremely brachy breeds results in less brachy offspring. Natural genetic drift, you thing? An organism always seeks moderation?
Yeah, some breeders call that ‘the drag of the race’. ‘Typey’ breed features tend to revert back to so-called ‘generic’ ones unless you stay on top of things.
I’ve noticed that crosses between flat faced breeds usually are longer nosed than the parents, It would be interesting to know why
Could it be that one or other of the mating pair was not bred so ‘pure’ and so you got more of the F2 variability effect causing a longer more natural nose in some of the pups. Crossing a dog and bitch from two closebred strains will produce more the F1 similarity of all the pups which is usually a straight predictable compromise between two sets of genesThis F1endency is exploited for example in plant breeding in order to market a standard looking product.
The classic reference on this is Stockard, et al, “The Genetic and Endocrine Basis for Differences in Form and Behavior”. 1941. Fascinating are the photographs of various crosses of breeds of widely varied morphology. Both F1 and succeeding generations.
Also, Scott and Fuller, “Genetics and Social Behavior of the Dog” 1965; aimed primarily at behavior, but interesting crosses of such disparate breeds as Basenji, Cocker Spaniel, Fox Terrier, Beagle.
Although you can’t usually really determine the breeds in a crossbreed just from its appearance, your little dog looks much more like a Pom/Pug than a Peke/Pug cross. His little semi-erect ears look more Pom than Peke.
To what extent has the breeding of extreme brachycephalic been dependent on Ceasarian sections?
If we’re talking extreme brachycephalic coupled with an enlarged head and proportionately small rear end, quite a large extent. Pekingese, French and English bulldogs, pugs and Boston terriers frequently rely on caesarean deliveries. Some breeders even book their females in for one as routine rather than waiting for the bitch to go into labour.
Here’s an interesting document with some statistics.
http://www.bakalo.com/C-Section-rates-purebreed-dogs.pdf
Very interesting document. Some of those numbers surprised me.
I met a child at a fun pet show who told me she thinks pugs are cute but would not have one because they can’t breath with their nose being flat. So I gave her an education on their fungal infected wrinkles aswell
Anyone ever heard of MPRV pugs?
http://www.mprv.de/
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