Pedigree Dogs Exposed: Three Years On

In August 2008, Pedigree Dogs Exposed explored the extent of

health and welfare problems in pedigree dogs and called it the

greatest animal welfare scandal of our time. The dogs are falling

apart. The number of genetic problems are increasing at a

frightening pace. Ladies and gentleman, welcome to Crufts Best

in Show. We've become completely and utterly desense tiesed to the

fact that breeding deformed, disabled, disease-prone animals is

either shocking or abnormal. It's not normal. There is a universe of

suffering waiting for many of these breeds and many, if not most of

these breeds, will not survive. Pedigree Dogs Exposed turned me

into a campaigner. Three years on, I want to see what's changed.

incredibly grateful to the Kennel Club. If not for them, Fiona

wouldn't be here now. What issues are still crying out for action.

The shape of its face is such that I'm deeply saddened that an animal

with so much unconditional love is suffering because of our playing

God. Why doesn't the Kennel Club say it's unhealthy. Pedigree Dogs

Exposed suddenly made everybody, not ordinary dog lovers, vets,

scientists, sit up and go, my God, this is ridiculous. Something has

to be done. The broadcast of Pedigree Dogs Exposed and the

fallout that followed shook the world of pedigree dogs to its

foundations. The film triggered three independent inquiries into

dog breeding and the setting up of a Dog Advisory Council, chaired by

Sheila Crispin. As far as some really reputable breeders went

Pedigree Dogs Exposed hurt them. They felt they were being tarred

with the same brush. Having said that, the positive, and it's a big

positive, is that it stirred from inaction to action for all the

things that have worried a lot of us for years. Although there was a

lot of shock, horror, I think it did more good than harm. Film was

welcomed by many. It's been a wake- up call to everybody involved in

dog breeding. There is no question that the veterinary profession see

the urgency in what needs to be done, see that they have a key role

to play here. But the Kennel Club, the governing body of dogs, didn't

agree. It made clear in a webcast posted eight days after the

programme was shown. Confidence in the Kennel Club is probably at an

all-time low. I think you'd acknowledge that. What can you say

to people to restore that confidence? I think what we have to

do is to recognise that this is a one-off programme. It was highly

one sided. There are very, very many things that the Kennel Club is

already doing and is working with breeds to do. I don't think that

people actually, if they looked into the reality of it, would find

that there was very much to worry about. They felt very wounded. I

can't believe they, behind closed doors, afterwards, didn't say, you

know what, they've got a point. But there's no way they were going to

admit that. Pedigree Dogs Exposed focused on the two main issues

while pedigree dogs suffer welfare problems. First we found the

genetic pools from which dogs were bred had become so diminish today

was putting the viability of entire breeds at risk. It was a shock to

me that at the time, the Kennel Club saw nothing wrong in mother to

son, father to daughter and sister to brother matings. And seemed

oblivious to the scientific evidence that such close in-

breeding was a problem. You could say we will no longer register

mother son ratings because it's a level of breeding that's

unacceptable. Yes, we could. And if that is the right thing to do, we

ought to do it. I mean... there's a scientific basis that

says that's going to produce healthier, long lived animals that

make good pets, of course, we would go along with it. Why don't you

know that. It's the basic principles of breeding: It depends

on the mother son. If they're the last two. Have you got children?

Have you got a daughter? Yes. you have a baby with her? Of course

not. That's an entirely different issue. From the Toy Group the

Pekingese. It's such a long walk for him. The second reason for

problems was that breeding for looks and success in the show ring

had led to some dogs being burdened with disabling physical

exaggerations. Bless it's heart, the first dog for years that could

fit into the cup. What I see in front of me is a parade of mutants,

it's a freakish, garish beauty pageant that has nothing to do with

health and welfare. The show world is about an obsession, about beauty.

There is a ridiculous concept that is how we should judge dogs. Best

in breed means you happen to be closest to this thing has been

written on a piece of paper as what you should look like. Takes no

account of your temperament, your fitness for purpose as a pet animal

and that, to me, makes absolutely no sense at all. We also discovered

that there were dire consequences for some puppies that didn't meet

the stringent standards. One breeder of row deezian ridge backs

referring openly to the culling of puppies born without the trade mark

ridge. We do have trouble nowadays with the young vets who tend to see

everything in black and white and won't put them down. It's a healthy,

beautiful puppy, there's nothing wrong with it except it hasn't a

ridge. You say well, they're meant to have ridges. It's not easy.

