English Bulldog Health Problems Prompt Cross-Breeding Call

[mikey4444]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-36916431

Saw this on the news this morning, and I'm not surprised at all.

Willy and I meet a lovely girl Bulldog, called Pauline on our walkies very week, and she is gorgeous ! But the owner has had to spend a small fortune sorting out her breathing problems over the last 2 years, and its all down to the breeders. Making huge sums of money ( Pauline cost £1200 as a Pup ! )
and breeding misery.

Makes me very angry indeed !

[Tilly2]

...and me too, Mikey.

[Bathsheba]

Just want to say Pauline is a great name for a dog!

Baths
x x x

[mikey4444]

Bathy...she is simply gorgeous ! She sits nicely and shakes a paw, and she is sort-of pink. Willy is insanely jealous of course,so I have to be careful !

Imagine paying £1200 for a pup, and then spending another 2-3 thousand pounds on corrective surgery ?

This business brings to mind the 2016 Crufts, when that poor German Shepherd, the one that couldn't walk properly but was still made a breed champion.

[ladybirder]

Yes the EBD is a good example of what not to do to a breed of dog and unfortunately there are many more examples. There was a brilliant programme about this years ago made by channel 4 and the KC came in for a lot of criticism. We have one in the immediate family, a fantastic funny, lovely girl but thank goodness she is insured or she would be costing a fortune. The folds in her face have to be cleaned and creamed every day to keep it fresh. Of course it's apparently what we the public demand and the poor dog pays for it big time.

[Old_Geezer]

If one cross breeds then surely that means an end to the original bulldog ?
Why not change the description/definition of the breed and start breeding for a less health challenged branch instead ? Genes mutate, that's how breeds came about in the first place. I don't believe one can not move back from the precipice gradually.

[ladybirder]

That certainly makes sense OG. When you see a picture of how EBD's looked originally before we started messing about with them, they bear practically no resemblance to what we have today. Trouble is, what we have today is what these people who are prepared to pay £1-£2k plus want and there is always an unscrupulous breeder who will provide.

[mikey4444]

Ladybirder....I am not convinced that people want a bulldog that has so many health problems...........its more like that if they want a Bulldog, they have no choice but to buy what the breeders are offering.

[mikey4444]

The Kennel Club and/or Crufts should stand up and be counted here......they decide the "breed standard" and they should alter that asap, so it doesn't result in these poor dogs being bred in the first place.

We have had the scandals of German Shepherds, Spaniels, and others for many years now, and its the reason that the BBC no longer support the annual Crufts show.

But the Kennel Club, and Crufts are stuffed full of the very people that are causing the problems in the first place, etc, etc.

The whole thing disgusts me.

[ladybirder]

But they want a dog that looks like that Mikey, that's why the breeders do it. There has been endless debate about this for years. The Kennel Club have to take their share of the blame as well. They are supposed to check on breeders but rarely do and even their own members are breeding from dogs that have an inherited disease. The whole thing is a scandal.

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/pedigree-dogs-exposed/

[NoMercy]

Makes me angry too, Mikey. These avaricious *** don't care about the animals they're breeding, they're just a source of income.

[ladybirder]

If they couldn't sell them they wouldn't breed them.

Buyers need to educate themselves about what they are buying before they part with their money.

[wolf63]

This is a link to a blog http://pedigreedogsexposed.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/death-of-bulldog.html

This is Pete Wedderburn's website - 'Pete the Vet'. He is actually quite passionate about this issue. https://www.petethevet.com/?s=bulldog

How people can breed an unhealthy dog - I just don't understand. The German Shepherd at Crufts didn't look good and walked badly. They are supposed to be big, strong working dogs. It's crazy.