The pug, bred specifically for its pancake-shaped face, endures health defects due to their special face shape. Additionally, other specific breeding tactics cause certain issues including, but not limited to difficulty breathing, infections in the flaps of its face skin and obesity. The breeding of dogs like pugs to seem ‘cute’ should not persist, as research surrounding the dangers of them simply living can kill them. The cruel jokes dog breeders play on these animals become disgusting and borderline abusive. Pugs, bulldogs and the variations of teacup dogs suffer from the aftereffects of breeders’ disregard for the dogs’ health.

Awareness regarding the health problems dogs face spread throughout communities and the obstruction of dog breeders, specifically within puppy mills, remains a hot topic among activist groups including the Humane Society. These groups cite the inhumane conditions wherein the breeding of these deformed dogs takes place as a reason for the shutting down of the mills. With the killing of dogs who can no longer breed and the separation of puppy and mother, one may agree to the inhumanness of these mills. Unfortunately, in a majority of cases, these mills rarely become illegal despite just how inhumane the mills seem thanks to the outdated laws surrounding the Animal Welfare Act (AWA).

“Pugs need to be bred for healthier traits because of the ones people are currently breeding for cause major health problems for the dog. Dogs are living beings, and we should care for them and treat them as such,” junior Parker Prevost said.

Whilst puppy mills provide easy access to dogs, the harmful conditions that puppies and breeding dogs live in with minimal amounts of food, medical attention and interaction with other dogs or with humans, should count as extensive animal rights violations. These mills continue to breed deformed dogs that others perceive as endearing because they sell for a large amount in comparison to other dogs, despite the obvious health problems endured since birth. Since consumers still enjoy the sight of these animals, the selling of the dogs will not cease until the value of selling them does.

“I find the mass breeding of ‘cute’ dogs quite a disgusting practice. The so-called ‘breeders’ of popular dog breeds are mostly untrained and unlicensed puppy millers who opt for money over the safety of the dogs they claim to care for. Features that buyers find appealing are often terrible defects caused by excessive inbreeding. These features render the dogs immunocompromised and physically disabled from birth,” junior Lily Mize said.

Breeds of dogs like pugs, teacup versions of regular breeds and those exhibiting physical malformation due to human interference, remain a sad example of humans trying to conform living beings to their own beauty standards. These include making them pudgier, even when these standards physically disable them. The end result of such alterations to a dog’s physical form leaves them with disadvantages in their everyday life when simply breathing or any form of physical burden placed upon them. Serious revisions must take place to the laws surrounding the mass breeding of such dogs in order to resolve their low standard of living.