Prologue

I'm going to write some things I feel folks not associated with dogs professionally have a right to know. There are other professional dog people who will likely be irritated. I wish this were not the case. However, in castigating the dog breeding industry I will at least not do so based solely on my own opinions. You will find a complete bibliography at the bottom of the page, as well as other properly cited direct quotes and example photos along the way. So, I'm not asking you to "take my word for it," but merely presenting facts and evidence that demands the reader's own verdict.

Thesis With Initial Supports

There are two statements I wish to prove to you through this article:

I'll begin making my case with, as promised, more expert opinions than my own...

The ideas just expressed are the polar opposite of the practices and core values of most kennel clubs, such as the AKC, UKC, England's KC, and others. Pretty much all kennel clubs promote exclusive purebred breeding which as you will learn in this article, shrinks gene pools and destroys otherwise fine breeds of dogs.

It is therefore important to understand from the outset most kennel clubs, including the AKC, UKC, CKC, and England's KC, are not organizations founded on science. In fact, while members of the scientific community have repeatedly published dire warnings against kennel club breeding practices, and against official kennel club breed standards for well over 40 years, those warnings have been almost entirely ignored.

"The present situation may have arisen because of the ignorance of many dog breeders of elementary genetics. Irrespective of the causes, the alarming fact remains that the percentage of unsound stock is on the increase... Unfortunately, this warning sometimes falls on deaf ears. It is a great temptation to the owners of a champion to disregard or deny any defects that are repeated in its offspring. Their natural inclination is to keep quiet about the matter."

When a Vet Should Speak Out
The Canadian Journal of Comparative Medicine and Veterinary Science
26(12), December 1962

...And Problems Have Arisen

The Neapolitan Mastiff

When dogs that once crossed miles of open country before running into battle, cannot now run across a football field, yet such dogs often boast "Champion" designations from kennel clubs, we don't need to wonder if modern day dog breeding has gone awry.

An Example of Systemic Causation
The AKC Official Bulldog Breed Standard

Case in point, consider these direct quotes from the AKC Official Bulldog Breed Standard:

"Muzzle — The face, measured from the front of the cheekbone to the tip of the nose, should be extremely short, the muzzle being very short, broad, turned upward and very deep from the corner of the eye to the corner of the mouth. Nose--The nose should be large, broad and black, its tip set back deeply between the eyes. The distance from bottom of stop, between the eyes, to the tip of nose should be as short as possible..."

Five points, the second highest number of points available for a single characteristic, encourages all the breeders throughout the world breeding AKC Registered Bulldogs, to always capture that handicapped face as a highly desirable characteristic. This is what dog conformation shows are all about, which breeder has done a better job of adhering to the Official Breed Standard.

There is a possible award of six points available for that grotesquely handicapped nose described, the highest number of points available within the entire AKC Official Bulldog Breed Standard. Consider that phrase, "as short as possible..." The AKC could easily fix this problem inherant in the Bulldog by simply putting an inch measurement into the standard, preceded by the words, "no shorter than."

Read the AKC Standard for the Bulldog's gait...

"The style and carriage are peculiar, his gait being a loose-jointed, shuffling, sidewise motion, giving the characteristic "roll."

That sentence describes what in any other four legged mammal would be considered injured or malformed. Are they kidding...? A dog that should not be able to run properly? A dog so purposefully deformed by its breeders that it is supposed to possess its own uniquely hindered and handicapped movement in order to compensate for its major structural ailments?

The next sentence ironically would seem to demand that the Bulldog also be happy and carefree about being purposefully crippled by its most successful and revered AKC breeders:

"The action must, however, be unrestrained, free and vigorous."

The Bulldog Story They Don't Advertise -
Relevant Facts Not Mentioned by the AKC

The AKC direct quotes above were sourced from the AKC published document, "AKC MEET THE BREEDS: Bulldog" as found on the AKC website as recently as 2011. In that document, written specifically to inform would-be dog purchasers about the modern Bulldog breed, the Bulldog is fictitiously promoted as being, "one of the finest physical specimens..."

