Relationship between incidence of breathing obstruction and degree of muzzle shortness in pedigree dogs

TL;DR

This paper critically examines the link between breathing obstruction and muzzle length in pedigree dogs, challenging previous research conclusions and highlighting the need for more accurate assessments in breeding regulations.

Contribution

It identifies flaws in prior studies and presents new analyses that offer different insights into the relationship between muzzle shortness and breathing issues.

Findings

Previous studies had methodological shortcomings.

New analysis suggests different correlation between muzzle length and breathing obstruction.

Highlights importance of accurate measurement in breeding regulations.

Abstract

There has been much concern about health issues associated with the breeding of short-muzzled pedigree dogs. The Dutch government commissioned a scientific report \emph{Fokken met Kortsnuitige Honden} (Breeding of short muzzled dogs), van Hagen (2019), and based on it rather stringent legislation, restricting breeding primarily on the basis of a single simple measurement of brachycephaly, the CFR: cranial-facial ratio. Van Hagen's work is a literature study and it draws heavily on statistical results obtained in three publications: Njikam (2009), Packer et al.~(2015), and Liu et al.~(2017). In this paper I discuss some serious shortcomings of those three studies and in particular show that Packer et al.\ have drawn unwarranted conclusions from their study. In fact, new analyses using their data leads to an entirely different conclusion.