"Purebred" dogs are victims of over a century of inbreeding for looks. They are essentially mutant dwarfs that are plagued with all manner of sickness and genetic infirmities, who look almost nothing like their healthy ancestors of 100+ years ago.

The most distressing part is to listen to the breeders who, because they want a dog to look a certain way, breed siblings to siblings, parents to children...

And the results is King Charles Spaniels existing in constant agony because they've been bred so small their brain does not fit in their skull.

That ridge on a Rhodesian Ridgeback, that's mild spina bifida, leaving the dog prone to spinal infections. But breeders kill healthy puppies born without it, lest they ruin the (mutant) breed.

All so the mutants can be shown in the ring.

The analysis of how British attitudes towards purebred dogs relates to the idea of eugenics, and breeding for so-called "pure" traits. It frames what dog breeders attitudes most disturbi