Issues with Bulldogs

One of the past University of Georgia mascots (Uga VI), showing the extremely exaggerated features of the English bulldog

There has been much response in the dog blogging community to a recent article released in the New York Times, and I thought I would weigh in on the subject.

As those of you who have been reading my blog for a little while should know, I live in Georgia. Football is a very popular sport in the United States (though I really don't like it), and since I'm in Georgia, it seems virtually everyone is enamored by the University of Georgia's football team. UGA's mascot, of course, is the English bulldog Uga. Uga has been maintained as a mascot for over fifty years through a continuous male familial line of pure white bulldogs that has been owned by the same man. Uga even made it into the book and film adaptation of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

The same Uga as above, looking miserable

People go gaga for Uga and the "dawgs," the common nickname for the team. However, is it really appropriate to have a live mascot? It comes down to health. Many other institutes of higher learning also have live mascots, such as Georgia Southern University. GSU has a bald eagle named Freedom who was rescued through their raptor center and cannot be released into the wild due to a malformed beak. I have met Freedom, and he is a beautiful, lively, healthy bird. In comparison, you don't even have to meet Uga to know that he's not very healthy. One of the most commonly seen pictures of the mascot is of him sitting in his dog house on a pile of ice so that he will not overheat. He's constantly panting heavily in the Georgia heat, and his smashed in face is clearly not helping the matter. Then, of course, there's always the fact that the last official Uga, Uga VIII, died at the incredibly young age of two from cancer. Uga VII died at age four of a heart attack. Though the pedigrees are not known, I find it likely that heavy inbreeding occurred in the line to perpetuate the all-white appearance (and to select for the more exaggerate type) and as such it's not surprising that the dogs are not living very long. I wouldn't be surprised if the next Uga died of heatstroke, despite the efforts to keep him cool.

A show bulldog in Poland

One aspect of bulldogs that is not seen by the layperson, but is common knowledge in the dog world, is the breed's complete inability to breed or birth naturally. Their hips are so narrow and their heads so big that females cannot support the weight of males, and thus have to be held to allow for anything close to natural mating to occur. There are even specially made breeding cradles that can be purchased for the purpose. If that doesn't work, artificial insemination will be necessary. Natural whelping is also basically impossible due to the narrow hips and gigantic heads that have been selected for in the breed. Cesarian sections are a standard, rather than emergency, procedure. All of this puts the bitch at a horrible risk of complications, including infection and reaction to the anesthesia. How can bulldog breeders not realize how truly bad this is?

A famous bulldog painting from 1790

Historically, bulldogs looked very different. They were bred for bull baiting, and as such it was necessary for them to be very athletic, fleet of foot, and able to breath freely and easily to keep from dieing by the massive animals they were being sent after. Also, since they are from an era when veterinary care was far from spectacular, they had to be able to give birth naturally. Modern bulldogs are slow-moving, easily overheated creatures that are almost unrecognizable as being from the same breed as their ancestors. They cannot breath freely or mate or birth naturally due to selection for no muzzle and their extremely massive heads. And yet modern bulldog breeders claim that their dogs are more "correct" than those seen in the 1700's. They are also in constant denial of the fact that bulldogs are so unhealthy, and that they usually live such short lives. For the sake of the dogs, something has to be changed. Changing the standard may help, since breeders lean on them as an excuse to make the choices that they do (with such phrases as "massive short-faced head" you can see how), but that isn't all that will have to go into the solution.

Uga I

The changes that have occurred in the breed can even been seen when looking at how the dogs have changed over the past fifty years. Again, the Uga line is very telling. The first Uga, in my opinion, was a rather handsome dog, especially when compared to the bulldogs you see today. Yes, he was of an exaggerated type, but he still looks like he could run and jump and maybe play with a football if he so chose. You can still see the similarities to the dogs of centuries earlier. I bet he was also born naturally, since he was born in the 1950's. However, as you look through the Uga line, and at how each successive dog has become more and more exaggerated, it's clear things have gone down hill. Some people call bulldogs "cute," but I disagree. The expressions on their faces simply look miserable to me. Their breathing is labored and they can't just simply run around and be a dog since they overheat so easily.

Scottie, aka Retrieverman, said to me a while ago that he thought an Alapaha Blue-Blood Bulldog (seen left) would be a good alternative to the English bulldog for UGA. I agree. Not only does their type lead to better breathing, and also natural breeding and whelping, but the breed is actually from Georgia!

Main sources are the New York Times and the University of Georgia. Images are from Wikimedia Commons or Flickr.com under Creative Commons licenses or are copyright free: one, two, three, four, six. Image number five, of Uga I, is copyright to the University of Georgia.

Breeding Fawn to Fawnequin

I had someone come across my blog recently after searching for what you get when you breed a fawn to a fawnequin. Well, I thought I would answer their question. I'm asuming this is in reference to great Danes since I have never heard the term "fawnequin" used outside the breed.

A fawn

A fawnequin

In great Danes, fawn is masked sable (AyAy EmEm hh mm) and fawnequin is masked sable merle with the harlequin modifier (AyAy EmEm Hh Mm). As such, the pair would breed true for the sable and mask genes (and thus fawn). The real variation is in the genes that act in that fawn. Probability-wise, half of the puppies will end up being merle, and the other half will be non-merle. Of the merles, half will be fawn merle (and thus lack the harlequin gene) and the other half will be fawnequin (and thus have the harlequin gene), All of the non-merles will be fawn since harlequin only acts in dogs that also have the merle gene 

You would not get black or brindle from the breeding since both colors are dominant to fawn, but depending on what the parents carry, you could potentially get fawn mantle or blue fawn (fawn with blue pigement and a blue mask). There's also the other, more unusual colors that sometimes pop up in the breed, such as liver pigmentation and piebald.

Unusual Breed: Alaskan Klee Kai

This breed is basically a small husky

The Alaskan Klee Kai (or AKK) is a more recently created breed of dog. It began in the 1970s with a single bitch who had been the product of a breeding between an Alaskan husky and a small dog of some sort. She looked like a husky in perfect miniature, and everyone thought it was adorable, so the owner, Linda S. Spurlin decided to create a new breed replicating the first. After some rather harsh selective breeding based on the mantra of "breed the best, cull the rest," the Klee Kai was born. 

Size comparison to a Siberian husky

Alaskan Klee Kais come in three size varieties, several coat types, and multiple colors. They also have the same high incidence of blue eyes that is seen in huskies. The standard is really quite strict, and that probably ties into the harsh breeding practices used in the breed's creation. For example, a long coat is a disqualification, as is the color white, asymetrical markings, and having an uncurled tail. The absence of a mask is also a disqualification, which is ironic because the acceptable dogs have light faces and the usual mask produces a dark face (which is the "unacceptable lack of mask" in the AKK). The breed is still not a very common one, though its popularity has been spreading since it was made available to the public in 1988. The biggest registry that accepts it is currently the United Kennel Club.  

Health-wise, the AKK is prone to a wide variety of ailments including patellar luxation, hypothyroidism, liver issues, heart murmurs, cleft palate, an open fontanel (i.e. soft spot on the head), and retained baby teeth, among many other things.  

Sources are Linda S. Spurlin, the Alaskan Klee Kai Association of America, United Kennel Club, and a breeder. Images are from Wikimedia Commons under a Creative Commons license or are copyright free: one, two.