It’s time to shine a flashlight on Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome (BOAS) which is a major health & welfare problem in Brachycephalic Breeds as it causes breathing difficulties, heat & exercise intolerance, sleep-disordered breathing, cyanosis & collapse in affected individuals.

In line with the increased popularity of these breeds & the demand for “hyper-types”, the problem seems to be continuously growing.

Surgery & medical management can alleviate the symptoms of BOAS at the individual level, but prophylaxis through breeding is the only available solution at population level. As such, there is an urgent need for breeding efforts to improve the health status of dog breeds affected by BOAS.

Although the degree of external Nasal Stenosis (NS) is not a direct expression of the degree of intranasal stenosis, the inner nasal vestibule is often concomitantly reduced due to a relatively large inner wing of nasal cartilage. While moderate-to-severe stenotic nostrils have been found to increase the mean BOAS index by 16% across brachycephalic breeds, it has been shown that the risk of BOAS is increased by about 20 times in French bulldogs with moderate-to-severely stenotic nares

NS score has a large impact on the functional ability of French bulldogs. Dogs with open nares are more likely to lead a healthier life compared to dogs with stenotic nares. Hence, selecting only dogs with open nares for breeding would seem to be an obvious means to improve functional ability &, in turn, health & welfare at the population level, & would in fact comply with the FCI standard for the breed, which states that the nose should ‘allow normal nasal breathing.