Pugs and Bulldogs: The Honest Health Picture

Brachycephalic breeds — pugs, French and English bulldogs, boxers, Pekingese, shih tzus and Boston terriers — have had their skulls shortened by selective breeding while the soft tissue inside stayed roughly the same size. The result is a permanently crowded airway.

Snoring is a symptom

Snorting, snoring, noisy breathing at rest, and gagging are not breed charm. They are signs of brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome, and it exists on a spectrum from mild to life-threatening. A dog that has to work to breathe is a dog under constant low-level stress, and it worsens with age and weight.

Heat is the acute danger

Dogs cool by panting, which means moving air across wet surfaces. A dog that cannot move air efficiently cannot cool efficiently. In South African summers this kills flat-faced dogs every year. Walk only in the cool of the morning and evening, never leave them in a car, avoid excitement in the heat, and know the signs of heatstroke.

Airlines restrict or refuse these breeds in the hold for exactly this reason.

What helps

• Keep them lean. Fat around the throat directly narrows an already narrow airway. This is the highest-impact thing an owner can do.
• Harness, never a collar.
• Surgery works. Widening the nostrils and shortening an overlong soft palate can transform quality of life, and is best done young rather than as a crisis. Ask your vet for an assessment rather than waiting.
• Clean skin folds daily on bulldogs and pugs — damp folds get infected.
• Watch the eyes. Shallow sockets mean prominent eyes prone to ulcers and injury. Any squinting or discharge is a same-day vet visit.

Choosing a healthier puppy

If you are set on one of these breeds, choose the individual with the most open nostrils and the longest muzzle in the litter, and ask to hear the parents breathe at rest and after a short walk. Avoid extreme "exotic" bulldogs and pugs marketed on flatness. A slightly longer-nosed dog is a healthier dog, and breeders who select for that deserve support.

The kind thing

None of this is an argument against loving the dog you have. It is an argument for managing them differently: cooler, leaner, earlier surgery, and a lower threshold for going to the vet when the breathing changes.