There is an argument often leveled at Dog Breeders and it goes like this:

How can you breed new dogs into a world where there are so many languishing in pounds needing the love and affection of a new home?

As responsible breeders who have rescued dogs on death row, we get it – and empathise with it. And if we felt that our breeding may result in abandonment and trauma – we’d give up tomorrow.

So why do we breed Frenchies & Pugs and why brachycephalics specifically?

Well, the answer is easy.  People LOVE dogs.  Some are intrinsically attracted to short nose breeds. And we at Perreux – LOVE Frenchies & Pugs!

Australians have 4.8 million dogs living in our homes, delivering our slippers, barking at the neighbours and chewing up our furniture.  We, humans, have lived with dogs since our time began, in fact, there is a suggestion that dogs took over our fine senses of smell and hearing and in doing so relieved us of the need to listen deep into the distance for threats and to smell out our food. It is also argued that having relieved us of these senses (which consumed a lot of brain process), our minds had space to evolve higher thinking.  Dogs could even be the very reason we civilised. And while our love affair with dogs goes on and they form such a vital part of our daily lives, there is, and will remain a demand for puppies.

While these figures are a bit old they show the reality of dog breeding. The ANKC estimates that the annual demand for puppies stands around 480,000.

So where do these puppies come from?  The answer may surprise you. In 2016 the ANKC registered 71,361 pups from Registered Breeders. 

85% of puppies sold in 2016 came from unregistered breeders – representing 408,639 little lives bred with no accountability for their health or welfare.

These people are not signed on to an enforceable code of ethics, have no oversight by their Breed Club or Canine Control and cannot be prosecuted should they fail to act in the best interest of the individual dog and broader breed (other than for serious cruelty where the RSPCA can act).

In 2016, 76% of ANKC registered breeders had less than 2 litters with 55% having only 1. We are by no means prolific in producing puppies. At Perreux, our kennel produced 7 pups in 2018 and kept 2.

Registered breeders love their dogs and their breed. They want to test their skills in producing great looking, well constructed and healthy dogs by going to dogs shows that allow the public to see our dogs and to allow our peers to evaluate, critique and (hopefully) applaud our success.

Ethical breeders are in many ways the solution to dogs being surrendered and ending up on death row at the pound. We are committed to our progeny for their entire life. At Perreux we even make our new owners sign a contract that should they want or need to surrender a Frenchie or Pug we bred they MUST return them to us. Read more about out mutual commitment with owners here.

As for brachycephalic breeds – let’s face it thousands of years of humans selecting dogs for specific traits has given us some incredible dog breeds. Animals who can help the blind, sniff out bombs and go into harm’s way to protect their owners. As good breeders we work tirelessly to do three things:

1. Ensure the breed’s genetics are pure to the breed
2. Breed Frenchies and Pugs that conform to the international standard as adopted by Dogs Australia (ANKC).
3. Most importantly – keep improving the health of our pups from generation to generation

People love Frenchies and we love Pugs – and we want to provide our clients with the healthiest pups we can. And while we strive to produce the characteristic squishy face and compact body we work equally hard to breed out the health problems that are so often associated with these traits. 

Figures quoted in this post are from the ANKC’s Forensic View of Puppy Breeding in Australia 2017