Usually we end up having to go to an old vet that we've known for

years just to quietly put them sleep. I would rather they were put

down under my care than they landed in the hands of the fighting people,

which is appalling. Three weeks after our programme was broadcast,

the Kennel Club announced a new code of ethics that explicitly

forbids breeders to cull puppies on purely cosmetic grounds. Despite

the Kennel Club's initial insistence there was little wrong,

two months after the programme, it committed to a review of every

breed standard, removing clauses in them that could lead to the

disturbing physical extremes we documented. A couple of months

after that, it announced a ban on parent to offspring and brother to

sister matings. Other measures followed, as we will see. They are

all welcome and will help address some significant issues. I think

there is a much more fundamental problem that inhibits progress,

that is the way in which the dog world is run and regulated. While

the Kennel Club's stated goal is to promote, in every way, the general

improvement of dogs, at its core, the Kennel Club is a registry which

records the lineage of pure bred dogs and runs most dog shows in the

UK. It is the breeders who run the breed clubs who judge each others'

dogs in the show ring and sit on the rule-making committees at the

Kennel Club. Without a regulatory body, whose sole remit is to look

out for the dogs, progress has been, at best, slow, and at worst,

ineffective. A striking example of this is the Cavalier King Charles

spaniel. A breed that we revealed in Pedigree Dogs Exposed to be

suffering from a shocking neurological condition. It's called

syringomyelia, it is the result of a mismatch between the size of

their skull and brain. The brain is like a size ten foot that's been

shoved into a size six shoe. It doesn't fit. The net result is

neurological damage. The scratching started about 18 months ago. It's

really, really sad. It's described in huemans as one of the most

painful conditions that you could have, a burning pain, a piston-type

headache, abnormal sensations so that even light touch, items of

clothing, a collar for example, can induce discomfort for these animals.

Some dogs show only mild or even no symptoms. But at its worse, the

dogs are clearly in agony. This dog was in so much pain that he was put

to sleep. As if that wasn't enough, calf leers suffer heart disease too.

By the time they're five, about half of all calf leers will have a

Murray and that -- murmur. By ten or 11 almost all have a heart

murmur of some description. Pedigree Dogs Exposed showed that

cavaliers were juggling two horrific inherited conditions.

While my 2008 some measures were taken to tackle them, they were not

enough given the scale of the suffering. There was a lot of work

went on in the early days between the Kennel Club and cavalier clubs

to establish the wherewithal for their heart screen prog Graeme.

it's not worked. Well, this is a rather, but what might have

happened if they'd done nothing? You answer that. If they'd done

absolutely nothing, where would the breed be today, do you think?

you're saying it could be worse? That's not good enough, is it?

course not. It's progress though. Not in my book and with no-one in

any official capacity enforcing change, it was left to a whistle-

blower in the breed to raise the alarm. We were tipped off that the

winning dog at this championship show had been diagnosed with

syringomyelia. There are no rules to stop anyone showing a dog with

an inherited disease, but it was an uncomfortable moment for owner

Beverly Costello when challenged. It's been alleged to us that Rollo

has syringomyelia, is that true? Right. I'm not going to comment on

that. I know it to be the case because I have seen the MRI scans

of this dog. His owner showed me the scans. Could there be any

mistake about what you saw? You're not a vet. No, but I've seen

a lot of scans. And you're on the health committee of course. Yes.

The specialist who diagnosed champ dog Rollo tolled the owner that she

should never breed from him. He's sired some litters but not many.

Which was not actually true. At the time of filming, Rollo had fathered

34 litters, 266 them since being diagnosed. When we bumped -- 26 of

them since being diagnosed. Surprised to see you here.

turned out that they're furious, not with Beverly Costello for

breeding from a dog with syringomyelia but with us for

ruining Beverley's big day. Could I ask you why you were so

upset to see us this morning? Breed Club championship show,

entering the ring and discussing with the Best in Show winner about

syringomyelia was completely out of order. But do you think that a dog

should win with syringomyelia? Do you think that's right? I do

believe that if something's not done, it's going to be too late to

do anything. If going public is the way to get people to stop and think

what they're doing, then that's what I will do. But Margaret paid

the price. Three weeks after the programme, the Cavalier Club called

a special general meeting to decide Margaret's future. There was a

gagging clause in the club's code of ethics, which prevented members

saying anything detrimental about the breed. It was always said that

talking about health ruined the breed, so as for as they were

concerned, I had ruined the breed. We sent a photographer to the

special general meeting, which didn't go down very well with one

breeder. I knew that what I had done was right and yet, there were

all these people determined to punish me. Margaret was voted off

the committee by a majority of 204 to 31.

For 30 years I was part of the show scene and it's like a sect, it's

like a cult. Plain, common sense doesn't play any part in it.

