Most dog breeders are decent people, but their standards suck

Kylie Klein Nixon

May 25, 2025

Gertie the Pug, a very special little dog.

Kylie Klein Nixon is a lifestyle columnist for the Sunday Star-Times.

OPINION: I recently met the newest addition to my extended family, Gertie the pug, first of her name, princess of sunbeams, queen of sugar drops.

Gertie is my brother’s new dog, and we are all a little nuts over her.

She stands out, not just because her ears are so soft that stroking them will put you into a trance, but because unlike so many of her breed, she didn’t need surgery to help her breathe when she was a pup.

Gertie came from a reputable breeder who did everything right. She was loved and cared for, only had as many litters as was safe, and when her working life was over, a good, experienced family was found for her – she now has the most doting dad a doggo could ever have asked for.

Bulldogs are full of personality, and can be wonderful pets, but an intense breed standard has caused issues for some dogs of this breed.LEA POOLEY / SUPPLIED

But because the pug breed standard is so insane, one of the most remarkable things about this lovely little dog is that she can breathe naturally.

Her breed is not along in having problematic standards.

In days of yore, english bulldogs were bred for the gruesome blood sport of bull-baiting. They were stocky and powerful, with a shorter muzzle than most dogs, but a muzzle no less. They also had proportionate legs and heads.

Today, that standard is almost a caricature of the original dog, with round squat bodies and stubby legs that seem ill suited for carrying their enlarged heads and chunky shoulders, and faces so flat they’re practically concave.

The standard has already so distorted the natural shape and function of the dog it’s often not possible for the bitches to deliver a litter of pups without medical intervention.

World’s tallest and smallest dogs meet for play-date

The little guys can be too big to pass through the mother’s narrow pelvis; the mother’s nose so contracted, she can’t get enough air to make it through the delivery. Too puffed to push, bulldogs often have to deliver by caesarean.

We do have some provision in New Zealand for mitigating the worst excesses of breed standards – Dogs NZ, which sets and assesses standards for breeders and judges, asks them to be, “careful to avoid obvious conditions and exaggerations, as well as being mindful of features which could be detrimental in any way to the health, welfare or soundness of this breed”.

For the english bulldog, however, it seems the damage was done long before we started considering the long term wellbeing of these dogs.

Don’t get me wrong, I love bullies, they are so much fun. And I’m not anti breeder, either. It’s just breed standards I can’t stand. What is the point of breeding a dog that can hardly breathe?

Flat face breeds can suffer for breathing issues.UNSPLASH

Most brachycephalic, or flat-faced breeds can suffer with this issue. But other “pure” breeds have their issues too.

Alsatians and labradors can suffer from congenital hip displasia. Dachshunds can have back and mobility issues. Breeds with bulging eyes, like pekingese and shih tzus, can suffer eye issues. Dogs with deep skin folds, like the shar-pei, pug and boxer, can have skin issues. White and piebald dogs of all kinds are often deaf. And that’s not even touching on possible neurological and temperamental issues that can arise.

And yet, trapped inside these unfortunate bodies is the same canine spirit that infuses the feisty mutt and the zippy bitzer. They all want to run and chase, play and protect. But some pure-breds struggle, because we deliberately mutated them into walking potatoes.

The american bulldog or its cousin, the olde english bulldogge, has a muzzle more like the original dog.123RF

It’s not like walking potatoes were decreed by the Almighty in the garden of Eden, so we’re stuck with them. We decided these standards. This nonsense is all on us.

So why can’t we just bloody undo them? Why can’t the ideal bulldog have hips as wide as her shoulders, and a more proportionately-sized head? Why can’t she have a two- or three-inch muzzle?

Why is breeding for obscenely exaggerated looks the standard, rather than health and longevity? If you can give me a dog with a concave face, why the hell can’t you give me a dog that lives to be 90?

Ask any reputable breeder and they will tell how much they love their dogs. They’re actually obsessed with them. They are their whole lives.

But if that’s true, why do they keep to breed standards that make so many of these lovely animals miserable?

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