Don't buy or breed dogs with extreme body shapes, experts urge

Would-be dog owners should avoid pets with bulging skulls, protruding eyes and shortened, twisted legs, and instead opt for those with a naturally healthy body shape, an international team of experts has urged.

- Nicola Davis

The health and welfare implications of extreme canine body forms has become a pressing issue, with repeated warnings of the problems faced by breeds with flat faces - from breathing and exercising difficulties to giving birth.

Now the International Collaborative on Extreme Conformations in Dogs (IcecDogs) is attempting to address dog-lovers directly, laying out healthy natural physical characteristics to look for in dogs, and extreme body shapes to avoid.

"It is the general public that now control how dogs look," said Dr Dan O'Neill, the associate professor for companion animal epidemiology at the Royal Veterinary College and cofounding IcecDogs member.

O'Neill said that while the appearance of dogs was historically linked to their function, such as retrieving or guarding, that had changed over the past 100 years as dogs had largely become companion animals.