Just 150 years ago the Bulldog was indeed one of the finest physical specimens, used on farms, on ranches by cattlemen, and by butchers in stockyards to manage unruly bulls. In fact, during the mid-17th century the Governor of New York, Richard Nicolls actually deployed Bulldogs as part of his official duties to aid in a major cattle roundup. (4) Cornering wild bulls is dangerous - really dangerous. However, a single Bulldog of that bygone era was fast, strong and athletic enough to consistently seize a bull's nose allowing a human cattle wrangler time to get a rope around a bull's neck.

In 1886 the Bulldog was officially recognized by the AKC. How well has the AKC protected the Bulldog breed...? Today, well under 150 years later, with AKC breeders being by far the most prolific breeders of the Bulldog breed, the AKC now classifies this same dog as a "non-sporting breed."

Regarding that same AKC breed promotional document, "AKC Meet the Breeds: Bulldog," at no place in that official breed description is it mentioned that the Bulldog is long known to exhibit certain genetic disorders at a dramaticaly higher statistical rate than nearly any other breed of dog in the world.

At no time is the dog's tendency to faint on warm days or during normal physical activity mentioned. Nor is it mentioned that the poor AKC Bulldog sometimes even suddenly drops dead under the same conditions: Simply going for a short walk on a warm day, a circumstance presenting no challenge whatsoever to almost any other breed of dog on earth.

At no time in that AKC Bulldog document (written to help sell AKC Registered Bulldogs) is there any mention made whatsoever of the crippling hip and elbow dysplasia that ravages this breed. Dysplasia, typically seen in large or giant breeds (not typical in smaller breeds like the Bulldog), leaves dogs to suffer their entire lives in great physical pain, or alternatively to be maintained on very expensive joint supplements and pain medications, the latter destroying the dog's liver.

Certainly that AKC Bulldog marketing document presents no comparative study of what AKC and similar Official Breed Standards have done to the Bulldog's head and sinus passage over the years, such as you are about to see for yourself.

Morphology of the Bulldog Head

I first designed and published the graphic to the left in 2009. It is now included in various accademic publications, including two college biology textbooks. Consider what the graphic shows and take it seriously.

When dogs with grotesque and debilitating physical deformities are the ideal breed standard of their respective breed organizations, with award winning dog breeders purposefully seeking to maintain and consistently replicate those dramatically clear and objective physical ailments, we do not need to wonder if both ethos and methodology are not deeply flawed.

The English Bulldog is an example of dog show oriented dog breeding's results. You don't need a "breeder's eye," or a "broader understanding of genetics," to look at the pictures and realizing these disfigurements were pursued on purpose, to call the people that do it quite simply wrong and deeply misguided.

How can we claim to love dogs yet purposefully replicate dogs that cannot breath or run and die in half their otherwise natural lifespan?

"In the 1850s, for example, the bulldog looked more like today’s pit bull terrier — sturdy, energetic and athletic with a more elongated muzzle. But by the early 20th century, when dog shows became popular, the bulldog had acquired squat, bandy legs and a large head with a flattened muzzle. This altered figure makes it nearly impossible for them to reproduce without assistance, and the facial changes cause severe breathing problems in a third of all bulldogs. Breeders frequently turn to artificial insemination because the female bulldog’s bone structure cannot support the male’s weight during mating. Most cannot give birth naturally either, because the puppies’ heads are too big for the birth canal."

Claire Maldarelli and Scienceline
Although Purebred Dogs Can Be Best in Show, Are They Worst in Health?
Why diseases plague purebred dogs and how breeders, owners and genetics can help
Scientific American, February 21, 2014

Bulldog Summary

The reader should understand, the AKC is the number one kennel club in the United States, repudiated to be the "noble protectors" of their breeds from unscrupulous breeding practices.

However, it has been known for well over 70 years that the Bulldog's head is an unnatural, man-induced deformity that does great harm to the Bulldog. It is well know that the Bulldog's leg, shoulder and hip structure is such as to be serious debilitating handcaps to the dog. These are not secrets, or the product of new science, but well known facts within the AKC Bulldog breeding industry.

So then, the AKC makes a choice. As an organization theoretically in place to protect dogs the AKC could write an Official AKC Bulldog Breed Standard saving the breed known as the Bulldog from these deformities. They could promote public education in the marketplace for Bulldog fanciers, informing the would-be consumers of Bulldog puppies of the problems and how the AKC seeks to remedy those problems.

