CALL FOR BAN ON FRENCH BULLDOGS AND PUGS IN AUSTRALIA AS EXPERTS SLAM ‘CRUEL’ SELECTIVE BREEDING THAT HAS RESULTED IN ‘MAN-MADE HEALTH PROBLEMS’ FOR THE ANIMALS

Animal welfare groups have slammed the cruel selective breeding for ‘cuteness’ of some of Australia’s most popular ‘baby-faced’ dogs, including French Bulldogs, and called for partial bans.

The Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) wants to see any dog with ‘a muzzle length less than a third of its skull length’ banned from being bred or shown because of the suffering caused on the animal.

The dogs with these features are often highly popular, but the impacts are so horrific and painful they are now designated ‘brachycephalic breeds’ because they suffer Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome (BOAS), among many other health issues.

‘BOAS affects the animal’s ability to breathe, exercise, thermoregulate, sleep, play and undertake other normal behaviours,’ the AVA says.

Some selective breeding for ‘corkscrew tails’ – including in pugs – has been associated with spinal and neurological problems in the breed.

The AVA’s now calling for a partial ban on Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, Pugs, Boston Terriers, French Bulldogs and British Bulldogs.

‘It would be a “partial ban” on breeding. That is, dogs severely affected with brachycephaly, or affected at all with spinal deformity, should not be bred or shown,’ explained AVA spokesperson Dr David Neck.

Those dogs are all listed among Australia’s 20 most popular breeds, but have been deformed by backyard breeders over many years.

In many cases, the dogs don’t look like the same breeds from only a few decades ago, and the health issues emerged because of breeding. 

The RSPCA said the cumulative ill health effects of selective breeding were so damaging that some of the affected types of dogs now need to be ‘outcrossed’ with other breeds to undo the damage to the breed.

‘This may be necessary to effectively moderate exaggerated features and restore breeds to a physical type that is healthy,’ an RSPCA spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia. 

The animal charity Four Paws claimed 97 per cent of Cavalier King Charles Spaniels suffer a sad range of symptoms because their breeding compresses their brains.

‘With the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, the small skull size for which they were bred reduces the space required to fit the entire brain,’ Four Paws said in a statement.

‘As a result, the brain is compressed, giving rise to two different disorders, Syringomyelia and the Chiari malformation, that have been identified in 97 per cent of these dogs. Symptoms include severe headaches, vision problems, balance problems, dizziness and even hearing loss.’

British Bulldogs and Cavalier King Charles Spaniels were recently banned in a landmark court decision in Norway.

The case was taken to court by Animal Protection Norway.

Åshild Roaldset, who heads up the charity, said: ‘This is first and foremost a victory for our dogs’.

‘It is a historic verdict that attracts international attention. The man-made health problems of the bulldog have been known since the early 20th century. But dogs have the right to be bred healthy.’  

The life-long health issues the dogs face can routinely cost owners thousands in airway surgery costs and daily medications.

‘In Western Australia I would expect BOAS airway surgery to be anywhere between $1,500 to 2,500 and diaphragm repair for sliding hiatal hernia to be $1,500 upwards,’ explained Dr Neck.

‘A lot of this will depend on follow-up care, some animals will need 24 plus hours intensive monitoring afterwards, and it must be noted this is not benign surgery.’

That means many of the dogs that undergo surgery will die in surgery or after an operation.

‘Some conditions such as hypoplastic (under-developed) trachea in British Bulldogs simply cannot be fixed,’ Dr Neck said.

The peak organisation which promotes breeding and showing, Dogs Australia, blamed ‘rogue’ and ‘illegal’ breeders who breed litters of Pugs, French Bulldogs and Poodle crosses. 

‘Illegal breeders advertise on the Internet and are usually only contactable by mobile phone, which makes it virtually impossible for the regulators to find them,’ it told Daily Mail Australia.

‘They ignore government requirements to obtain a Breeders Identification Number because they know that they are untraceable, that means that there is no pressure on them to observe health and welfare issues regarding their breeding stock.’

The RSPCA called on dog showing organisations to honour the calls to stop showing dogs whose health is severely impacted by damaging breeding.

‘[We are] calling for urgent changes to judging criteria in the show ring, such as rewarding for health as the priority (rather than rewarding for physical appearance) and new rules to ensure dogs with exaggerated features cannot be shown,’ the RSPCA said.

The AVA also wants to see changes to the law that force all dog breeders to be honest about the health conditions of the dogs or face penalties and bans.

‘The AVA would like to see it mandated in law that breeders truthfully disclose health and welfare issues that occur with brachycephalic breeds to owners,’ the AVA said.

‘We recommend that dog owners taking on brachycephalic breeds must be fully informed of the health and welfare implications of common disorders of that breed, including the potential costs associated with managing these disorders.’  

The RSPCA said some ‘breed standards’ actually build in characteristics that cause the dogs to suffer.

‘Often, these exaggerated features are part of the pedigree ‘breed standards’ for that dog breed despite them causing health and welfare problems,’ it said in a statement.