Originally posted by wolflady
Interesting question. Simply stated, yes, I do feel bad for some breeds. I worked at a vet hospital for a little over a year, and literally all the dogs that came in with problems were pure-bred dogs.
If you think about it, a lot of pure-bred dogs came about by people breeding "genetic mutations". Seems to me that a mutation shouldn't be encouraged at the suffering of the animals. Pugs and english bulldogs, and well, any smashed-in-face animal are an excellent examples. Now, don't think I'm bashing pure-bred dogs, I just feel sorry for the ones that have genetically chronic problems. I saw a lot at the hospital, and some things so sad I'll never forget.
I don't want to stereotype...but what I can say is that I grew up with mutts, and my mutts never had to see the vet. Now, I have had Teddy (who was bred well) and Sarah (who wasn't), they were my first pure-breds. And both of them have had health problems from the get go.