Thor the Bulldog - a National disgrace

#DoggyBlog #Poop4U

A Bulldog called Thor has just won the National Dog Show in the USA.  As the judge approached him before awarding the Best in Show crown, the judge's mic (so she must have heard it herself) picked up the rattle in his throat that likely points to an elongated soft palate. Two-hundred breeds and over 2000 dogs... and ta-daaa, a respiratory cripple took the top crown.

Too strong? Here's Thor playing with a puppy at home, the obstruction obvious. 

This video is from around two years ago.  Given that BOAS is a progressive condition, I am surprised that Thor was not noisier trotting round the National Dog Show ring - but then the mic was not close to him most of the time and the crowd was loud.

Now Thor is actually better than most other Bulldogs we've seen in the US show-ring - he moves quite well (for a Bulldog), he has tight eyes and there are no obvious skin issues (although the judge did not lift his large nose roll to check). He's heavy but at least not grossly obese. He has terrible teeth compared to a normal dog, but they are better than most Bulldog teeth (you can, at least, see all six incisors even if they are largely buried in the gum). 

Bulldog teeth very typically look like this.

Not so good is that Thor has a very short, recessed screw tail (a mutation that we now know is associated with spine issues). It did not appear to be mobile, robbing him of that mode of expression,  and it doesn't come anywhere close to covering his anus.

And that nose!! Thor's nose is dry and crusty and his nostrils are almost closed.  Remember that dogs are as near-as-dammit obligate nose breathers.

And yeah.... that underbite... It's a demand in the breed standard - there on the totally misplaced belief that it better-equipped the Bulldog to hold on to a Bull back-in-the-day -  and it leads inevitably  to soft-tissue trauma in the mouth/poor dental health because of the mismatch between upper and lower jaws.  I say it a lot but I will say it again... an underbite is a deformity (a Class 3 malocclusion in veterinary terms) and it has no place in a modern breed standard.

Now Thor has been quite extensively health-tested - and I'm genuinely pleased to see that he has good hips given that the Bulldog is the worst breed for hip dysplasia). This is some kind of progress.  But you'll note that there is no result here for respiratory health and that's because despite poor breathing being the single biggest health issue for Bulldogs and other extreme brachycephalic breeds, there is no official scheme in the USA, unlike here in the UK, Scandinavia and an increasing number of countries in Europe.

To sum up, while Thor might be good for a Bulldog, he is a disaster for a dog and I despair that any judge could have chosen him over the other dogs (all with normal canine conformation) in the Best in Show ring.

Finally - a question to US vets and the American Veterinary Association:

Why are you not doing more to address brachycephalic health in the US?  Why are you not even talking about it publicly when the Bulldog is now the 5th most popular dog in the US (and the French Bulldog - arguably even worse - is the 4th)?

Because let's be frank here: your silence suggests tacit approval of the breeding of dogs that struggle to mate, whelp, breathe, thermo-regulate and are dead by, on average, six old.   In not standing up to help shape a better future for these dogs, you are a very big part of the problem. 

Poop4U Blog

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Jemima Harrison, Khareem Sudlow