Rowena Packer, PhD: How people think about brachycephalic dogs

About this episode

Dr. Rowena Packer discusses the implications of breeding brachycephalic dogs on their health and welfare, and how owners can make better decisions regarding their care.

Dr. Rowena Packer is a Senior Lecturer in Companion Animal Behaviour and Welfare Science at the Royal Veterinary College in London, where she studies dog breeding with an eye to maximizing physical and emotional health of dogs. She also studies how health affects canine behavior and welfare, and - the reason I asked her on for this episode - how companion animal owners make decisions about their dogs, and how to improve those decisions in line with animal welfare. Rowena and I talked about why people love brachycephalic dogs so much and why so many people seem to have trouble recognizing when their dog has breathing issues. We also talked about hope for the future and the way forward to maintaining the characteristic look of shorter muzzled dogs without such a high risk of welfare compromise.

People in this episode

Host: The Functional Dog Collaborative

Guest: Rowena Packer

Topics covered

• brachycephalic dogs
• dog breeding
• animal welfare
• canine behavior
• owner decision-making

Keywords

• brachycephalic
• dog health
• canine welfare
• breeding decisions
• owner awareness

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Royal Veterinary College

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