End The Cruel Cycle That Leaves Flat Faced Dogs Fighting For Every Breath

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Dogs should never be born unable to breathe, cool down, or survive without surgery, yet forced breeding of flat-faced dogs makes this suffering inevitable.

End The Cruel Cycle That Leaves Flat Faced Dogs Fighting For Every Breath

Flat-faced dogs struggle for air every day of their lives. Their shortened skulls compress the tissues of the nose, throat, and airway, which limits oxygen intake and forces them into constant respiratory effort1. Many collapse in warm weather because they cannot cool their bodies. Others experience chronic eye injury, skin infections, spinal disease, and dental deformities caused by extreme facial structure2.

These dogs do not grow out of these problems. They do not adapt to them. They live with them from birth to early death. Veterinary data shows that breeds like Pugs and English Bulldogs face sharply higher risks of airway obstruction, corneal ulceration, skin fold disease, and shortened lifespan compared with other dogs3. Many cannot breathe or give birth without medical intervention.

Forced Breeding Creates Predictable Suffering

Flat-faced breeds often cannot reproduce on their own. Their bodies cannot complete a natural pregnancy or delivery safely. Artificial insemination and Caesarean sections are routine, not exceptions, because their anatomy blocks normal reproduction2. Breeding programs that emphasize extreme facial flattening deepen the cycle of inherited traits that obstruct the airway and warp the skull3.

Some breeders rely on a narrow genetic pool, which traps harmful traits within entire breed populations3. Insurance and epidemiological data show widespread respiratory, neurological, and orthopedic disease across brachycephalic breeds. Heatstroke, regurgitation, pneumonia, exercise intolerance, and chronic pain follow many of these dogs from puppyhood onward2.

National Leadership Must Act

The scale of this problem demands action from the leaders of the American Veterinary Medical Association and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. These agencies guide veterinary ethics and regulate commercial breeding nationwide. They can stop breeders from producing dogs that cannot breathe, cool down, or survive without surgery.

Other countries have begun restricting extreme breeding practices. The United States has not. Without intervention, the next generation of flat-faced dogs will enter the world with the same suffering built into their bodies.

Take Action to Protect Future Dogs

No dog should struggle for every breath. No dog should suffer because humans prioritized appearance over health. Forced breeding of brachycephalic dogs is preventable. National leaders can change this, but only if the public demands it.

Please add your name now to call on the AVMA and USDA to end the forced breeding of dogs born into respiratory distress and lifelong harm.

More on this issue:

  1. Carlton Gyles, Canadian Veterinary Journal (Aug 2017), “Brachycephalic Dogs — Time for Action.”
  2. Humane World, Humane Society of the United States (2019), “Pug and French Bulldog Health Issues.”
  3. Brenda N. Bonnett, Canine Medicine and Genetics (Apr 2023), “Brachycephalics: ‘Once a Problem Is Seen It Cannot Be Unseen’.”
  4. Hemopet Staff, Hemopet (2021), “Breeding Brachycephalic Dogs and Cats Part 1.”
  5. Gareth Smith & Alison P. Wills, Veterinary Medicine and Science (May 2025), “Impact of an Educational Intervention on Public Perception of Health Problems in Brachycephalic Dogs.”

The Petition

To the President and the Board of Directors of the American Veterinary Medical Association, the United States Department of Agriculture Under Secretary for Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and the APHIS Administrator,

Every year, thousands of flat-faced dogs enter the world unable to breathe, cool themselves, sleep comfortably, or give birth naturally. These suffering animals are not rare exceptions. They are the predictable outcome of breeding for extreme facial features that restrict basic functions essential to life.

Bulldogs, French Bulldogs, Pugs, and other brachycephalic breeds face chronic respiratory distress, eye injuries, spinal abnormalities, dental deformities, heatstroke, and early death. Many require surgeries just to breathe. Many cannot reproduce without artificial insemination or Caesarean delivery. No ethical standard should permit dogs to be intentionally bred into such distress.

This is preventable cruelty — yet it continues because national policies still allow it.

We call on the leadership of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to take urgent action.

We urge the AVMA President and the AVMA Board of Directors to:
  • Strengthen AVMA policy to explicitly oppose breeding practices that produce dogs unable to breathe, thermoregulate, or reproduce naturally.
  • Direct state veterinary boards to discourage artificial insemination and Caesarean delivery for dogs with extreme, harmful conformation.
  • Lead a national educational effort informing the public about the medical risks flat-faced dogs experience throughout their lives.
We urge the USDA Under Secretary for Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and the APHIS Administrator to:
  • Revise Animal Welfare Act standards to prohibit federally licensed breeders from producing dogs with extreme brachycephalic traits known to impair breathing, cooling, or normal function.
  • Require veterinary certification that any dog used for breeding can breathe normally without clinical signs of airway obstruction.
  • Restrict the licensing of breeders who depend on surgical reproduction methods for their dogs to produce litters.

No dog should be born unable to draw a full breath. No dog should suffer lifelong medical complications because humans favored appearance over health. These animals endure daily, avoidable hardship that can be stopped only through leadership willing to place animal welfare above market demand.

We ask the AVMA and USDA to work together to end the forced breeding of brachycephalic dogs and establish national standards that protect future generations from preventable suffering.

Sincerely,

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