A squashed face that gives it an inimitable look, a small, short-legged body: the English bulldog has been a very popular breed for a few years.

But the cause of this success is paid for with health risks for the poor dog.

Originally bred to fight bulls, the English bulldog became a pet in the 19th century in the United Kingdom.

The breeders then exaggerated, by crossing, its distinctive characteristics to obtain a shorter face with a wide lower jaw, a thicker constitution and arched legs.

New research from @RoyalVetCollege highlights the English bulldog's poor health due to selection for extreme body shapes.

We're reminding the public not to buy these types of dogs at the moment and to consider an alternative breed instead https://t.co/vNLdKuEypK #SaveOurBreath pic.twitter.com/Q8yGfbx9D6

— RSPCA (England & Wales) (@RSPCA_official) June 15, 2022


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Health issues in spades

This breed is now one of the most popular in the UK.

In 2020, she came in at number four in the Kennel Club dog registration rankings.

But the English bulldog has twice the health of any other dog, according to a statistical study published this Wednesday in the journal

Canine Medicine and Genetics

.

Its pretty pleated coat promotes dermatitis.

His watery eye is due to tissue inflammation.

Its flattened face is the cause of respiratory syndromes, which limit its resistance to effort, for example.

The excessive weight of its musculature is the cause of cysts between the fingers and its general morphology makes it difficult to give birth to females, implying the use of caesareans.

Avoid the ban on breeding

These problems are nothing new and their prevalence in this breed has been documented for decades, but this is the first time scientists have quantified them.

“Many of the predispositions to pathologies reported in this study are closely linked to the extreme conformation of the English bulldog” to breed criteria, note the researchers.

The latter therefore appeal to breeders to change these criteria in order to avoid a total ban on breeding in the country.

Recently, the courts of Norway, for example, banned the breeding of the English bulldog and the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, on the grounds that the practice inflicts suffering on them that is incompatible with the law on the protection of animals.

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