Selective breeding for exaggerated physical traits has created serious heritable health problems in many popular dog breeds. Reform of breeding standards is urgently needed to prevent inherited suffering across millions of dogs.
Breeding dogs for traits that cause chronic suffering is an ethical failure that the dog-loving community has been slow to confront. When a dog struggles to breathe with every step because its skull is too compressed for its brain, or collapses in pain from a spinal disc rupture, the suffering is real and predictable. These conditions were created by human aesthetic preferences and can be reduced by human choices. Breed clubs, registries, veterinary associations, and governments all have roles in reversing this trend. Individual consumers also bear responsibility for the breeds they choose and the signals those choices send to breeders.