Margaret has since set up a Cavalier Club for pet owners and

continues to campaign independently on breed health. Last time we met

cavalier owner and campaigner Carol Fowler she was lobbying her MP. She

was determined to see through the necessary reform for the breed.

Having lost one cavalier to syringomyelia, Carole recognised

the need for dogs to be scanned. Let's check Rosie over before the

scan. Has she been painful recently? She did occasionally yelp.

But she hasn't done that now for a couple of months at least. Three

years on from the film, the British Veterinary Association and Kennel

Club have just launched a new official MRI screening scheme for

syringomyelia. The results will be published on the Kennel Club

website allowing the public to check which cavaliers have been

scanned before they buy a puppy. It's good news, but there's a hitch.

Some influential breeders don't want their dogs' scan results being

made public and are not supporting the official scheme. The Kennel

Club isn't forcing them to test at the moment. It rarely makes a

health test mandatory without the support of the Breed Club. One has

the impression that some of the breeders simply have their heads in

the sand and they're just not listening. These are unacceptable

welfare problems being generated by the breeders. Unless they can

actually produce cavaliers have don't have these problems, then

they should stop breeding. Cavalier King Charles spaniel club

says it has continued to support by its actions the health and well

being of this much loved breed. And that it has worked with the Kennel

Club and British Veterinary Association on its new scheme to

tackle syringomyelia. But there has been some devastating news for the

breed. New research now suggests that by the age of six up to 70% of

the breed could have the condition. Not all show obvious symptoms, but

that doesn't always prevent their pup yids being severely affected.

Carol Fowler believes in the absence of support for change from

every breeder and without strong leadership from the Kennel Club

that it is no longer morally justifiable to continue breeding

cavaliers. When people ring and say I want a cavalier puppy, what do

you feel inside? My heart sinks. Why? Because I want to say to them,

don't get one. Because the chances of having a dog that will develop

height ral valve disease and/or syringomyelia is too high.

-- mitral valve disease. Do we have the right to carry on for the sake

of these cute little dog that's we love so much? It feels, to me, like

it isn't right. Surprisingly, the modern cavalier wasn't founded

until the 1920s. From creation to ruination in less than 100 years.

But it may not be too late for Dalmations. Because in January 2011,

the Kennel Club did something that I think was amazing. It recognised

this dog as a Dalmation and that was quite something, because Fiona

here and others like her, have been the subject of one of the most

bitter fights in dogdom. That's because way back in Fiona's bed

gree, there is one of these an English pointer. That makes Fiona,

in some people's eyes, a mongrel. As we revealed in Pedigree Dogs

Exposed, purity is everything to many Kennel Club breeders. Even

when it flies in the face of common sense.

In 1973 an American scientist and Dalmation breeder Bob Schaible

mated a pointer to a Dalmation to reintroduce a vital gene to the

breed, one that restored the ability to produce normal levels of

uric acid, something the Dalmation had lost, probably through

selective breeding for the breed's trade mark spots. The puppies

didn't grow up to look much like a Dalmation, but by back crossing to

normal Dalmations within a few generations Dr Schaible produced a

dog indistinguishable from any other Dalmation but had normal uric

acid levels and that was a revelation because high uric acid

levels in Dalmations can be a big problem.

It killed this dog, Armstrong and this extraordinary video reveals

why. It is of the inside of his bladder. It shows how high uric

acid levels can show stones in the urinary tract, which can cause

life-threatening blockages. Once the stone forms the blockage, it

then starts becoming incredibly painful. The dog cannot wee. It

cannot empty its bladder. If the dog isn't immediately take ton a

vet, the bladder will burst. That means certain death, absolute

certain death for the dog. Breeders warn all new Dalmation owners that

this is a danger. So it is usually caught in time. But many Dalmations

are at risk. They have to be fed a special diet to help prevent stones

forming. So what not to like about a line of Dalmations that doesn't

suffer from this problem? But when UK breeder Julie Evans decided to

import American-born Fiona into the UK, to introduce the healthy gene

into Dalmations here, the British Dalmation Club tried to stop her.

They insisted that the move was "inappropriate and irresponsible

"for reasons rejected by the Kennel Club. In January 2011, despite

Breed Club opposition, the Kennel Club registered Fiona as a

Dalmation. Two months later, she became the first mongrel ever to

compete in a show class at Crufts, a milestone I captured on my camera

phone. I am incredibly grateful to the Kennel Club. After all, if it

wasn't for them, Fiona wouldn't be here now. We wouldn't be speaking

now about Fiona and we wouldn't have the gene in this country.