To do that, however, would sell less Bulldogs. It's quite a bit harder to market a breed of dog if you acknowledge the dog is sick and needs help.

So then, with regards to the Bulldog, is the American Kennel Club the noble protector of dogs from unscrupulous breeding practices? Or to the contrary, is the AKC actually the corporate marketing department for unscrupulous breeders and in fact the primary cause for generations of Bulldogs living half their otherwise natural lifespans, in a severely debilitated state of deformity, only to typically die in grievous pain...? You decide.

"There is an almost voyeuristic fascination in the physical deformities that have been bred into the modern bulldog - the severely brachycephalic head, prognathous up-curved mandible, distorted ears and tail. A modern bulldog, with its overly short legs, exaggerated broad stance and slow, heavy gait more resembles a veterinary rehabilitation project than a proud symbol of athletic strength or national resolve. Not only is the dog grotesquely disfigured, it is partially handicapped by the insult to its nasal and respiratory apparatus...

How did it come to its present sorry state of affairs? Of course the answer is breeding for fashion. One only has to compare the English bulldog of 1996 with that of 1840 to see how fashion reinforced, or perhaps, led by those arbiters of canine conformation – the Kennel Clubs - has changed this dog. In truth, the bulldog is cruelly malformed...

When Stockard took the first-generation offspring from a cross and back-crossed them to a bulldog, the resulting offspring ranged in appearance from a modern bulldog to an old-fashioned bulldog, a boxer and mastiff. Various other versions of the same cross gave us the boxer...

Given this close relationship of the modern breeds, it ought to be readily possible to reverse at least some of the damage of the last hundred years and to breed a bulldog of healthier conformation. The American bulldog has been isolated in North America for at least 200 years. Successful attempts have been made on both sides of the Atlantic to breed a new - that is, old - bulldog using crosses with bull-mastiff, American bulldog and bull terrier to recover some of the old conformation."

Dr. Keith S. Thomson
The Fall and Rise of the English Bulldog
American Scientist, 84(3), 1996

Repairing the English Bulldog: The Renaissance Bulldog, a Superior Bulldog to Bulldog Outcross
(photo: Hugo, Gargoyle Bulldogs)

The English Bulldog, when bred pure to another English Bulldog, has a relatively high likelihood of Congenital Heart Disease, Brachycephalic Upper-Airway Syndrome, and a host of other serious problems. BUT if an English Bulldog is bred to an American Bulldog, resulting in a new, emerging breed known as a Renaissance Bulldog, the odds of the puppies having Congenital Heart Disease or Brachycephalic Upper-Airway Syndrome is dramatically lowered, as are the likelihood of most other known English Bulldog diseases. Why? Because the American Bulldog has a much lower likelihood of these diseases than the English Bulldog; thus, when bred, the puppies have lower mathematical odds of inheriting such diseases. This practice, coupled with genetic testing, could conceivably almost entirely eliminate such diseases from a particular bloodline. We know it in this day and age, and yet, few breeders make the effort, preferring instead to breed "healthy," versions of the English Bulldog, as if the supposed "healthy dog" is not nonetheless likely to carry the trait recessively and pass it on to its pups. Further, such crossbred dogs typically exhibit hybrid vigor or heterosis, the dramatically more healthful and vigorous quality of crossbred animals, obtained exclusively by the crossing of dogs of two different breeds.

Renaissance Bulldogs (also sometimes spelled Renascence Bulldogges), though very rare, are now being developed by conscienteous breeders who love the English Bulldog and wish to address its many problems. Anyone also loving the English Bulldog, but having previously been concerned about the associated health costs, should give this dog serious consideration. The Renaissance Bulldog, especially if finding a true, first generation, F1 hybrid, is a dramatically healthier, more robust and capable dog than the English Bulldog, yet still retains much of the English Bulldog's characteristic look.

