Wednesday 9 December 2015

All I want is the air that you breathe



Such an upsetting video, this - currently attracting a lot of unthinking comments on Facebook here where it has attracted over 700,000 views and over 10,000 likes.

For those that don't know, this Pug would love to lie down but can't because her airways are so compromised - first because of those very narrow nostrils; second because she's been bred with a flat face, squashing not just her external features but the internal ones, too. She is propping herself up to stop her airways blocking completely. As you can hear, she's still struggling. 

In effect, what you're seeing here is awake-apnoea. Without surgery, these dogs spend their whole life fighting for air and it gets worse as Pugs age as the effort to suck in air begins to thicken/coarsen internal tissue.

The medical term is orthopnea - laboured breathing (dyspnea) that is relieved by being in an upright position.

Many Pugs, Frenchies and Bulldogs sleep sitting up or with their heads propped up on cushions/sofa arms in an attempt to keep their airways open.

As for that tongue... it is sticking out because it doesn't fit in her abnormally-squashed mouth.

Have we done enough here, at least, to educate you that this is not cute? (If, that is, you didn't know already and of course many of you did.)

Have we?

11 comments:

  1. The vapidness of the comments on the thread was staggering. Someone even commented that the fat neck on the dog in the background was cute. Good grief.

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  2. Joseph Merrick (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Merrick) also had to sleep sitting up or his airways would occlude and he would suffocate. When he finally decided he had endured enough suffering on Earth (at least according to the movie), he simply laid down and died. We have created such horribly distorted and disfigured breeds of dogs that they spend their entire lives struggling for breath. How horribly sad.

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  3. I have a form of asthma that is also slightly relieved by sleeping upright. In other words, when I'm having an asthma attack, I can't sleep worth a damn. It's an exhausting experience not being able to breathe more sleep in a normal, comfortable position. It would be horrendous if humans were deliberately bred to have this condition just because their parents think it's cute watching them struggle to breathe & get a decent night's sleep.

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  4. Heartbreaking, frustrating, pathetic, unspeakable and so unnecessary.

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  5. Thanks for posting this sad video. Unfortunately, the comments on FB are all quips about how this dog looks like she needs a cup of coffee, etc. If only the situation were that banal. In truth, this animal is suffering, and the breeders and buyers of such freakishly altered canids are to blame. I left a comment on the FB site saying, "Sad. Stop breeding dogs with un-canid-like features that can't breathe."

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  6. As a counterpoint, here is great video of a dog with a head built like a dog's head ought to built - https://www.facebook.com/DogsNaturallyMagazine/videos/968383859860280/?fref=nf .

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    1. Yep, good one! Looks a lot like our husky x cattle dog mix. :)

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  7. I managed to find a few comments from concerned dog-savvy people who understand how the poor dog is struggling just to breathe... unfortunately they're swallowed up in a sea of adoring comments from people who have no idea what they're seeing.

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    1. That's what makes it so hard to get the word out about how this kind of qualzucht (torture-breeding) is no joke. It seems like the vast majority of the public either doesn't know or doesn't care, and they're too busy being amused to listen to real information about the domestic animals they share their lives with.

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  8. Yes, don't comment here but on FB! I left my short comment on FB too. Maybe people will start to think.

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  9. What is the point of continuing to breed defective animals? Just stop already.

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