November 2011, Fiona gave birth to nine puppies hopefully ensuring

that the new gene is here to stay. But there is still resistance from

some Dalmation breeders. The British Dalmation Club makes no

mention of this healthier alternative Dalmation on its

website and it has declined our offer to take part in this film.

saddens me beyond words, it really does, when I first did this. I knew

the clubs weren't happy about the situation, but I have to say that

in my heart of hearts, I really did think they would come round and see

the science and the logic. I really, really hoped and thought they would.

It hasn't happened yet. God didn't come along and say, there's a

Dalmation, there's a labrador, there's a boxer. Dogs breeds are

man made. If you make a breed healthier, you take it to the

future. It's a beautiful animal. It can be beautiful on the inside.

Julie Evans is everything I think a breeder should be, smart enough to

embrace the science, brave enough to swim against the tide.

And there are others out there, but often too few to make enough of a

difference. As we've seen, those that call for

change can be marginalised by the powerful Breed Club hierarchy.

Because the Kennel Club is inskrikyaebl linked with the breed

clubs it can be very hard for individuals to make themselves

heard. Even when there is concern that the

actions of those in charge of the Breed Club could be putting some

dogs at risk. I'd wanted a boxer since I was tiny,

because of the personalities. They're just ridiculous. They make

you laugh, all the time. Rona Bond and her partner Martin bought their

first boxer Pie in April 2007. They knew that boxers could suffer from

heart disease, so made sure that Pie was from heart-tested parents.

But it wasn't Pie's heart that was the problem. When he was just 18

weeks old, a scan revealed that her kidneys were abnormal and she was

diagnosed with juvenile kidney disease. Unable to filter dangerous

toxins from her body, she would slowly poison herself to death. She

was given just a year to live. Go and give daddy kiss. Thanks to

the early diagnosis and Rhonea's devoted care, Pie defied the odds,

at least for a while. The only obvious signs were that she was

slight for a boxer. And she drank and -- a lot.

The end, when it came was sudden and traumatic.

Just horrific. She was trying to be sick, but she'd stopped eating, so

she was just screaming. It was, that was how I kind of described it.

She was screaming because she opened her mouth really wide and

just nothing. It was awful. This is Pie shortly before she was put to

sleep. She'd lost a third of her body weight. She was just two years

old. It looked like an unlucky one off.

Juvenile kidney disease does occur occasionally in all breeds. But

then the unthinkable happened. Before Pie died Rhonea had added

two more boxers to her family. Yogi Bear and Pie's half sister Roxie.

To Rhonea's horror in 2010, Roxie too was diagnosed with juvenile

kidney disease. She is not as badly affected as her half sister Pie,

but it will shorten her life. really, really angry at that point.

I thought there had to be a link to this. You couldn't have two dogs

related and have the same problem and it be a fluke. Roxie and Pie

have different mothers, but share the same champion father. It's a

dog called Designer Game at Glenauld, Gucci for short. It

turned out he had sired other litters affected by the disease.

Three of them bred by breeder Shannon McCurdy who had lost her

own dog Madge to the disease. day before we had to get her put to

sleep, she was so desperate for fluid that she would try and, as

soon as she's weed, you know the wee was coming out, she was trying

to turn around to drink it, this excessive thirst. It was horrible,

it was horrible. Like Rhonea, Sharon believed that it could be

genetic and that the problem might lie in Gucci's family line. If they

were right, the implications for the breed were serious. Gucci is a

popular stud dog and he has sired 894 puppies.

Sharon contacted geneticist and boxer breeder Dr Bruce Cattanach

for help. Dr Cattanach is an eminent

scientist, whose career at the Medical Research Council involved

tracking genetic mutations. He has been genetics advisor to the boxer

breed for over 30 years. From Past experience I've found most cases of

kidney disease were not inherited. But I said I would have a look and

see what I could find. It was very worrying. Because these were all

occurring in a tight family group. It just hit you straight away here,

you're dealing with inherited problems. The pedigree information

doctor Cattanach examined suggested strongly that juvenile kidney

disease in boxers is a recessive condition. Puppies are at risk only

if both parents carry the faulty gene. And the closer the in-

breeding, the higher the risk of something like this coming out. In

this case, one saw pretty well extreme, the closest possible

inbreeding really. Roxie's pedigree reveals that Gucci is both her

father and on her mother's side also her grandfather. Gucci was

mated to his own daughter from a previous litter to produce Roxie.

This was before the ban in 2009. Dr Cattanach quickly found over 30

cases of young boxers that had been diagnosed with juvenile kidney

disease between 2007 and 2010, most now dead and all closely related.