Renaissance Bulldogs are only free breeders, which is by itself a big deal over its typically English Bulldog father, who was very likely "birthed" from his mother through surgical intervention. Add to that 20 to 30 pounds or more, and a dramatically reduced risk of genetic diseases, plus the fact that they also tend to be clear breathers (with a nasal cavity that no longer opens directly onto their brains), and what you have is yet another example of highly successful "hybrid breeding." The first example for many of us is that mutt we had as kids, who never ran out of energy, was never sick, and whom we remember being so special. The mutt that many of us remember was a dog likely exhibiting heterosis, the hybrid vigor typified by mixed-breed dogs.

Pictured, Gargoyle Bulldogs' Renaissance Bulldog, Hugo, Denmark. Gorgeous boy, isn't he?

Understanding the Terminology: "Hybrid Breeding"

The term hybrid commonly refers to two different types of breeding. When breeding outside of species, such as breeding domestic dogs to wolves, this is the most biologically correct use of the term. Breeding a Collie to a German Shepherd Dog is known as a "hybrid breeding," it is not, but simply an outcross. This common misuse of scientific terminology is a good example of just how ignorant the dog breeding industry has become, and as mentioned, it is seen in many scientific articles also. Breed purists enthusiastically promote repeated in-line breeding practices (the breeding of related dogs) and openly disparage those few breeders who breed outside of a given breed, one breed to another.

In outcross breeding, or what is commonly referred to as "hybrid breeding," we seek to increase the mathematical likelihood of a "bad" allele (undesired genetic trait) becoming more recessive (less likely to display); that is, a gene only being inherited from one parent, and thus not being observed in the resultant animals from the breeding.(4)

"Breed societies' rules should be changed in order to allow the introduction of 'new' genetic material into a breed. There should be provision for crossing between two breeds, and then back crossing to the desired breed... the mainstream kennel clubs in the UK and USA, and the Australian National Kennel Council, appear to have no provision for the introduction of new genes..."

P.D. McGreevy and F.W. Nicholas
Dept. of Animal Science, University of Sydney
Some Practical Solutions to Welfare Problems in Dog Breeding
Animal Welfare 1999, 8: 329-341

A Popular Opposing Argument

Probably the most popular and often repeated argument against "hybrid" or outcross breeding goes something like this:

The argument often continues with scare tactics discussing the "dangerous" unpredictability of mixed breed dogs. My response: Give me a break! You need only visit your local animal shelter to instantly debunk this COMMERCIAL DOG INDUSTRY MARKETING MYTH. Go to your local dog pound; you will meet and greet dogs of every possible random, and purposeful cross breeding, healthy, stable family pets of beautiful and unique genetic diversity, often exhibiting the added life energy of hybrid vigor, all ready for adoption today.

Canis lupus familiaris, the domestic dog, has been bred in all his many examples sharing the common traits of being domesticated. Dogs, each and every one, have been developed for thousands of years specifically to accompany man, and live fully integrated among his women, children and livestock. Even canis lupus, the original wild wolves that all dogs were developed from, is sometimes kept as a family pet. The idea that breeding any two domestic dogs of different breeds might produce an undomesticated, or "far too dangerous dog" is just silliness, something akin to expecting two humans of different races to produce a Chimpanzee, or a Siamese cat and a Persian cat producing a lion.

Another Opposing Argument

The much more responsible and less commercial breed purists (those truly just concerned for the good of their respective breeds), will often argue, that proper (and expensive) genetic testing is the best, and only singular avenue to eradicate undesired genetic traits, albeit a little at a time.

My response is that genetic testing is only obviously a very good thing, but it is no panecea and it does not make occasional outcross breeding unecessary in maintaining the genetic health of any given breed. I mean, aside from the fact that you cannot show me (even after many generations of careful, selective and genetically tested breeding), a single example of a purebred dog no longer typically carrying undesirable genetic traits, the argument also does not begin to address the incidence of brand new genetic disorders presenting through continuous purebred breeding practices, especially line breeding. Here are some examples...

As Neapolitan Mastiffs have been bred for more excessive facial and neck wrinkles, eye issues, such as "cherry eye" have become common. The condition was once rare only 100 years ago (before the breed standards of this dog's popular professional breeder's registries began placing heavier emphasis on the wrinkles). Now, less wrinkled dogs are less desirable and even commonly faulted by the AKC and other breeder's organizations. It has further become a regular practice for breeders of the Neapolitan Mastiff, to seek eye surgeries for their dogs, and then, knowing the dog has already exhibited the issue, breeding it anyway and selling the puppies to unsuspecting buyers unaware that one or both of their new puppy's parents had a serious health issue.

