Extreme Breeding in Dogs: Every Trait Explained

No. Extreme breeding describes a trait, not a breed. A Dachshund with moderate proportions and X-rayed, unremarkable discs is a different dog from one whose chest nearly drags on the ground. That is why these pages explain the traits – and show, for each breed, how closely it is tied to the trait.

We use three levels: for some breeds the trait is part of the breed type (such as the Pug's strongly shortened nose). For other breeds, only exaggerated lines are the problem. And for some, the risk only concerns certain colours, such as merle or blue.

HonestDog deliberately does not list breeders for the Pug, the French and English Bulldog, the King Charles Spaniel and the bully lines Frenchton, Pocket Bully and Exotic Bully: for them a strongly shortened nose is part of the breed type, and we cannot reliably verify the parents' breathing function. For the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel the reason is different – heart and nerve disease such as mitral valve disease and syringomyelia, whose screening we cannot verify at breeders. We still explain these breeds in detail, because people who love them deserve to know what matters.

Yes. Section 11b of the German Animal Welfare Act prohibits breeding dogs where the offspring can be expected to suffer inherited pain, suffering or harm. The law does not name specific breeds – whether a case counts as extreme breeding is assessed individually, based on the animal's traits.

Since 2022, dogs with inherited extreme-breeding traits may also no longer be shown in Germany at exhibitions or other events where dogs are judged (Section 10 of the Dog Welfare Ordinance).

Authorities still use the federal agriculture ministry's expert opinion on extreme breeding, usually dated 1999, as an interpretation aid. It is not law, and authorities such as the Bavarian state office consider it scientifically outdated; they also rely on sources such as the veterinary animal-welfare association's (TVT) fact sheet 141.

A statutory list of extreme-breeding symptoms, as planned in 2024, has not come into force in Germany – the bill lapsed at the end of the parliamentary term.

Several neighbouring countries are stricter and more specific than Germany. Austria names extreme-breeding symptoms explicitly in its Animal Welfare Act and, since 2025, also prohibits importing, acquiring, brokering or passing on animals with extreme-breeding symptoms or visible extreme-breeding traits – with exceptions, for example for animal shelters and for animals lawfully bred or imported before.

EU Regulation 2026/1818 on the welfare of dogs and cats bans breeding from animals with excessive conformational traits across the EU – but for breeders only from 1 July 2030, and the European Commission has yet to define which traits it covers. The regulation entered into force on 30 August 2026.

The breeding and show rules address breeders, sellers, shelters and organisers; the duty to identify and register dogs applies to all owners. From 31 August 2028 the regulation prohibits ear cropping and tail docking without a medical reason, among other things, and dogs with excessive conformational traits must be excluded from shows – although the latter can only take effect once the Commission has defined the traits by 2030. Stricter national rules, such as Germany's or Austria's, remain in place.

For example hip dysplasia, excessive skin folds, eyelid malformations and hairlessness, which the German expert opinion also lists. Not every trait is as clear-cut as a nose that obstructs breathing; how strictly it is judged often depends on how pronounced it is in the individual dog.

Extreme sizes are disputed too: Switzerland expressly prohibits breeding toy dogs that weigh less than 1,500 grams as adults. There is no comparable limit for very large breeds. Traits such as excessive skin folds or hairlessness do not have their own page here yet.

No – but that is prohibited in principle in Germany too. Extreme breeding is inherited: the dog is born with the short nose or the malformed tail. Cropping and docking, by contrast, surgically shorten the ears or tail of a dog that was born healthy. That falls under the amputation ban in Section 6 of the German Animal Welfare Act: cropping ears has been prohibited in principle since the 1980s and docking tails since 1998, with fines of up to €25,000. The only exceptions are a veterinary indication in the individual case and – narrowly, in practice only for the tail – hunting dogs that are actually used for hunting.

Dogs with ears or tails amputated in breach of animal-welfare law may not be exhibited in Germany – even if the cropping was done abroad. Buying or keeping a dog cropped abroad is not currently prohibited in Germany, but buying cropped puppies keeps demand for a painful procedure alive. In Austria even importing or acquiring cropped dogs is prohibited; Switzerland bans the import. Adopting a cropped dog from a shelter, on the other hand, is completely legal.

Most of them. Many breeds come without exaggerated traits: a nose that lets them breathe freely, legs that match the back, and colours with no known health risk. Our health ranking rates every breed by its hereditary disease burden – a good starting point if you want a robust breed.

And think of shelters: many mixed breeds and adult rescue dogs are healthy, have a temperament that is often already well known, and are waiting for a home.