It smells like dog here, but not sour and tight. You are greeted with eager barking from the moment you step inside the door. There are dogs running around in the kitchen, in the air yard and in the garden. This is the home of someone who loves her dogs, they are like family members to Lena Haugland. And love seems to go both ways. It seems like a good dog life here in the garden at Løten. But Lena breeds English bulldogs, which many people don’t like. Because while some people find the sound of dogs snorting cute and charming, others hear the sound of a dog finding it difficult to breathe. And the internet is full of pictures of the operations some English bulldogs go through to be able to breathe easier. The pictures are taken from an operation done by Boca Midtowne Animal Hospital in the USA. Photo: @BOCAMIDTOWNEANIMALHOSPITAL / YouTube The images are taken from an operation performed by Boca Midtowne Animal Hospital in the USA. Photo: @BOCAMIDTOWNEANIMALHOSPITAL / YouTube How troublesome the breathing problems are for the dog, and how many of the dogs suffer, is the core of what the Supreme Court has decided on. On 11 October, the judgment came down which decided whether breeding English bulldogs is illegal. news has followed Lena up to the verdict. – If I am convicted, all my commitment and work for the breed will be wasted. In addition, I want to feel like a piece of shit being labeled as an animal abuser, says Lena. Because it is not how Lena treats the dogs that is why people are angry with her. It is what is inside the dogs that is the problem. – Inbreeding and breeding for an extreme appearance has given the English bulldog such major congenital health problems, that Animal Protection Norway believes further breeding is against the law, says general manager Åshild Roaldset. Photo: Håkon Sparre / NMBU According to her, unethical breeding is the biggest animal welfare problem we have with dogs in Norway. But she emphasizes that they have no reason to believe that serious breeders like Lena are not doing their best, but they believe there is not enough genetic variation in the breed to correct all the health problems. Therefore, they sued Lena and two other breeders of English bulldogs for breach of the Animal Welfare Act §25 on animal breeding. Lena is one of the central people in the breeding of the breed in Norway. And dog breeding is engaging. She is compared to Nazis and called “sick” and “animal cruelty”. Here are some of the negative messages she finds in the comments: :Stop breeding animals that suffer 💥 Are selfish brain dead people who do this…… STOP IT NOW !!!💥💥 :Both those who breed on these breeds and buys, engages in animal cruelty. Shame on you 👎: That’s how the Nazis thought about the human race, wasn’t it? Absolutely disgusting and repulsive! :Sick Breeders 🤯 breed sick dogs for a cruel and painful life 😢 💔 It feels completely cruelly unfair. – I get incredibly bored, angry, have cried a lot and at times smoked with both hands. Because it is not an animal torturer Lena sees in the mirror in the morning. The dogs Lena works with have not always had these problems. The breed originated as something completely different from the dogs that play in the garden. The English Bulldog was bred to be an athletic and strong dog that was used to fight bulls. Photo: Edmund Bristow When this was banned, the journey towards the dog we see today began. Already over 100 years ago, the first concerns that the breed had excessive features that were harmful to health were unleashed. What an English bulldog should look like today is decided in England. They are the ones who own the breed standard. Translated to Norwegian conditions, Frida is a good example of what it should look like. Photo: Norsk Kennel Klub, Kristoffer Søvik / news Lena’s ten-year-old veteran has several awards on his CV. Today, English research shows that English bulldogs live on average between seven and eight years. In comparison, mixed dogs live almost twelve years. But that does not mean that all English bulldogs die early. In addition to Frida, Lena also has another ten-year-old bitch. – Everyone wants dogs that live as long as possible, she says. But why this particular breed lives so short, she doesn’t know. The breed is also up to 20 times more likely to have breathing problems than some other dogs. And several Norwegian insurance companies are reluctant to pay out payments related to, among other things, caesarean section, correction of skin, deformed palate and malformed airways. She understands well that people are interested in how animals feel. She loves animals, and has done so all her life. As a two-year-old, there was a hamster in the armchair with