Giselle, I agree 100% with you.

It's wonderful that we have such a variety of breeds, but if we are creating animals with looks in mind over health - well, maybe we should not allow a breed like that to continue.

Danny the peke, Crufts winner in 2003 (and featured in the documentary), looked more akin to a dustball than a dog. If that's a 'beautiful' creature, then beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder. The poor guy had to sit on an ice-pack to have his winner's photograph taken in case he over-heated, and it looked to me like his face was so squashed up that he couldn't even get his tongue out his mouth to pant.

Ellie, I too found the images of the affected King Charles harrowing, as well as the epileptic boxer - simply awful. I can't imagine how much pain his owners must feel everytime they see their dog fit.

Catlady, you are very right - in the documentary it mentions that breeds like the King Charles spaniel now have skulls too small for their brains, and because the brain is so squashed up it is unable to pulsate as blood flows through it, which leads to such awful brain and nervous conditions. The only hope for affected animals is to have the back of their skull removed to give the brain room, but the procedure has a high mortality rate.