Extreme breed standards in dog showing cause significant health and welfare problems that are preventable through breed standard reform and breeding practice changes.
Breed standard-driven welfare problems represent perhaps the most preventable welfare crisis in companion animals. Deliberately breeding dogs that cannot breathe normally, that have skulls too small for their brains, or that carry inherited conditions causing chronic pain is a form of welfare harm built into the breeding system. Reform requires changes at breed club level (amending standards), veterinary practice (discouraging severely affected individuals from breeding), and consumer level (choosing healthy conformation dogs). The popularity of flat-faced breeds has created a market that drives continued breeding of animals with inherently compromised welfare.