He thought the likelihood of this happening by chance was remote. In

almost half of the cases, Gucci is either the puppy's father or

grandfather. That was, to me, very worrying

because this dog had been used so many times as stud. It meant the

gene was possible, it could be all over the country. If it's proven

that an inherited gene is responsible, it would be more than

worrying. Gucci is owned by one of the most powerful people in the

breed today, Janice Mair of Glenauld Boxers. Mair is a top

breeder and Kennel Club judge, who judged the breed at Crufts in 2008,

the highest honour. She is also chair of the boxer breed Council. A

body set up to among other things "improve and protect" the boxer. In

November 2010, doctor Cattanach wrote to Janice Mair to tell her

that he thought Gucci might be carrying a deadly gene. I thought

she would be the best person to help out and you know lead the way,

away. But she didn't believe it. Worse was to come. It looked to Dr

Cattanach as if it wasn't just Gucci. As the picture got clearer,

I realised it was a bigger family group. This really did hit right to

the heart of the current boxer, show boxer population. Dr Cattanach

concluded that if Gucci does carry a faulty gene, it's most likely he

inherited it through dogs from another famous kennel, Walkon

Boxers run by Yvonne Miller and her veterinary surgeon husband Walker

Miller. There is a champion walkon dog in all but 30 cases that have

been identified so far. Other walkon dogs have produced puppies

with juvenile kidney disease. There was no difintive proof that

Dr Cattanach was right. What was needed as a gene test to identify

dogs that appear to be perfectly healthy, but were silently carrying

the condition and for that, Dr Cattanach needed blood samples from

as many boxers as possible. In February 2011, at a meeting of

the boxer breed Council held at this hotel in Warwickshire, Dr

Cattanach presented his findings to, among others, Janice Mair and

Walker Miller. What was the reaction? Silence almost.

Cattanach appeared to have been heard. After the meeting, the breed

council issued a press release that recognised the seriousness of the

situation and it made several recommendations. It offered Dr

Cattanach the full support of the breed Council in his efforts to

find a genetic test for juvenile kidney disease. It encouraged boxer

owners to donate blood to help with the research, including those who

owned the parents of affected dogs. And it advised breeders to avoid

in-breeding to minimise the chances of a puppy inheriting two cop yids

of the faulty gene. If you're breeding dogs, cats, any

animal, any livestock, you can be sure you're going to find something.

It always happens, because mutations occur all the time. The

problem is how you deal with them when you find it. This is where

it's gone badly wrong here. A year on from the meeting, the boxer

breed Council website contains no information or advice on the threat

from juvenile kidney disease. While some owners and breeders have

provided blood samples for the DNA research, Walkon Boxers have not,

despite Walker Miller being on the health committee and being a vet

himself. In a statement, contested by Dr Cattanach, Yvonne Miller

insists that she offered blood samples for the DNA research which

she says were dismissed of being of no interest.

In addition, no blood samples have yet been provided by Janice Mair of

Glenauld Boxers. You know, she believed, genuinely believes that

her dog is not implicated in any way, then why not give blood? Why

not help? In a statement, Janice Mair says that she would be willing

to give a sample from Gucci, but understood that Dr Cattanach had

already obtained a sufficient number of samples. She also states

that to date, there have been no cases involving dogs living in our

own kennel and the research initially focused on affected dogs.

Notwithstanding the bomber breed Council's advice to avoid close

inbreeding, both Glenn auld and Walkon Boxers have registered

litters in the past year much more inbreed than the average boxer.

Both kennels have mated dogs that an independent geneticist says

could be cariers of juvenile kidney disease, unwittingly, perhaps,

putting puppies at risk of the condition. Janice Mair says that

she has followed advice to avoid mating possible carriers with close

relatives. Yvonne Miller says she would never breed from dogs she has

reason to believe was spreading juvenile kidney disease.

Both breeders say they take genetic diversity into account when

breeding and that the health and welfare of their dogs is and always

has been of paramount importance. They should have seen this, they

would have seen it, they may have seen it, but they have not

recognised it, understand it and done something about it.

The extent of the genetic threat from juvenile kidney disease in

boxers is not yet known. A preliminary gene scan has not

thrown up any useful results, but finding genetic mutations can take

a long time. In the meantime, what's needed are more cases to

come forward, more blood samples and more people willing to stand up

a -- for the health of their breed. This has got to stop. This has to

stop. People come to us to buy dogs in good faith. They buy a pet

that's -- that soon becomes somebody's best friend. We don't

breed dogs, knowing they're going to die. You don't do that. You know,

this breed is at risk. I have decided to speak out because,

knowing what I know, and to, you know, I feel as if I have a duty

and responsibility to those people that bought puppies from me. I mean

I lost my wee girl. She was my everything and I promised her that

we would see this through, that we would find, you know, and I will. I

don't need to show dogs, but I need to have a healthy boxer. So...

