Designer dog breeders belong in the dog house

Last week the Westminster Kennel Club hosted its popular annual dog show, where purebred dogs of all shapes and sizes got to strut their stuff in front of discerning judges. However, many of the purebred dogs are, or soon will be, in poor physical health—the result of an emphasis on aesthetics during breeding as opposed to favoring functional physical canine characteristics. 

Purebred dogs have become increasingly popular in the United States; the American Kennel Club (AKC) reported a spike in purebred puppy registrations in 2022. The high demand for purebred “designer dogs'' pushes breeders to continue inbreeding to obtain specific and distinctive characteristics potential dog owners are looking for. Aesthetic alterations tend to include tail docking, ear cropping, and inbreeding to achieve traits jeopardizing the dog's health.

Beloved characteristics like long droopy ears on a tiny, noble, Cavalier King Charles puppy. An adorable squished up face french bulldog or a playful, pointed ear bushy tail German shepherd. To achieve the aesthetic look, breeders and dog owners are willing to overlook the harmful damage inbreeding can do to dogs.

For many purebreds and their owners, the adherence to extreme breeding standards has resulted in misery, with pedigree dogs suffering from both physical and behavioral problems. Dog shows like the Westminster or American Kennel Club annual popularize certain breeds based on who wins a blue ribbon—using the winning dog to continue the award-winning bloodline. This is done without regard for health issues they may pass along. “Dog shows need to be reconsidered. They only work to promote dog inbreeding. It's animal abuse.” said Abril Gomez, a second-year Biology major. 

The vast number of modern breeders are in it for the money, producing purebred dogs worth 2,000 to 7,000. French bulldogs are one of the most popular pure breeds and one of the most unhealthy ones. Suffering from breathing problems due to their smushed noses and vision problems caused by their wide eyes, specific human selected characters are done through inbreeding. The breed can hardly reproduce, as all Frenchie puppies have to be delivered via cesarean section due to their large heads being unable to fit through the birth canal.

With its sweet and loving disposition, combined with silky fur and elegantly floppy ears, the Cavalier King Charles spaniel is a popular breed—with families paying hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars per puppy. Unfortunately, the tiny but adorable Cavalier King Charles is the dog breed that carries the most disease-causing genetic mutations, ranked as the second most wanted dog in the US in 2021. “Current aesthetic standards for our four-legged best friends are literally becoming their death,” said Erick Lewis, fourth-year English major. 

The breed has been negatively affected by years of inbreeding – putting it at higher risk for heart disease. Half of all Cavaliers will develop mitral valve disease by age five, a severe heart condition that leaves the dogs susceptible to premature death. By the same age, up to 70% will suffer from a debilitating neurological disorder in which the brain is too large for the skull, causing severe pain in the neck and shoulders and damage to parts of the dog’s spinal cord. Although Cavaliers may be a particularly obvious case of purebreds with problems, they aren’t alone. Most purebred dogs today are at high risk for numerous inherited diseases.

In the quest to create alluring animals, sometimes breeders inflict significant damage. Simple selective breeding can have catastrophic effects. Once conformation dog shows became the arbiters of breed standards, potential dog owners became obsessed over a specific dog's aesthetics, willing to pay a larger amount of money. “Just because people spend $6,000 on a puppy doesn't mean the puppy will have a good life; I wouldn’t put it beyond them to move onto the next breed when it’s trendy," said Mora Jacobs, volunteer at Compassion Without Borders shelter. 

To reduce the lack of diversity and health problems, breeders need to stop breeding following dog show standards. Stop prioritizing aesthetics that cause suffering and, in many cases, even death to purebreds. 

It’s not necessarily wrong to value a dog's aesthetics. However, dog owners and breeders need to acknowledge their aesthetic desires' impact, and come to terms with the immense power they can have over dogs' bodies and livelihood.