Canis lupus hominis

People should be ashamed of themselves if they have selected for a conformation that can only be reproduced through such extreme human intervention.

Part I.

Part II.

As you can see here, male bulldogs are so broad and heavy in the chest that they can’t copulate without someone providing support to the male. Some breeders use “breeding racks” to assist their male bulldogs in mating. The bitch is narrow at the waist, and she cannot support him.

Normal dogs usually don’t have problems performing this action, although I do know of a small JRT that had some trouble mounting a bitch that was taller than he.

But usually, this is something that dogs can do without much human assistance.

Not so with bulldogs.

Not only do bulldogs have trouble mating,  but virtually every bitch must have a C-Section to be delivered of her pups.

C-sections  are necessary for several reasons. The main reason is that bulldog puppies have big head,  and their mothers have relative narrow pelvises. The puppies simply cannot make out without getting stuck.

C-sections became more and more common in bulldogs, and it wasn’t long before breeders began to have them performed as a precautionary measure. The result of breeding dogs for generation after generation with use of the C-section is that the bitches were no longer being selected for good whelping conformation or muscle tone.

Because of this factor, it may eventually become impossible to find an English bulldog that can whelp naturally, even if the conformation standards are revised to allow for easy mating and birth.

This breed is truly a four-legged tragedy.

But it wasn’t always this way.

Please stay tuned for another post in which I describe what the bulldog once was.

It isn’t exactly what you might expect.