While dachshunds and French bulldogs may be adorable and some of the most charming pets around, animal welfare campaigners say that we should stop breeding them altogether.
These two breeds have been reared to have trademark flattened faces for Frenchies and tiny legs for dachshunds, but these traits are now so extreme that many of the dogs struggle to breathe or walk properly, leading to health issues and high vet bills for owners.
This is why animal welfare advocates in the U.S. and Europe are suggesting that breeding dogs to have a characteristic that makes life harder for the animal should be banned, or at least restricted from pushing for these harmful traits.
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“I don’t know if anyone is breeding to hurt the animal,” Mark Wells, an assistant professor of philosophy at Northeastern University who researches political protection for animals, told Northeastern Global News. “But owners get used to it when every breath their French bulldog takes is labored.”
Breeds like French bulldogs and pugs have been selectively bred to have their characteristically flat faces. This short, flat skull shape can lead to respiratory issues, however, as their narrowed nostrils, elongated soft palate, and narrow trachea can result in breathing difficulties, especially in hot or humid weather.
“It’s not pleasant to be a pug in many ways,” Wells said.
Dachshunds or Wiener dogs have been bred to have their long bodies and short legs, leading to these dogs often having intervertebral disk disease, which is where the discs between their vertebrae degenerate or herniate, leading to pain, paralysis, and in severe cases, the need for surgery.
There is a word in German—qualzucht—often used in association with dog breeds like these, which means “torture breeding.”
“From a philosophical angle, we’re worried about animal welfare, and breeding seems like a major cause of a lot of animal suffering,” Wells said. “The ethical problem with dog breeding is we’re not seriously entertaining the suffering we are creating in the world. We could have bred these dogs differently.”
The hope is that banning breeding for traits like these will reduce the popular demand for them among pet owners, which is the major driver for how common extreme characteristics have become.
“Dog breeds from 100 years ago look so different from dogs now. Boxers look different. They had noses. They don’t anymore. dachshunds had longer legs. Bassetts had longer legs,” Terri Bright, a clinical behaviorist at Angell Animal Medical Center and assistant psychology professor at Northeastern, told Northeastern Global News.
“German shepherds are now walking on their hocks. Why isn’t anyone talking about that?” Bright asks.
There have been several recent attempts to restrict the breeding of these dogs legally, but these moves have been met with backlash.
New Hampshire’s recent attempt to pass a bill that banned the breeding of dogs with a trait that “causes suffering” was tabled on March 28, with the American Kennel Club calling the suggested legislature “extremist.”
Germany also attempted to pass an animal welfare act that bans the “cruel” breeding of dogs that live in pain due to their extreme traits, but this was also met with pushback: the German Kennel Club launched a petition “save our favorite dogs,” claiming that the new act would result in dachshunds being banned.
“They are not trying to ban dachshunds, unless you think a dachshund has to be a thing that suffers,” Wells said. “Basically, they are trying to guide these breeding practices away from the promulgation of these traits that cause suffering.”
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Not all researchers agree with the idea of a ban, however.
“Who is going to measure the nose?” Bright asks, adding that she questions what happens to dogs the bans consider deformed. “Do you drown them? Do you give them away?”
Animal advocates hope to reshape what people think a breed should ideally look like, away from the extreme traits seen in dog competitions.
“We breed dogs to fit our imagination rather than merely categorizing the dogs we happen to have into breeds. And that’s why changing our imagination is so important for this issue,” Wells says. “Can we imagine French bulldogs without labored breathing?”
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Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.