‘There is a lot of hidden cruelty behind their cute faces’: Animal Justice Party MP Georgie Purcell wants crackdown on dodgy breeding practices

The breeding of dogs with extreme and cruel facial deformities may be restricted amid fears of a surge in the number of unwell pets being surrendered to shelters.

Tom and Sarah Gargiulo adopted French Bulldog Picnic. Picture: Jason Edwards

The breeding of French Bulldogs and pugs would be restricted in a new push to phase out puppies suffering from extreme and cruel facial deformities.

The Andrews government has confirmed it will consider changes to the breeding of animals with heritable defects as part of wider reform to the Animal Care and Protection Act.

Top vets and welfare advocates are urging the government to properly regulate the breeding of brachycephalic breeds – or flat faced dogs – amid growing cruelty concerns.

This would also include a major crackdown on dodgy breeding practices.

Sarah Gargiulo, Tom Gargiulo and two-year-old Eleanor with Picnic the French Bulldog Picnic who is paralysed. Picture: Jason Edwards

Animal Justice Party MP Georgie Purcell said breeders needed to be put in the spotlight to stamp out bad practice, amid fears of a surge in the number of unwell dogs being surrendered to shelters with serious deformities and illness because of bad breeding practices.

The exaggerated features of “brachy breeds” are a result of selective breeding which can often lead to significant health and welfare problems, including breathing problems, digestive issues, eye diseases, spinal malformations, heat intolerance, skin diseases and difficulting giving birth.

The Australian Veterinary Association and national animal ethics organisation, Sentient, have led calls for a ban on breeding dogs proven to have physical deformities.

They want extensive breeding assessments to be carried out to detect abnormal features, and dogs whose nose is less than a third of the length of their head would not be allowed to be bred.

Picnic’s previous owner tried to euthanise her after three surgeries for health complications. Picture: Jason Edwards

A complete ban on the breeds is not being proposed.

Ms Purcell has called for a review of Victoria’s current breeding laws because it was “more and more common” for brachycephalic breeds – including Boston terriers, Shih tzus and Cavalier King Charles spaniels – to suffer serious illnesses.

“The global increase in appeal of the physical appearance of brachycephalic dogs, particularly French Bulldogs and pugs, has been an easy cash grab for breeders, but the uncomfortable reality is that these breeds shouldn’t exist at all,” she said.

“There is a lot of hidden cruelty behind their cute faces.”

AVA spokesman David Neck, a vet of more than 30 years, said nearly half of all French Bulldogs fail to live past five years, while pugs have welfare issues “so far removed … that you can no longer call it a dog”.

“This syndrome, the short face, is a guaranteed struggle every day of the puppy’s life. It’s not a roll of the dice, whether you get it or not,” Dr Neck said.

“It’s common sense. If the individual is flawed, don’t pass on that individual’s genes to the next generation.”

Sentient president Rosemary Elliot said the lack of regulation of animal breeding in Australia is “unacceptable”.

Tom and Sarah Gargiulo adopted French Bulldog Picnic after her previous owner tried to euthanise her after three surgeries for health complications.

An Andrews government spokesman said it is an offence to breed an animal with a prescribed heritable defect that causes disease.

Brachycephaly is not currently a prescribed heritable disease under the relevant Act.