Pugs lack the basic body functions to be classed as ‘typical dog’

PUGS can no longer be considered a “typical dog” because extreme breeding has left them with a long list of severe health issues.

The desire for baby-like dogs with bulging eyes, folds of skin and flat faces has led to life-shortening health problems that mean the animal is subjected to a “lifetime of suffering”, according to a study led by Dr Dan O’neill, senior lecturer in companion animal epidemiology at the Royal Veterinary College.

“We have dogs that are typical, like labradors, where they have a long nose and a tail and are not that dissimilar to a wild dog,’’ he told The Daily Telegraph.

“We’ve drafted a list of core body functions any dog should be able to do when it’s born and these are very basic. For example, they should be able to blink. It doesn’t feel like a big ask that a dog can blink, but many pugs can’t fully.

“A dog should be able to sleep without having to constantly wake up to breathe... a dog should be able to have skin that isn’t folded and not have crevices with infections and smell. These are really basic things. Pugs just don’t have those basic functions.”

Dr O’neill led a study of 16,000 pugs in Britain and found them to be over 50 times more at risk of narrow nostrils and brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome – both of which lead to breathing issues – than other dog breeds.

Of 40 common health conditions, pugs are at an increased risk for 23, including being at 13 times greater risk of eye ulcers and 11 times greater risk of skin-fold dermatitis.

Pugs are also more likely to be overweight, with one in six obese compared with one in 15 other dogs.

A recent Royal Veterinary College study found French bulldogs have the shortest life expectancy of any breed, at just four-and-a-half years. Jack Russell terriers are the longest lived at 13 years, on average.

Other flat-faced breeds – English bulldogs, pugs and American bulldogs – rounded out the bottom four in that study alongside French bulldogs, with none of them expected to live more than eight years.

The new findings are published in the journal Canine Medicine and Genetics.