Inbreeding and the prolific use of popular stud dogs is an issue that

reaches far beyond boxers. Both practices have contributed to a

loss of genetic diversity that is a serious threat to the long-term

survival of many breeds, as top geneticist Steve Jones warned us

three years ago. If the dog breeders insist on going further

down that road, I can say with confidence really that there is a

universe of suffering waiting for many of these breeds and many, if

not most of these breeds, will not survive. They will be so inbred,

they will not be able to reproduce and their genes will come to a dead

end. There was startling evidence fd this 2008. A report from

Imperial College London looked at ten different dog breeds and found

that many were in real trouble genetically, in fact in Germany, if

they were a farm animal, they would have had a conservation order

slapped on them. Professor Sir Patrick Bateson

author of one of the key reports into dog breeding that followed

Pedigree Dogs Exposed also highlighted inbreeding as a serious

concern. What I can reveal is something which is very well known,

inbreeding has bad consequences. It's not just the inheritance of

diseases which is a cause of problem. It's also that they're

more likely to get things like cancer. There has been a change in

public mood. People didn't really know what was going on. I didn't

know what was going on, I must say. It was astonishing what is

happening. I was involved in a report 20 years beforehand where we

highlighted some of things which you highlight in your film. Of

course, nothing happened. It was ignored. After Pedigree Dogs

Exposed, the Kennel Club committed �1.2 million to a new Kennel Club

genetics centre at the Animal Health Trust in Newmarket. The work

there focused on the development of new DNA tests to help breeders

breed away from genetic health problems. They've also developed a

genuinely useful new online tool called mate select. This allows you

to look up health test results and how inbred an individual dog is

compared to the breed average. Mate select allows breeders to work out

something called the co-firbgt of inbreeding, COI for short, of

individual matings. A father daughter mating for example would

produce puppies with a COI of 25%. That's now banned, so how come the

Kennel Club registers dog was higher COI's than this? This Cesky

Terrier has a co-efficient of 45.7%. It happens because inbreeding is

cumulative and dog breeders have been keeping it in the family for

decades. You can reduce the damage by saying, OK, you can't mate with

your daughter or brothers and sisters, but actually, if you're

mating with your cousins, that is almost as bad F that goes on for a

long time, that just builds up. all breeds are this inbred. Some

breeders go to considerable lengths to make the most of the available

genetic diversity in their breeds. While the Kennel Club allows this

degree of inbreeding, dogs will suffer.

I think the measures taken so far, have been tentative, very reluctant

and to a degree, cosmetic. I think we have to stand back from the

problem and ask, again, why are you doing this? If you like dogs, if

you want a companion, intelligent animal with a decent lifespan and a

decent way of life, you must stop this kind of inbreeding. The Kennel

Club says it prefers education to regulation. But I believe the

situation is now so urgent that it must be do more. It doesn't even

suggest a maximum level of inbreeding. Unlike the Swedish

Kennel Club, and there it works. In the a kingle boxer born in Sweden

in the past two years has had a co- efficient of inbreeding higher than

6.25%. The same is true in most breeds. Many Sweden breed clubs

have introduced limits to prevent top sires swamping the gene pool.

The boxer case is an example of how rapidly you can cause damage. They

need it stand back and look at the bigger problem, why are you doing

this? If you love dogs, why would you want to have an animal that

suffers to titivate your vanity, which is what it is? Which brings

us to the second part of the problem, the way in which the show

ring has changed the shape of some of our best loved breeds. As we saw

in Pedigree Dogs Exposed, rarely for the better.

This is what 100 years of the show ring has done to the dachshund,

today's dogs have much shorter legs. The original bull terrier on the

left had a normal shaped head, markedly different to today's dog

on the right. And then, there's the bulldog. The subject of fierce

debate. Bull dogs were once used for bull baiting. And breeders are

fond of explaining that the skin folds on the dog's face are there

to channel the bulls blood from the dogs' eyes and that the shape of

the head would allow it to breathe while allowing it to hang onto a

bull's nose. Today's bulldog looks nothing like the dog in the baiting

rings of old. Here's what we've done to the breed in less than 100

In fact, our national dog has been disordered into such an unnatural

shape that the breed often needs assistance to mate and Caesarean

sections to give birth (. We've become completely and utterly

desense tiesed to the fact that breeding these mutants, these

deformed, disabled, disease prone animals is either shocking or

abnormal. It's not normal. After Pedigree Dogs Exposed the Kennel

Club beefed up training for judges. It made changes to the breed

standards of 78 breeds in an effort to tackle physical exaggerations.

