The American Kennel Club fights to keep puppy mills open. They breed at puppy mills

[LeftyMom]

37. Show kennels breed dogs to meet arbitrary beauty standards to the detriment of their health.

A friend of mine has an English Bulldog who was a champion show dog, and who was used to breed more show dogs. Until, on her third litter and third surgical delivery (because prize winning English Bulldogs are bred to be so damned deformed they can't breed naturally) she damned near died and wound up needing to be spayed. Then her oh-so-responsible breeders, the people who had made money off of her reproductive capacity had no further use for her and dumped her in a high kill shelter. Fortunately for her she wound up with a breed rescue and my friend adopted her.

But this prize winning dog's life is still impacted by the awful breed standards for English Bulldogs and the health problems they create. Like most she's got skin troubles, nearly constantly inflamed ears, food allergies. She's constantly snotty. She gets worn out walking across two rooms to her food dish, and usually takes a nap once she gets there before she eats. She's so dog aggressive that the only way to stop her from attacking any unknown dog she sees is for my friend (who is a rather large man) to pin her down until she exhausts herself, fortunately just walking exhausts her so she's usually tired by the time she gets outside. All of this is entirely typical for English Bulldogs, and all of it makes her life a misery even though she's as healthy as a specimen of her breed can be. The very breed standard is inhumane.

And that's not saying anything of breeds who have been bred to have spinal deformities or brains too big for their heads whose lives make hers look ideal.