Within the AKC the Neapolitan Mastiff having had an eye surgery is not only allowed in the show ring, but not even required to be sterilized from breeding! Such surgically-altered Neos can even gain Grand Champion status making them not only "breeding quality dogs," but much sought after breeders, bringing a much higher price for puppies.

The Dogo Argentino is a pure white hunting dog ranging between 75 and 100+ pounds depending upon bloodline and individual specimen. Developed through outcross or "hybrid" breeding the Dogo Argentino is sometimes one of the healthiest dogs in the world bringing together the attributes and minimizing the problems observed in its progenitor breeds.

Then the Dogo became more widely known and popular. New breed enthusiasts (only reasonably following the practices of different popular purebred dog registries), adopted breeding practices the original creator of the dog, Dr. Antonio Nores Martinez, very likely would not have recommended for long-term maintenance of the breed. Today, the Dogo Argentino as a breed has a serious problem with deafness, occasional blindness and dermatitis, not to mention the dog is shrinking in size and very often has too much color and a more houndy appearance.

Oh no! What's the solution...?!?!

Well, the newer breeders actually changed the breed standard to allow for their own substandard animals to become the standard!

This is an ongoing and widespread problem among countless breeds of dogs - newer enthusiasts literally taking over the registries with substandard animals and then actually changing the standards to better represent their failed attempts at maintaining the breed as it was originally designed.

Regarding the Dogo specifically very few breeders today can even claim to have the original Martinez Dogo (apart from Las Pampas Kennels), but ever more crude representations are heralded as "Champions," and the unsuspecting buyer hasn't a clue that he's in fact purchasing a lesser dog.

Behind Every Blue Ribbon Lurks Multiple Cases of Incest
Even If Breeders Try to Avoid It (and that's rare)

While unknown to the broader population of dog lovers, it is no secret among statistically aware Veterinarians, and research scientists studying the human-directed evolution of the dog, that dogs are more sick today than at any other time in known history. It is also no mystery why that is. It's just not very well understood outside the scientific community - you know, among dog breeders.

The purebred dog breeder, and especially the dog show enthusiast dog breeder seeks strong aestetic consistency in their breeding program. They want their dogs to look a certain way, and they want all their dogs to look that certain way. The desire of the purebred dog breeder is to best exemplify their interpretation of the Official Breed Standard with their dogs.

Inbreeding is the path that gets you there, the practice of breeding related dogs for the specific purpose of "cementing" or ensuring certain physical traits observed between family members. In such breeding, the breeder seeks to minimize genetic diversity, striving to breed dogs that look as much alike as possible.

This is done with a relatively noble purpose, to present the public with a consistent commercial product. After all, nobody who goes out to buy a 40 pound, short haired dog for their small apartment lifestyle wants to be looking at a 100 hundred pound, long haired dog on their living room sofa a couple years later. A hunter seeking a bird dog does not want a dog that likes to eat birds instead. The person wanting a big guard dog does not want a small, timid dog.

Inbreeding developes different breeds and bloodlines for different people who want different things in a dog. Not all inbreeding is bad. Inbreeding is where different breeds of dogs come from. Without that inbreeding having taken place, you would not have a wide diversity of choices when selecting a dog. More importantly, having selected a dog as a puppy, you would not actually know what that dog might grow into. Inbreeding serves a purpose and it's an important, valuable purpose.

Problem is, as any Geneticists, Veterinarian or first year biology student knows, while inbreeding accomplishes the goal of isolating the genes we want in a breed, by definition the process shrinks the gene pool. Lowered genetic diversity means smaller gene pool. The smaller the gene pool, the higher the odds that undesirable recessive genes for disease will be expressed as dominant.

Inbreeding also results in inbreeding depression with a whole host of undesirable symptoms. Again, this is a fact well known to scientists, but not typically understood by dog breeders or their popular kennel clubs. Sadly, most dog breeders either do not understand even these simple fundamentals of genetics, or they underestimate the speed, intensity and far reaching negative ramifications of their own in-line breeding programs.

