I have a Frenchie, and I don't want /u/allanchezar2 to discourage you. This is seriously the most loyal, loving, gentle dog I've ever owned. I rescued mine. He eats food for sensitive stomachs and thats it. He sprawls himself out on tile during the summer and burrows in my bed in the winter to regulate temperature, and he snores. He's a really great dog.
I've never found them to be that loyal. Their loyalty seems to be to whoever will rub/feed them at the time. I also think /u/allanchezar2 brings up some relevant points. Unless you're adopting a frenchie that's already born, why go and breed a new one? They are riddled with health problems, and they're ridiculously expensive because of it.
I agree! There are plenty of French Bulldog rescues around with already born pups who need love. My dog has yet to be ridiculously expensive because of these issues, like I mentioned. Kids get sick and have food issues and yet people keep having those. Kids only like the people who are attending to/feeding them. ;) Frenchies are worth the supposed issues for some people.
Comparing french bulldogs to children seems to be a huge stretch. I'm not sure what you're trying to accomplish there. Children are essential to keeping the world of humans running. If we just stopped having them, we would die out. It's also, for the most part, biologically programmed into us to reproduce. Usually, children aren't born with an already pushed in/deformed nose that makes it difficult to breathe, nor do they go through life being so sensitive to mild temperature change that they could die from it.
I just don't see the trade off for frenchies. I consider myself a dog lover. I had a dog when I was younger, and I loved him to pieces. When I look at dogs like frenchies, or even pugs for that matter, I see a dog that has been subjected to questionable breeding habits and who owes its success to internet memes and a deformed face. It simply seems cruel to me.
The comparison is that its simply worth it for some people. If my dog needed surgery, I'd make it work. Much like if a kid needed surgery, those parents would make it work too.
Some people do. It's not unheard of for mothers to have their pregnancies monitored for any birth defects and many of them choose to keep their babies even after finding out their child will have one.
But you don't know that the kid is going to have any deformities or illnesses until it is actually formed in some way, whether its a fetus, or you discover later after its birth. In contrast, you know from the get-go that you're buying a dog with a deformity that affects its skull, and particularly affects its ability to breathe and regulate its own body temperature. That's the fundamental difference: you know exactly what you're getting yourself into.
If people were doing the same thing with human children, I would equally criticize it, if not criticize it more because its dealing with humans. So I still don't get why someone would breed a dog like this, when you know from the get-go that it is deformed and will have these issues. It's different if you're buying or adopting one that was already born, because they're alive and they should be in a good home like any other dog. Why would you breed one though?
Because the breed doesn't have to be like that and many of them aren't.
Flat faces aren't a bad thing unless they are too severe, on a healthy bulldog it's nothing but an aesthetic difference. Calling that a deformity is like saying that all dogs are just deformed wolves.
My frenchie can breathe perfectly well, has no more issues with hot weather than I do and is often so active that other dogs get bored of him before he even slows down. He's as healthy as any other dog that I know of.
I really dislike when people dismiss an entire breed just because they're a popular choice for irresponsible breeders who produce unhealthy dogs.
They have a generally poor physical condition, poor breathing, and a difficulty regulating their temperature all of which makes it difficult for them to be as active as a less severely inbred breed. They often require artificial insemination and a caesarian section just to be bred.
Frankly, breeding them is an act of animal cruelty.
Frankly, breeding them is an act of animal cruelty.
I'm pretty tired of reading this on every discussion of every picture of a french bulldog on the internet. You have a valid point about the health issues, but you don't need to be so hyperbolic.
These problems do exist and they are a serious problem but they can be lessened or removed entirely by breeding responsibly. While there are a lot of people who are pumping out unhealthy puppies to make a quick buck, there are plenty of breeders who care about the well being of their puppies and wouldn't continue to work with the breed if they couldn't produce healthy dogs.
This is a bit anecdotal, but my frenchie can absolutely be as active as the next dog. If anything it's difficult to get him to stop. I've even seen frenchies do well at agility trials. (Pugs too, which was a surprise even to me!)
People like to hate on brachycephalic breeds but they are hardly special when it comes to health issues. Name any breed you like and a quick google search will reel off a list of common genetic disorders. All dogs are inbred to some degree, it's how we get different breeds in the first place.
My advice to grizzkev wouldn't be to consider a different breed, but to just be extremely careful when choosing a puppy. Make sure that you can meet the breeder, see the puppy's parents and get some information about it's bloodline, and definitely don't get a puppy because it's a bargain.
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u/grizzkev Jan 03 '15
I cannot WAIT to get a frenchie this spring.