If you see a dog that is a little taller on its legs, is less

exaggerated in all its form, less skin wrinkling and so on. Is there

there were howls of protest. Absolutely devastated. To the point

of tears. It would be the worst thing imaginable to the genuine

bulldog lover exhibitor and breeder. It is not the first time the Kennel

Club has revised breed standards in response to criticism. As this

telling archive from 1986 reveals. Bill, what is the Kennel Club's

role? The Kennel Club is the governing body of pedigree dogs. We

are coming to the end of the moment of a review of the breed standards,

where we are removing clauses in those standards that require

exaggeration. But it didn't work then and it hasn't worked this time

either. At least in terms of what's winning in the show ring.

Should we be breeding dogs that look like this? The very simple

answer is no. The shape of its face is such that this dog cannot

breathe normally. It won that day, the photograph was taken. It won

its class, best of breed and it then went on to win the group. It's

one of the top bull dogs of 2011. I've spoken to the owner. He

doesn't think there's anything wrong with the dog. How do you deal

with that? You keep on trying to educate them, but most importantly,

if that is a show dog, you make absolutely certain that no judge

ever thinks of placing a dog with this morphology and shape. That's

the other part of the equation. This dog has been shown and

somebody has placed it. They shouldn't have done. I'm very

disappointed, yes. I think that's a great shame, after everything

that's been done, three years since your programme, 25 years since

other people have reported, in a similar vain, about bulldogs, that

this should still be going on is very disappointing, yeah.

Starting at this year's Crufts, winning bulldogs and 14 other

breeds will have to pass a simple vet check before they can progress

further in the competition. It will help, but much more is needed.

feel that the breed standards need to be looked at again. A radical

look at the breed standards, so that you are reversing this, so

that really the bull dogs people should be going for are the ones

with the long snouts, not short snouts. But they're out there, why

not embrace this alternative bulldog, which isn't currently

recognised by the Kennel Club and dump the current show dog? Or how

about this working basset hound, compared to the overdone show

version? Same with the original Chinese shar pei, completely free

of the wrinkling that often burdens the Westernised version of the

breed. Then there is this working Neapolitan mastiff, a revelation

compared to this winning show dog. I think trying to tinker with

beauty pageants to somehow make them better is simply the canine

equivalent of trying to polish a turd. It simply isn't going to

happen. As for as I'm concerned, they have no place in terms of

improving the welfare of dogs. Creating some kind of dog show that

actually focuses in an entirely different way on health and welfare,

absolutely, I believe fundamentally could make a massive difference to

dog welfare, but you wouldn't start with the kind of shows we have now

and try to change them. You throw it away and you start from a blank

sheet of paper. In Pedigree Dogs Exposed we met George the pug. The

son of a Crufts champion and loved dearly by his owners Joanne and

Graham. We revealed that George himself had qualified for Crufts.

Despite having a wholey host of health problems typical of his

breed. As his vet explained. At the back here we have problems with

both legs with his knee caps out of join. When you bend like that, the

cap slips out of join to the other side of the leg. His stomach has a

problem with where it is protruding into his chest cavity. It's even

into his throat we have a partial collapsed larynx and elongated soft

palate. His squashed up nose has caused breathing problems. With his

eyes he has a roll-in of the lower eye lids. Finally he has curvature

of the spine. This is his head up here. The spine comes down here and

a sharp bend there and another sharp bend there.

It's breeding for a screw tail that the standard insists on that is

thought to be the reason why George's spine is so deformed.

get a twisted tail you need to have an unusual shape, so when they fit

together they can form a corkscrew. It may look very desirable, but

you're likely to have an increased instance of abnormalities elsewhere

in the spine. Three years on from Pedigree Dogs Exposed, there is now

a Breed Club screening programme for pug spines. Little other

progress though. The Kennel Club breed standard still insists this a

double curl in the tail is highly desirable and although the

description of the pug's muzzle has been changed from muzzle short, to

muzzle relatively short, faces in the show ring are still so flat

that it recently prompted an RSPCA campaign to highlight the issue.

