Brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome causes chronic breathing difficulty and welfare impacts in flat-faced dogs that are increasingly recognised as a breeding crisis.
BOAS causes continuous breathing difficulty that affects every aspect of affected dogs lives. The constant effort required to breathe even at rest is equivalent to a human perpetually breathing through a straw. Exercise intolerance means dogs cannot perform natural dog behaviours including running and playing without respiratory compromise. Sleep is disrupted by apnoea - some dogs must sleep sitting upright to breathe. The tragedy is that the condition is bred intentionally through selection for extreme flat-faced conformation that owners find appealing, while the dogs pay the welfare cost with every laboured breath. The normalisation of breathing sounds as characteristic of the breed masks ongoing suffering from owners and even veterinarians.