Profiting from pain? American Kennel Club sued over deformed dog breed standards
PETA is taking the American Kennel Club to court, arguing that official breed standards are leading to a lifetime of pain, medical issues, and early deaths for some of the most popular dogs in America.
The American Kennel Club is damaging the health of certain popular dog breeds by promoting unhealthy physical attributes that cause deformities, a new lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit, filed in New York State Supreme Court by the animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), seeks to abolish the American Kennel Club’s (AKC) requirements for bulldogs, French bulldogs, dachshunds, pugs, and Chinese shar-peis, arguing that the physical standards required "cause deformities, great suffering and premature death" to these animals.
The AKC describes its Official Breed Standards as “blueprints” for each breed. These dogs have been bred to have unique physical characteristics for aesthetic rather than functional purposes. PETA says these standards specifically require deformities that lead to chronic pain, disability, and premature death.
“The AKC’s official breed standards for the bulldog, French bulldog, pug, dachshund and Chinese shar-pei provide blueprints for the breeding of deformed, unhealthy dogs,” PETA says in the suit.
PETA also accuses the American Kennel Club of “profiting from this suffering,” pointing out that registration fees for purebred dogs are a primary source of income for the organization. In 2023 alone, the AKC earned nearly $38 million from dog and puppy litter registrations.
Credit: The People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals
The French Bulldog was the most registered AKC-recognized breed in 2024, generating the highest registration revenue for the organization. The breed is intentionally bred to have unnaturally flattened faces, resulting in brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome, a condition in which the snout is pushed so far back against the skull that the dogs struggle to breathe due to crumpled, narrowed airways, according to the lawsuit. Bulldogs almost always require surgical delivery due to their combination of extremely short snouts, disproportionately large heads, and narrow hips, traits that make natural birth nearly impossible.
Dachshunds, bred to be “low to the ground, long in body and short of leg,” are predisposed to intervertebral disc disease, which can lead to paralysis, elbow dysplasia, and other painful spinal conditions, according to PETA.
Chinese Shar-Peis are required to have a head “covered with profuse wrinkles” and “extremely small, rather thick” ears that lie flat against the skull, features that, according to the lawsuit, contribute to chronic skin and ear infections. PETA also notes that the gene responsible for excessive wrinkling is linked to a hereditary autoinflammatory disease that can cause high fever, kidney failure, and severe pain.
“The AKC is profiting from requiring breed standards that result in deliberately deformed dogs who often suffer miserably before dying young,” says PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. “PETA’s lawsuit seeks to stop the AKC from imposing standards that harm dogs and cause heartbreak for the humans who love them.”
A spokeswoman for the AKC said in a statement that the organization was reviewing the lawsuit but “categorically” rejected “PETA’s mis-characterizations of specific breed standards and their assertion that these standards create unhealthy dogs.”
“The health and welfare of dogs are paramount and at the core of our mission,” they said in the statement.
Learn more: If you have any questions for your dog, Alexandra Horowitz is a pretty good place to start. She’s spent much of her life researching and writing about what it’s like to be a dog. She is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know; Our Dogs, Ourselves; Being a Dog: Following the Dog Into a World of Smell; and On Looking. Listen to the podcast episode, S6. E7: Alexandra Horowitz: The World According to Your Dog, here.
Adopt don’t shop: Shelters across the United States are overflowing with dogs and cats in desperate need of a home. Despite this, pet shops and breeders continue to force breed ‘pure-bred’ animals for profit, creating a vicious cycle of overpopulation. This not only puts a strain on animal shelters and rescue organizations, but it also means that for every animal that is purchased from a breeder or pet shop, a homeless or shelter animal could have been saved instead. The high number of animals in shelters means that many are at risk of being euthanized simply because there is not enough space or resources to care for them all - and in states where gas chambers are still legal, they may suffer a terrifying and painful death. Individuals have the power to make a difference by choosing to adopt animals from shelters and rescue organizations rather than purchasing from pet shops and breeders. By doing so, we can help reduce the number of homeless and shelter animals and give them the loving homes they deserve.
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