BBC could drop Crufts over unhealthy ‘freak show’ breeds The BBC could stop showing Crufts after a documentary exposed the diseases and deformities suffered by many of Britain’s 5million pedigree dogs. Decades of inbreeding and the demands of the show circuit have resulted in a legacy of life-threatening ills, from agonising brain conditions to epilepsy, heart murmurs and cancers. The golden retriever, the cavalier King Charles spaniel, the boxer, the Pekingese, the bulldog and the pug are among the breeds plagued by disease and deformity as a result of breeders ‘playing God with dogs’, tonight’s programme claims.
View Separately

BBC could drop Crufts over unhealthy ‘freak show’ breeds

The BBC could stop showing Crufts after a documentary exposed the diseases and deformities suffered by many of Britain’s 5million pedigree dogs.

Decades of inbreeding and the demands of the show circuit have resulted in a legacy of life-threatening ills, from agonising brain conditions to epilepsy, heart murmurs and cancers.

The golden retriever, the cavalier King Charles spaniel, the boxer, the Pekingese, the bulldog and the pug are among the breeds plagued by disease and deformity as a result of breeders ‘playing God with dogs’, tonight’s programme claims.