Is it time for the U.S. to go Dutch?

By the time you read this I’ll have come and gone on a weeklong, early springtime trip to Amsterdam. While the greenery is heady and the artwork splendid, the Netherlands offers plenty of attractions beyond Vermeer, Van Gogh, tulips, and space cookies. The locals are always a draw, too. I mean, who but the Dutch would be the first to enact a ban on the breeding of brachycephalic pets? Leave it to the progressive, animal welfare-minded people of the Netherlands to declare that something should be done about the proliferation of brachycephalic pets beyond the quasi-sincere hand-wringing and teeth-gnashing we do here in the United States. While we’re busy rolling our eyes over every paraparetic Frenchie or pug with a cleft palate, the Dutch have gone and done something about it. A touch of Dutch history Historically, the Dutch have been first to advance progressive, egalitarian legislation on a variety of fronts. While they may be most famous for their permissive approach to recreational drugs and sex work, they were also the first to offer universal suffrage and euthanasia for the terminally ill. In fact, their history of religious diversity and “pragmatic tolerance” dates way back to the 17th century, when they came out from under Catholic Spain’s oppressive rule and became something of a safe haven for unwanted immigrants and religious refugees. Fast forwarding to the 21st century, it is clear the Netherlands has since invited animals under its umbrella of progressive egalitarianism, too. While it has long been on the cutting edge of animal welfare initiatives, it formally recognized animal sentience in 2011. Some of the measures it has taken include the banning of battery cages, mink farming, and the ritual slaughter of animals (with some government-supervised exceptions). Though the latter would seem to conflict with the Dutch’s zeal for religious tolerance, the measure serves to underscore the country’s commitment to the intrinsic value of animals. Given this history, is it any wonder they have banned the breeding of some pets whose inherited traits make them unfit to exist without veterinary intervention at every life stage? A ban on brachycephaly? In 2019, the Dutch parliament banned the breeding of 12 snub-nosed dog breeds, including pugs, Frenchies and English bulldogs, among brachycephaly’s other usual suspects. Norway followed suit on Cavaliers (but lost its bid to ban English bulldogs). Now, the Dutch are working to extend their legal reach by proposing a ban on ownership and promotion of pets who bear certain physical traits (in advertising and social media, for example), such as excessive skin folds and short snouts. It is not just a blanket ban on the breeds themselves. We could debate how “progressive” or “liberal” these policies actually are. We could also blaze trails down various rabbit holes on the subject of enforcement. (Exactly how long does a dog’s snout need to be in windmill country? Can I wear the pug-face hat I just knitted on my trip to Amsterdam?) It’s a bit of a mine field, to be sure. Yet, you can’t necessarily blame the Dutch for trying. The veterinary experience Who among us has never had to treat a French bulldog with unrelenting disk-related pain or euthanized cleft palate pups? If you have ever had to watch a Scottish fold with ankylosed tarsi try to chase a toy or a Cavalier with syringomyelia try to hold its head up to meet your gaze, you might feel a little more sympathy for the Dutch on this one. As veterinary professionals, we’re on the front lines of this debate. We know exactly how certain physical traits translate physiology to pathology. Of course, it is not just the brachycephalics. We see the influence of breed-related genetic disease multiple times every single day, often many times per patient. We see it so often that, like frogs in a pot, we have become mostly inured to it. Indeed, we have built our practices on the economics of programmed pathology. Without the abnormal airways, eyelids, ears, backs, valves, vulvas, and tails (not to mention all the other genetically-influenced traits we encounter every day) where would we be? Certainly a whole lot less flush. The problem, however, is not so much that we have become accustomed to the economy of pathology (though—make no mistake—we have). It is that we veterinary professionals, like most regular folk, have a hard time seeing the pathology for the cruelty it is. What’s more, we believe we’re not responsible for the damage. In fact, we often cast ourselves as the only backstop to the evils of purebred breeding. We are on the good side. We fight for the animals. Well, I don’t. Not always. Not in all ways. Not as much as I could, anyway. Consider my newest family member, my pug dog, Totoro. He was a cleft palate pup born as an emergency C-section at the ER. Three weeks later, he presented with severe dehydration, aspiration pneumonia, one ruptured eyeball and the other nearly there, too. His was a money case, to boot—a classic train wreck. Alas, I could not resist. How we fail If I’m honest, I decided to fight for him not just because he was somehow still kicking, but because I have a soft spot for the breed. My own off-the-street pug was almost 15 and I knew I’d be losing him soon. Sentimentality won out and I’d spend the next month in a touch-and-go battle against both aspiration pneumonia and the threat of complete blindness. (He lived in an oxygen cage for much of it.) I then spent the next four months tube-feeding him until his palate was repaired. One year later, I count myself lucky to have a one-eyed but otherwise “healthy,” extremely spoiled pug with moderate resource-guarding issues I’m trying hard to manage. It’s a typical vet story, right? Unfortunately, that is exactly how we fail them. While I’d do it all again, I have to acknowledge the harm I’ve done by taking in this pup. Consider: He’s been on social media. My clients see him every day. He looks so healthy and alive it is impossible to see the suffering involved. From C-section through cleft palate repair to all the stuff he will yet endure because of his breeding, he’s the perfect example of the cognitive dissonance required to practice our profession. So here is where I have to ask: Is saving one little pug’s life an exercise in animal welfare…or animal cruelty? The question takes me back to the Netherlands: Invasive as a ban might seem to our American sensibilities, the Dutch are not totally off base with their breed ban—not at all. Who are we to knowingly inflict pain and suffering in the service of adorability, breed purity, and/or irrepressible sentimentality? As Americans, we can get behind banning all kinds of animal cruelty, right? So, why is this particular kind of cruelty so hard to accept at face value? Maybe after hitting up the Dutch for their insight I’ll have an answer. However, even if I do, I doubt it will completely cure my penchant for pugs. Perhaps future generations of veterinarians will do better. For my part, I can only say I will keep trying to resist. Patty Khuly, VMD, MBA, owns a small animal practice in Miami and is available at drpattykhuly.com. Columnists’

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Is it time for the U.S. to go Dutch?

One veterinarian’s personal take on brachycephalic breed bans in the Netherlands

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