The UK Brachycephalic Working Group (BWG) has published its five-year strategy to improve the health and welfare of both current and future generations of flat-faced dogs.

The five-year strategy outlines actions required from the group and its members until 2025, as well as focusing on changing wider public attitudes to extreme conformations in brachycephalic dogs.

It identifies three core challenges:

• Dramatically reducing numbers and popularity of dogs with brachycephaly
• Promoting a more moderate and healthier phenotype of the remaining dogs with brachycephaly
• Reducing the negative impacts of brachycephaly on the current generations of flat-faced dogs

Some of the actions committed to include working to prevent the inappropriate use of imagery of brachycephalic dogs in advertising, promoting relevant health testing schemes and sharing research with breeders and would-be owners, alongside developing and promoting a Brachycephalic Health Assessment veterinary consultation framework.

Dr Dan O’Neill, chair of BWG said: “BWG understands that the serious health problems associated with the flat-faced body shape can cause many dogs to suffer and considers that the health and welfare problems linked to breeding for a flat face are one of the UK’s leading canine welfare priorities.

"This new strategy lays out a plan to redress many of these issues and we call on everybody to ‘Stop and think before buying a flat-faced dog’.”

www.ukbwg.org.uk/?page_id=801

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