The pug and the bulldog are among a number of what are known as

brachiocephalic breeds, with short, broad skulls and short faces. There

is increasingly compelling evidence that when taken to extremes, it is

The struggling for air is one of the most frightening feelings man

or animals can have. For some pugs like Cissy here, life is a constant

battle to breathe. Her quality of life is now so poor, that Cissy's

German owner has driven 600 kilometres to the University of

liepzeek -- lip zeek in the -- leap zeek -- for surgery.

There are dozens of video on YouTube of pugs falling asleep

sitting or standing up.?. Like this one, they are presented as a bit a

joke. But there's nothing funny about it.

Some pugs do this because their airways block when they drop their

heads. But like many pugs, Cissy's

problems are much more than just blocked airways. Her tongue is too

big for her mouth. Her eye sockets are so shallow that under stress

her eyes could pop out and she still has the same number of teeth

as a normal dog, but no room for them to grow properly.

I think many owners do not realise how much their dog is suffering.

This is one of the world's leading experts in the treatment of what is

known as brachiocephalic airway disease.

A very common consequence of breeding a dog with a face as flat

as a human baby's. His research has highlighted the importance of a

part of the dog's nose critical in controlling body temperature.

In a German shepherd this area comprises a huge part of the muzzle,

bigger even than the area dedicated to smell. In the pub, it has almost

disappeared. Worse, what little remains now blocks the airways.

This is why pugs are in danger of collapse from heatstroke on even a

palmy day. Inbreeding for a flat face, we've robbed them of the

ability to cool themselves. Cissy cannot get back her lost nose,

but he can remove some of the excess tissue blocking her airways.

First though, he reveals just what going on in the skin folds.

So what we see this is the nose and huge mass of redundant skin that is

too much and loose causes this fold here and the bacteria are growing

in this fold. For many owners it is difficult to clean this day by day

because it hurts a bit and the dog doesn't want it. I'm lacking of

words to describe this. It's awful and it causes pain. An endoscope

passes through Cissy's nostrils reveals how blocked her airways are.

We should wide and open black gaps for the air streaming. And it's

more orless severely obstructed. There are tiny holes. The Professor

uses a laser to remove the abnormal tissue blocking Cissy's nasal

passages. That's it. In a procedure that take twoz hours

in total, he also widens Cissy's nostrils.

Finally, a lot of excess tissue in her throat is removed and the

remaining structures are secured. It is unbelievable that we need

such an invasive surgery just to repair the basic needs of the dog,

breeding is the most basic need and this is in no way acceptable from

any ethical point we have today. Pet Plan Insurance revealed

recently that in 2010 it had paid out claims worth �1.5 million for

surgery just to help pets breathe. A 25% increase since Pedigree Dogs

Exposed aired in 2008. The vast majority of these

procedures are for the brachiocephalic breeds of dog,

those with very flat faces. The Professor believes it is no longer

acceptable to breed the most extreme of these, the pug and

bulldog. The whole veterinary profession is faced more and more

with a situation that we are becoming a repair troupe for small

animal breeders. We can say today that today one should stop, totally

stop breeding brachiocephalic dogs. Breeders proved not only in your

country, in our country, in the whole world, the same in the States,

breeders of brachiocephalic breeds proved that they are not able to

breed healthy animals. They proved that they created one disease after

the other. It is time it call a halt to the suffering and recognise

that it will never change while the Kennel Club tolerates the human

whim that has led to dog that's cannot run, breathe or see freely.

The Kennel Club has refused to take part in this film. If it had, I'm

sure it would be to say, that it is doing what it can, while keeping

breeders on board. And therein lies the problem. The Kennel Club's

massive conflict of interest in juggling its commitment to breeders

and its commitment to dogs. It should be one and the same, but too

often, it isn't and when it isn't, the dogs lose.

Is the Kennel Club fit for function in terms of protecting the welfare

of dogs? Absolutely not. I think we can all stand up and say now, there

is no way, if left to the Kennel Club, this problem is going to

resolve. And while the Dog Advisory Council

that was set up after Pedigree Dogs Exposed is populated with good

people and good intentions, it is under funded and has no real teeth.

There's nothing we can use to beat people over the head. We're there

to examine evidence and make recommendations based on evidence.

I hope people will regard our recommendations as important. We

can't get tough. We don't have any legislative powers. I'd love to get

tough. Buff we can't. Three years on from Pedigree Dogs

Exposed, I believe we need a new, independent, regulatory body to

drive through meaningful reform for dogs.

Backed by Government, the new authority could be funded by a new

national registration extreme for all dogs, not just pedigree,

enabling a joined up strategy to deal with other pressing issues,

stray dogs, dangerous dogs and puppy farms.

We, as consumers, also have a responsibility, to examine our

attraction to dog that's would not look out of place in a Victorian