The selection of dog breeds for extreme physical traits has created widespread inherited health and welfare problems that responsible breeding, legislation, and consumer choice can help address.
Dog breed welfare represents a crisis caused by selection for aesthetic traits without welfare consideration. Brachycephalic breeds now dominate popularity charts in many countries, yet many individuals in these breeds experience chronic respiratory compromise, sleep apnoea, and an inability to exercise normally. This is a welfare problem created by consumer choice and breeder selection, and it requires consumer choice and breeder regulation to address. Health testing and health-conscious breeding can reduce the burden of inherited disease; regulatory action to prohibit breeding of animals with extreme conformation is more effective but politically contested. The welfare science is clear; the policy and market responses have been inadequate.