French bulldogs overtake Labradors as UK's favourite dog breed.

RE: French bulldogs overtake Labradors as UK's favourite dog breed.

Julie Innes — Thu, 21 Jun 2018 08:37:20 GMT

[quote user="Neil Wheadon"]The latest creation (from the USA) is the Toad Bulldog, yours for a mere £2500[/quote]

Oh my God, that photo actually made me feel quite ill. What a clusterf***k of a dog

RE: French bulldogs overtake Labradors as UK's favourite dog breed.

Aine Seavers — Thu, 21 Jun 2018 01:10:06 GMT

" We've certainly started seeing some that are very unpleasant/ unhandleable in clinic. Not sure if it is just vet aversion due to needing to be in the clinic, or selection of parents with poor temperament due to the demand or both but I suspect it will get worse!"

That is very sad to read, skin conditions can be painful in themselves, let alone having to be handled by 'strangers' ie vets etc regularly and preds themselves can make a small % of dogs aggressive. I think we overlook the pain and hence the need for some skin conditions to have analgesia addressed as much as anti-itch provided as the skin takes time to repair and it hurts until it has. We must have the COEIBreeding ok in Aus where I am as we just don't see the issues to the level and percent you guys report in the UK press. And we have hot summers here-but we then have aircon so it balances. We nail the weight early on in pups because any overwt dogs struggle here. Mike Martin at BSAVA last year made the comment re TRC etc and need for weight loss-and that holds across a range of airway issues. The breeders here are not breeding from the wider flater faces-I have been observing the Inion to Prosthion and Zygion to Zygion just out of interest since the paper was published and it seems on quick glances to be way better than photos of UK dogs. Should we as vets be banning the breed?-we never did that with Sharpei/Chows the 1980's Rotties who couldn't complete a normal walk without a visit to the vet and what about the beautiful Bernese Mt Dog breed that all seem to succumb around 5-7yrs to Histiocytosis so a short life before suffering occurs-should we be banning or should we be guiding so that the breed exists but a better form of it?

RE: French bulldogs overtake Labradors as UK's favourite dog breed.

Clive Ansell — Wed, 20 Jun 2018 23:34:27 GMT

[quote user="Sarah Keir"]And it looks like someone has mutilated its ears![/quote]

Ears are the only thing so far that has been surgically altered. However, the entire remainder of the body is a hideous deformed mess and will need the same.

sincerely hoping that our profession is not going to be complicit in facilitating the breeding of these damn things. Will not hold my breath though (which is probably more than this dog can do, as many of them can barely breath anyway).

RE: French bulldogs overtake Labradors as UK's favourite dog breed.

David Mills — Wed, 20 Jun 2018 22:31:40 GMT

A really interesting epidemiological study would be to assess the percentage of these brachys that need (i.e. vet recommended) BOAS surgery (and, the number of owners that pursue this).

We may wring our hands at them, but they are here to stay, and the only thing that will change this is fashion. Chihuahuas with grade 4 patellas or hypoglycaemia were the in thing a few years ago in the charity sector, can barely give them away now.

The recent PDSA PAW report shows almost half of owners do no research before getting a pet. Mind boggles. It's like buying a car that looks nice to me, but nowt as queer as folk.

RE: French bulldogs overtake Labradors as UK's favourite dog breed.

Sarah Keir — Wed, 20 Jun 2018 15:01:19 GMT

And it looks like someone has mutilated its ears!

RE: French bulldogs overtake Labradors as UK's favourite dog breed.

Dinu Catilina — Wed, 20 Jun 2018 13:06:01 GMT

[quote user="Neil Wheadon"]Probably because you haven't had the overbreeding from a small gene pool where the breed has progressively deteriorated over the past 5 years[/quote]

This is a misunderstanding of the whole process.

Overbreeding does not lead to changes in conformation. Bad breeding and poor choice of parents does.

The dog above is not the consequence of a small gene pool. The dog above has most likely a very low coefficient of inbreeding as it is the result of combining several breeds.

This for example is a dog from a small gene pool.

[quote user="Neil Wheadon"]

[quote user="Aine Seavers"] The Aus one have some skin issues but nothing like Atopic Staffies [/quote]

Probably because you haven't had the overbreeding from a small gene pool where the breed has progressively deteriorated over the past 5 years

The latest creation (from the USA) is the Toad Bulldog, yours for a mere £2500

[/quote]

This is not a toad Bulldog but an Exotic American Bully, an unfortunate creation that breeders of other American Bully varieties don't support or even recognise as a breed.

RE: French bulldogs overtake Labradors as UK's favourite dog breed.

Lucy Fleming — Wed, 20 Jun 2018 10:05:09 GMT

[quote user="Bob Russell"]We are but they ain't listening![/quote] Yep, this a million times! I think the absolute conviction of the owners that "it's normal" for their dog to be constantly snorting, spluttering and have it's tongue lolling out and refusal to countenance any idea that correction of some of their respiratory abnormalities might improve their quality of life is the most frustrating part![quote user="Utlendigur"]What's the betting someone decides to cross a Basset with a Sharpei at some point[/quote] Apparently they are known as a Ba-Shar, Sharp Asset, or Walrus. [quote user="Aine Seavers"]at least aggression thus far has not been a co-issue along with the rest[/quote]We've certainly started seeing some that are very unpleasant/ unhandleable in clinic. Not sure if it is just vet aversion due to needing to be in the clinic, or selection of parents with poor temperament due to the demand or both but I suspect it will get worse!