the aunt. Photo: Private – When I was 8 years old, I watched as some goats on Furuset were to be killed. Dogs, cats, fish, horses and injured birds on the streets, she has visited them all. A few decades later, she was now in danger of being convicted of violating the Animal Welfare Act. That she would end up breeding English bulldogs was accidental. She discovered the breed in 2013. – I also thought at first that these were sick dogs, but when I got to know the breed I realized that I was wrong. Do these dogs look sick to you? Yes, says Åshild Roaldset from Animal Protection Norway. They believe that English bulldogs have so much disease in their genes that it is not possible to get healthy dogs as they are bred today. It was the dogs’ nature that Lena fell for. They can be clumsy and get offended. English bulldogs do not require a lot of training, are devoted, child-friendly and funny. – I’m not the type who jogs and climbs mountain tops, so it suits me. Today, the children are adults, Lena herself is a housewife and spends a lot of time with her dogs. There are dogs in the garden, on the shelf, on the wall and in the lap. Lena has to think about it when she is asked if it is not just mixing other breeds into the bulldog mix to get healthier puppies, as Animal Protection Norway wants. – I don’t go around thinking that it should happen. I do not do that. We don’t know how it would turn out. It’s not just looks that make me like bulldogs, it’s the character. Maybe if it had been done by professionals, or if they had done it in England, she begins, before she definitely says. – We have a responsibility to take care of the breed! Lena fully recognizes that the breed has challenges and that certain dogs should not be bred further. But she disagrees that the problems with the breed are so great that cross-breeding is necessary. For several years, she has engaged in targeted breeding with registered dogs that have scientifically based health tests. This is a more effective way of helping the dogs, according to Lena. – We do many things to ensure that the dogs are already well. Then it feels incredibly painful that it is not recognised. My impression is that Animal Protection believes that all bulldogs are sick. It feels horrible. For Lena, having to stop breeding is not the worst thing. She will survive that, she has children and grandchildren to fill her life with. What she fears is that a Google search of her name will show that she has been convicted under the Animal Welfare Act. – I am perceived as an evil person, and am seen as something that is against everything I stand for. She lets it go. On Wednesday 11 October, the Supreme Court delivered its verdict. The Supreme Court rules that English bulldog breeding can continue under the breeding programme, which Lena, among others, has fought for. They believe that the program has produced good results in reducing breathing problems. On Løten, the tears of joy flow. – I’m crazy happy! It feels incredibly good that the work we have done has been recognised, says a relieved Lena. And now the work continues to get more English bulldogs in Norway without major health problems. – This is a double victory. Because the judgment says that all those who do not breed within the health regulations are doing something illegal. This is a victory for the serious breeders. Health work is a continuous work. Åshild Roaldset, general manager of Animal Protection Norway, is also satisfied with the verdict. – It is good that the Supreme Court has put down its foot for breeding that causes serious suffering for dogs. The verdict sends a clear signal to the dog community that breeding must change. But adds that she believes it has not been made clear enough in the Supreme Court how much suffering English bulldogs are exposed to. In the same judgment, the Supreme Court ruled that breeding the Cavalier dog breed is against the law. The reason is that too many dogs get pain because the skull is too small for the brain. The course of the case in the legal system Animal Protection Norway sued the Norwegian Kennel Club and six breeders of cavaliers and English bulldogs in 2020 for violation of §25 of the Animal Welfare Act. On 31 January 2022, the Oslo district court ruled that it is forbidden to breed both breeds. The case was appealed. On 18 November 2022, the Borgarting Court of Appeal ruled that the breeding of cavaliers is prohibited, while English bulldogs were acquitted. Again, the case was appealed for both races. On 11 October 2023, the Supreme Court delivered the final verdict.
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Ban on English bulldog dog breeding decided in the Supreme Court. – Documentary
