Hundeelskere og deres hunde

A pug gasps for breath, his face so flat he damages his eyes if he bumps into things; a cavalier King Charles spaniel writhes in agony and must be put to sleep to end its pain; a distraught owner holds his beloved boxer who is fitting uncontrollably... Two years in the making, Pedigree Dogs Exposed lifts the lid on the true extent of health and welfare problems in pedigree dogs in the UK.

Seventy five per cent of the seven million dogs in the UK are pedigrees, and they cost their owners over £10m in vet fees every week.

This indepth investigation suggests they are in serious trouble, plagued by genetic disease due to decades of inbreeding.

They are also suffering acute problems because of the showring's emphasis on looks over and above function and health.

Some physical traits required by the Kennel Club's breed standards have inherent health problems (short faces, wrinkling, screw-tails, dwarfism) while other problems occur because of exaggerations bred into dogs by breeders trying to win rosettes.

Deliberate mating of dogs that are close relatives is common practice and the Kennel Club continues to register dogs bred from mother-to-son and brother-to-sister matings.

Scientists at Imperial College, London, recently found that pugs in the UK are so inbred that, although there are 10,000 of them, it is the equivalent of just 50 distinct individuals -- making them more genetically compromised than the giant panda.

Steve Jones, Professor of Genetics, UCL, says: "People are carrying out breeding which would be, first of all, be entirely illegal in humans and secondly is absolutely insane from the point of view of the health of the animals."

He adds: "In some breeds they are paying a terrible, terrible price in genetic disease."

The film exposes the devastating consequences of such genetic disease for dogs and the distress it causes their owners.

Disturbing footage is shown of a cavalier King Charles spaniel writhing in agony due to syringomyelia, estimated to affect up to a third of the breed.

They have been bred with skulls too small for their brains, explains veterinary neurologist Clare Rusbridge: "The cavalier's brain is like a size 10 foot that has been shoved into a size six shoe -- it doesn't fit."



Boxers suffer from several life-threatening health issues -- including heart disease and a very high rate of cancer, especially brain tumours.

There are no official figures to say how many boxers suffer from epilepsy but in some breeds it is 20 times the rate found in humans. Two-year-old Zak is filmed while fitting and the distress the disease causes for him and his owners is obvious.

The film also demonstrates how some breeders produce dogs with pronounced physical attributes -- "exaggerations" -- in their efforts to attract a dog show judge's eye.

The breed standards are set by the Kennel Club but are open to interpretation and the film shows how, as fashion changes, so do the dogs, leading to serious health and welfare problems in some breeds.

Bulldogs, for example, have been bred to be such an unnatural shape that most can no longer mate or give birth unassisted.