RE: French bulldogs overtake Labradors as UK's favourite dog breed.

Neil Wheadon — Wed, 20 Jun 2018 09:48:44 GMT

[quote user="Aine Seavers"] The Aus one have some skin issues but nothing like Atopic Staffies [/quote]

Probably because you haven't had the overbreeding from a small gene pool where the breed has progressively deteriorated over the past 5 years

The latest creation (from the USA) is the Toad Bulldog, yours for a mere £2500

RE: French bulldogs overtake Labradors as UK's favourite dog breed.

Aine Seavers — Wed, 20 Jun 2018 09:03:19 GMT

Forget the £1000-here they average starting at $8000, Dachs currently at $3000-dachs seem to have peaked here so the man in pub a bit out of touch. I would prefer to deal with a Frenchie with problems than a Sharpei or Chow Chow-at least aggression thus far has not been a co-issue along with the rest. The Aus one have some skin issues but nothing like Atopic Staffies and don't have the eye problems of Bulldogs so its hard to 'lecture' clients on the issue of why these dogs should not be bred when currently we can control the health issues better than many breeds and we have a patient who Adores visiting the vet-unlike some other breeds. I know a lot of vets now have them as pets-maybe rescued but the vet owners even if already know all the 'Disney' warnings are as smitten as any lay client.

RE: French bulldogs overtake Labradors as UK's favourite dog breed.

Utlendigur — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 22:34:48 GMT

[quote user="Liz Barton"]Thank heavens it isn't basset hounds though![/quote]

What's the betting someone decides to cross a Basset with a Sharpei at some point for extra wrinkles, or Frenchie x Dachs (munchkin frenchies?)

RE: French bulldogs overtake Labradors as UK's favourite dog breed.

Liz Barton — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 22:09:19 GMT

I have one owner who doesn't walk her dogs for the entire summer because they feint, and saw a puppy a few months ago whose eyes had literally popped out of the sockets.

Thank heavens it isn't basset hounds though!

RE: French bulldogs overtake Labradors as UK's favourite dog breed.

Mark Hedberg — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 16:11:53 GMT

[quote user="Tim Browning"]

Wait until the Disney film about the cute Pug, Patrick comes out in a week or so. When BVA vets approached Disney they had no idea about Brachycephalic issues of course. It is impossible to 'educate' people obsessed by a puerile ideal of cuteness, when swamped by unceasing manic moronic media messages of all types.

Disney will add a little bit of a disclaimer in the credits apparently..

[/quote]

Probably in tiny text at the very end of the credits, right next to where they write 'no animals were harmed' and just below where they thank the city councils of whatever small towns cooperated with the film making...

RE: French bulldogs overtake Labradors as UK's favourite dog breed.

Tim Browning — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 16:03:05 GMT

Disney will add a little bit of a disclaimer in the credits apparently..

RE: French bulldogs overtake Labradors as UK's favourite dog breed.

Bob Russell — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 14:21:47 GMT

We are but they ain't listening!

RE: French bulldogs overtake Labradors as UK's favourite dog breed.

Clive Ansell — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 12:21:09 GMT

Nowt funnier than folk I suppose, and fools are easily separated from their money and all that.

Granted, they are usually nice friendly little dogs, but who in their right mind would spend £1000's on such hideously deformed dogs.

Great for veterinary revenue stream, pity about their welfare though.

Rather than condoning and being complicit in the breeding of them, maybe as a profession we could work to try and improve the breed, educate the public better, and lobby for the banning or regulation of breeding them.

RE: French bulldogs overtake Labradors as UK's favourite dog breed.

Neil Wheadon — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 11:14:17 GMT

A man in a pub (from a puppy breeding area) tells me that Dachshunds are next

Neil

RE: French bulldogs overtake Labradors as UK's favourite dog breed.

Bob Russell — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 09:14:54 GMT

I think the fad has reached its peak and they will decline in popularity.

Internet exposure is dropping and awareness is increasing.

I consider it a bit f a daft choice but it is what it is. I don't lecture people but do advise thoroughly albeit too late to influence buying choice.

RE: French bulldogs overtake Labradors as UK's favourite dog breed.

Dinu Catilina — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 07:33:30 GMT

Pretty much what I was saying last year in a different post. Yes, they're broken and they are wrong. Bt people will continue to breed and buy them. And realistically they will go out of fashion in a few years, all breeds do, but it will take 15 years at least to deal with what's already about.

What we should do is getting better at dealing with their problems (boas, eyes, etc) and educating clients on what they should be looking for when buying one.

RE: French bulldogs overtake Labradors as UK's favourite dog breed.

niall morton — Sun, 17 Jun 2018 23:53:13 GMT

Couldn’t agree more Michael, work with them. Clearly loved by the nation

RE: French bulldogs overtake Labradors as UK's favourite dog breed.

Michael Woodhouse — Sun, 17 Jun 2018 23:14:05 GMT

It is what it is. I hope as a profession we can embrace them and help to improve the breed in terms of their welfare. I see so many vets 'against' brachy dogs and that's clearly not helpful.