Finally, when we breed for one or two specific physical characteristics, seeking to refine and re-refine its subtle nuances, it is a historical truth that we tend to lose track of what the rest of the dog is doing and we end up with a mess.

Kennel clubs (whether they say so outright or not) are the chief promoters of inbreeding... And breeders of purebred dogs ALL practice inbreeding, whether we realize it or not. What makes a dog a purebred dog is that it is inbred AND THUS when we breed purebred dogs exclusively without hybrid breeding we are continuously raising the coefficient of inbreeding within that breed.

More On the Genetic Disorders of Purebred Dogs

As mentioned previously, breed purists do not have an argument that accounts for the observance of new genetic disorders in their purebred dogs not being caused by their own in-line breeding practices. This German Shepherd Dog's purebred pedigree didn't help it escape Degenerative Myelopathy (DM), a new genetic disorder isolated in larger breed, primarily purebred dogs. Below, the x-ray of a dog with Bilateral Hip Dysplasia, a disorder which, regardless of many years of genetic testing, remains a typical trait across a diversity of breeds, parents without the disease still often producing puppies that develop it anyway.

The incidence of both these genetic diseases is significantly reduced through outcross breeding; that is, breeding to other similar, but distinct breeds and/or bloodlines to their own breed.

A German Shepherd Dog, for instance, can be crossed to a diversity of other breeds, dramatically increasing its health, its resultant lifespan, and preserving or even enhancing its carefully developed working traits, while maintaining nearly its same visual appearance.

German Shepherd Dogs have been getting smaller and less robust a decade at a time, and any adult aged person remembering German Shepherds as a child knows it. Today in Germany, 120+ pound German Shepherd Dogs are not uncommon. Today in the United States, they have become a curious anomaly and are even sometimes faulted for their larger-than-average size.

This alone should cause a breeder to ponder outcross breeding, not even considering known and arguably increasing health issues. I mean, will you sell dogs to police forces and the military when they commonly grow to only 60-pounds? 50-pounds...? The healthier Belgians are already beginning to take the German Shepherd Dog's traditional place, now that the smaller size of the Belgian Malinois is no longer a competetive issue between the two. What a shame it is, to reduce the once robust and capable, centuries old police dog to a medium sized lap dog of poor health!

The Proof is in the Pudding
English Mastiff Comparisons

The right photo, a modern English Mastiff designated by its breed organization as a "Champion"; fat, unbalanced, and with straight hocks on legs barely thick enough to carry his slovenly form across a living room. Can you imagine him jumping a cattle fence to protect a herd or a flock from advancing predators? Will he ever leap happily into the air, catching a frisbee, as he plays with the kids for hours on end out in the yard? Would he ever again be capable of rushing headlong into pitched battle? Seems unlikely. The left photo, a Bandogge, a predictably bred, mixed breed dog, pairing the Mastiff's genetics with those of a more athletic breed, such as a Pitbull, Staffordshire Terrier, Fox Hound, Labrador, American Bulldog, or other such agile breed. In fact, the Dogue de Bordeaux, Cane Corso, Presa Canario, and Bullmastiff are all breeds previously deveoped as Bandogs. Go ahead and pick which one you like best, the "Champion" purebred dog, or his much maligned bastard son? Just one thing: We're headed out the door to chase a black bear off your property this afternoon, so choose wisely.

The Former English Mastiff

Have you seen many of these around lately, looking like that? Notice: Perfectly balanced structure. If placed on a folcrum, it would be dead center on his solar plexus, even weight distribution front to back; smooth descent of shoulders and chest into thick legs, well able to carry him for many hours of come-what-may; sharp angulation of hocks and hips: The smooth, driving lines of a running dog; the wrinkles that protect bone and muscle from bites or a boar's tusk are not exaggerated, and he probably does not have a sloppy, wet mouth. Finally, note the alert, upward held head and neck, a high energy dog who keeps watch, not as the lazy English Mastiff above. Photography was first popularized in the 1840s. That means this dog is the breed predecessor of the English Mastiff above, by far less than 200 years. So, in your own opinion, did modern breeding practices improve or harm the breed?