Pugs are popular – but many of them wheeze and snort. In dog breeding, a pug with an extremely short nose is considered standard. The “breeders’ association for the retro pug” wants to change that and breed healthier dogs. An interview with stud book keeper Birgit Schröder.
Ms. Schröder, what exactly is a retro pug?
This is a pug that looks similar to the pugs of the past that you may know from old pictures or engravings: 80 or 100 years ago, pugs had longer legs, their eyes were in their heads and not as bulging as they are today. And above all, they had a longer snout. This is how you can imagine a retro pug.
Why do you breed such old-fashioned pugs?
Because they are healthier and you can run, play and romp around with them. When I bought my first retro pug in 2007, I already had a Greater Swiss Mountain Dog and was looking for a second, smaller dog. I had always liked the retro pug with its slightly longer snout. I went horse riding a lot at the time and was looking for a dog that was more pacifistic and could run well next to a horse. The pug is definitely peaceful, but I knew that a standard pug could not accompany me in what I do.
Because he runs out of air quickly?
Exactly. Today’s standard pug is over-typed with a flat face that corresponds to the baby schema. This short head or “brachycephaly” narrows the airways. This is why many pugs wheeze and snore, cannot romp around and also have problems in the heat.
There are now even specialized dog surgeons who routinely reduce the soft palate of pugs and enlarge their nostrils so that they can breathe better…
Exactly, and I didn’t want a dog like that. I wanted a pug that you couldn’t hear breathing, that didn’t start wheezing when you opened the door to go for a walk, and that didn’t collapse in the summer heat. In 2007, I came across the Retromops project and bought a dog like that: “Muffin” was incredibly friendly – and she could run alongside the horse for three hours without any problems.
I started breeding with her. At the beginning there were only two or three Retro Pug breeders in the whole of Germany, then in 2008 I joined and kept the stud book of the “Breeders’ Association for the Retro Pug” for several years. Today we are twelve breeders, and the number is growing.
How do you breed retro pugs?
The biggest challenge is the nose: you have to find dogs that pass on more of a nose. This is not possible with today’s pugs: if you breed two short-nosed dogs together, the face will just become “flat” again. There will be no nose.
I searched for a long time and then found a male pug for my “Muffin” who was in top shape and had a long enough snout. He became the father of our first puppies.
But they also crossbreed with other dog breeds.
We proceeded in a similar way to the pug breeders after the Second World War: there were hardly any pugs left at the time, so out of necessity we started breeding pinschers. At the beginning we also asked ourselves: which breeds can we crossbreed so that the puppies are healthier and have a longer nose? We initially decided on the Parson Russell Terrier and the pinscher, which had already been crossed with the standard pugs after the war.
Young pug from Birgit Schröder’s dog breeding: This puppy from the retro pug breeding from Johannisberg shows good potential for more air: longer snout, little nasal fold and open nostrils
© Birgit Schröder / Breeders’ Association for the Retro Pug
Will your retro boobs still look like boobs?
If you breed a pinscher or terrier with a pug, the puppies will initially be a mixture of both. This is obvious. Then you continue to breed with matching pugs for generations, so that the proportion of the other dog breed decreases again.
You then have to regularly crossbreed dogs from other breeds, otherwise the nose will go away again. We later added the beagle as a third breed. And the topic of retro pugs really took off with the change in the law in the Netherlands.
What was happening?
About five years ago, the Ministry of Agriculture introduced new rules for dog breeding. A minimum snout length, measured in centimeters, was prescribed for several dog breeds, including the pug. The Dutch breeders were given a deadline by the authorities, so they had to act quickly.
At the time, I had a visit from the Dutch, even officially from the Dutch sub-association of the FCI. The FCI is the international umbrella organization for dog breeding. In the end, the Netherlands took a similar path to ours to get the pug out of its misery. They even crossed other breeds there: the English Patterdale Terrier and the Shiba Inu, a Japanese breed. We in turn adopted this from the Dutch.
What do German pug breeders think of the Retro Pug?
When we first started going public, we were met with a lot of hostility: our breeding was a money-making operation and we were trying to sell unsuspecting consumers “some kind of chimera” was the most harmless thing. The Retro Pug of the breeders’ association is now protected by the patent office as “ZG Retromops”. But it is not recognized as a breed by the VDH, the German Kennel Club.
We are now also being approached by standard pug breeders who have recognized the genetic impoverishment in the breed. However, there has not been any real cooperation so far.
Does the fate of genetic impoverishment also threaten other dog breeds?
The impoverishment of the gene pool with the risk that genetic defects can accumulate is something that every dog breed can expect. It’s similar to a noble family where people are constantly intermarrying. Or if you imagine 50 mice on an island: At some point you’ll have thousands of mice, but they’re genetically almost as similar as siblings. We want to change that with the Retro Pug through targeted crossbreeding.
Breeders of purebred dogs probably find this unreasonable, don’t they?
Sure, but crossbreeding used to be common practice: when dogs were still working dogs, other breeds were used from time to time to make the animals more vital or more efficient. Closed stud books listing all the animals that can be mated with each other have only existed since the advent of exhibitions. Since then, “pure-bred” has been considered particularly valuable, a kind of sign of special nobility and quality.
Geneticists and veterinarians have long been criticizing the fact that the male dogs that win prizes at a dog show are also often used for breeding. Unfortunately, this only increases inbreeding. This is why our breeding community rejects the show business. We do not believe that the breeding quality of a dog can be measured by an exhibition.
What do you wish for the pug in the future?
The most important point is the opening of the stud books in such a way that not only pugs from other clubs are allowed, which is already partly accepted, but also other dog breeds.
In my opinion, dog breeding, regardless of the breed, is sooner or later faced with the question: do we let the breed die out because we are now so genetically close together – or do we occasionally allow a dog from a different breed – in order to sell healthy puppies at the end.