Our Beloved breed hits the headlines !!!

[ruby]

So our beloved breed hit the headlines today in the UK with top scientists calling for cross breeding of our beloved breed to breed out health problems !!! In the article it states due to centuries of selective breeding for physical traits the bulldog has become so inbred it cannot be return to good health without an infusion of new blood lines!

Their also referred to as low maintance apartment dogs! He's clearly not met mine!



Here's the link what do you guys think!

English Bulldog health problems prompt cross-breeding call - BBC News
BBC - Home › news › science-environ...

 

[Biogirl71]

I read that article too. It definitely makes sense with all the inbreeding for selecting for the "desired" traits causing a loss of genetic diversity. It probably isn't a popular opinion but I don't think it is a bad idea. I had to laugh at the "low-maintenance" part though. Clearly, whomever wrote the article has never had a bulldog!

 

[rjisaterp]

Interesting...I will check it out tonight.

 

[Biscuitsmom]

I read it too. While I agree that some do have health issues it's not ALL. My girls has zero issues. I have a rescue that has all sorts of problems, allergies, ear infections, etc. There are also plenty of breeds that don't live that long, Great Danes, Mastiffs and other large dogs. Even labs tend to have issues by my parents lived to 16 and almost 15. Very few of the issues are "life threatening".

 

[RiiSi]

The worst thing that can be done IMO is to except that all Bulldogs have issues. When people except that have, they will also breed bullies with those issues and they will go on to the next generation. There are healthy bullies and somhow we need to mae ure those are the only ones bred.

 

[ruby]

Unfortunately this comes down to those back yard breeders that don't care about the health of the dog or its litter, their just there for the money! Breeders should hold licences and health testing should be made a compulsory part of holding that licence! There are plenty of healthy Bulldogs out there and these are the ones that should be bred from to move the breed forward! Not inject another breed into the mix, there are plenty of other breeds out there that have health problems

 

[Davidh]

The biggest problem is the backyard breeders and puppy mills just breeding to anything and not paying attention to pedigrees, or genetics. They breed unhealthy dogs that just pass this stuff down. If you have a good bloodline, and there are plenty out there, you do not have all the health problems.

 

[helsonwheels]

I read an article about 2 months ago they wanted to stop selling n breeding the breed completely and if breeders are breeding they would get a big fine n dogs put to sleep! The want to get rid of the breed for 10years and start fresh. Just don't make sense. And btw, there are other breeds much older than the bully.