Tell the AKC: Stop Imposing Unnatural Beauty Standards for Pugs

I know firsthand the effects of inbreeding on pugs. The American Kennel Club, an nationally recognized organization that provides pedigree certification to purebred dogs, is dedicated to only recognizing the physically perfect dogs as desirable, clearly presents their standards on their website for the perfect pug.

These unnatural standards include “rose” or “button” noses, square head, short and round snout, short legs and long bodies, wide chest, and double curled tails. As a result, breeders will anxiously breed their pugs hoping to achieve these perfect characteristics, with no regard to the pugs’ health. These physical characteristics, especially the hardly possible nose and snout requirements, impair pugs from breathing normally, and many pugs suffer from wheezing, loss of breath, and many who cannot breathe normally, die. The other undesirable pugs are neglected, mistreated, abandoned, and despised by their own breeder. Thus, animal buyers are just as highly discriminative.