Selective dog breeding for appearance rather than health has created generations of dogs with chronic, heritable health problems. Breeding reform programs are addressing these issues with growing success.
Dog breeding welfare reform faces cultural resistance from breed enthusiasts who conflate appearance with breed identity. The reality is that features causing chronic health problems - flattened faces, extreme skin folds, dwarf legs, oversized heads - were introduced relatively recently and are not inherent to traditional breed character. Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, for example, suffered from the head size trend toward greater flattening that has caused epidemic syringomyelia. Reform programs that measure and breed toward healthier conformations while maintaining breed type have demonstrated that welfare-positive breeding does not require abandoning breed identity. Consumer demand for healthier dogs is the most powerful lever for change.