Should unhealthy dogs be banned?

[Esceptico]

Johnnytheboy said:

I'm old enough to remember when PH wasn't a natural place to encounter people who wanted to ban everything they didn't like.

But then it's not really a car forum any more.

I am a libertarian and don’t care what people do, nor is my first instinct to suggest bans. However, supporting people’s right to do what they want also means supporting people’s (or on this case innocent animals’) right not to be negatively affected by others.

If people could be educated to stop doing things that hurt others, rather than banning, I would be happier. However, some people are just thoughtless, inconsiderate or lack empathy and there is no reasoning with them. To protect others bans are sometimes the last but necessary resort.

PH hasn’t been a car forum for a long time. A mumsnet for mainly right leaning, Middle Aged blokes would be a more accurate description.

[Johnnytheboy]

Esceptico said:

PH hasn’t been a car forum for a long time. A mumsnet for mainly right leaning, Middle Aged blokes would be a more accurate description.

Well, as long as you feel at home I guess that's the main thing.

[Boomroasted]

OP... I think you may need a hobby.

[nute]

I have one of the breeds referred to by the OP. He is a normal healthy dog, I don’t see why he should be “banned”. Seems the Mail/ Express reading persons answer to everything they don’t like sadly. If breed stds could be altered to breed out some traits that seems a better solution but no two individuals are the same even within a certain breeds, and most breeds as has been pointed out, are prone to one health issue or another.

My biggest concern is that anecdotally they cannot swim. Plenty of clips on YouTube of bulldogs swimming but I have never wanted to cause him the stress of finding out. He seems to have a natural caution around water but we always need to keep a close eye on him around our ponds that the labs so love charging into.

[BoggoStump]

[BoggoStump]

Lets sow a flap of skin over this breeders noes see how he feels about it.

[otherman]

Boosted LS1 said:

Simpo Two said:

D1on said:

What a bore you are.
Bet your a barrel of laughs down at the pub.

Agree or otherwise, he might be the one having an intelligent discussion rather than telling fart jokes and going fnaar at the barmaid.

Agreed.

Agreed agreed. Trying to push out a sensible argument by saying you're not enough of a piss head.

[otolith]

Esceptico said:

If you look up pictures of GSD from a century ago they had normal backs, being parallel to the ground, not the odd sloping stance that the dog showing types like. Presumably it wouldn’t be too difficult to selectively breed for a normal back, which I think would help with the hip problems.

Working line GSDs have flat backs and not all show line dogs have exaggerated posture.

Hip dysplasia is common in a number of large breed dogs, including labradors, it’s not exclusive to shepherds or indeed slopey-backed shepherds.

I would like to see more breeding for longevity and health, particularly in larger breeds, though of course that’s intrinsically harder to do because you don’t know how long a dog will live when it is in its prime.

[Han Solo]

BoggoStump said:

Lets sow a flap of skin over this breeders noes see how he feels about it.

Let’s see how he looks when it grows up.

Our Frenchy looked very similar, now he doesn’t.

Much like people dogs don’t look the same as a Puppy when fully grown, but I guess you know that and are failing to point score.

[BlueJazz]

Pug health so poor it 'can't be considered a typical dog' - study

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-61494094

Backyard breeders and irresponsible owners the issue rather than pugs as a whole?

[BoggoStump]

Han Solo said:

Let’s see how he looks when it grows up.

Our Frenchy looked very similar, now he doesn’t.

Much like people dogs don’t look the same as a Puppy when fully grown, but I guess you know that and are failing to point score.

i didnt no.

[Han Solo]

No or know?

These breeds aren’t ‘new’, banning them in itself would remove some fantastic creatures from our world, what should be banned is unregistered breeding, over breeding and in breeding.

All dogs should be registered, pre-breeding all dogs should be screened for genetic / health issues (all breeds), make breeding a full time job.

Over the years I’ve met a fair few dog ‘breeders’, current fad is ‘pocket bullies’, they are unscrupulous, the dogs live inhumanly, they are ‘discarded’ after ‘use’, a friend rescued a stunning English Bulldog from one of the above.

Simple fact is that there is too much money in it, a lad I know bred a litter of Pocket Bullies and made £18k tax free cash for next to zero investment, selling puppies at around £3k each.

[Autopilot]

popeyewhite said:

Esceptico said:

[
Flat faced dogs have health issues because we have bred them that way. Similarly German Shepherds have hip problems because people think the sloping back stance looks good. Those are the types of problems I think should be resolved by banning or breeding.

I tend to agree. Does The Kennel Club/Crufts allow these dogs into their competitions? A bar from those be a start.

Are the Kennel Club not responsible for some of these health issues that essentially have been bred in to dogs? They set the breed standards to which breeders conform to so if a breed needs to be bigger / smaller / flatter faces / baggy faces / slopey back / more under bite....etc etc the breeders use selective breeding to make sure they provide those bits that score the points at dog shows (whether or not it's good for the dog).

[Boosted LS1]

I think the Veterinary association have just come out against pug breeding. Or it was a similar group.

[Lavo84]

Having owned several pugs due to my love of the breed and their character I can say that I have never had any breathing issues whatsoever with any of my dogs.
They get walked regularly, they have a good diet and they were bought from registered breeders where the parents were present.
My current pug is slim, happy and does about 2 hours of walking everyday, longer at the weekends.
It’s the same with humans if you stuff them full of crap food and don't exercise them they will struggle. There are also ALOT of dodgy horrible breeders who try to cash in by selling poorly bred dogs for a third of the price of a good one and unfortunately people are attracted to this low price without thinking of the consequences.
All we need to do is try and knock this in the head and have more responsible owners… the only issue is this will never happen!