Our breeding program

Screwtail and the spine

In April 2024 we produced the world's first zero copy screwtail purebred French Bulldogs. We were among the first breeders anywhere working to eliminate the screwtail gene (DVL2), through the gene action programs run by the Master Dog Breeders and Associates (MDBA).

DVL2 is the identified cause of the malformed spinal vertebrae (hemivertebrae) carried by over 93% of the breed. Current evidence suggests it may also contribute to congenital heart defects, brain tumours and Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome (BOAS).

Spine health is a major goal here, and we are working to clear the CDDY mutation on chromosome 12 from our breeding dogs. CDDY causes the degenerative changes between vertebrae that produce Intervertebral Disc Disease. IVDD (Hansen Type 1) accounts for up to 45% of neurological disorders diagnosed in French Bulldogs.

Breathing

Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome (BOAS) is a primary health concern, with over 45% of bulldogs having clinically significant signs. Our breeding dogs are Respiratory Functional Grade assessed for BOAS and we are proud to have exceptional results with no BOAS detected. We are also working on eliminating the airway oedema gene (ADAMTS3), which has been linked to breathing problems in another breed and may contribute to breathing problems in French Bulldogs.

Structure

Research has clearly identified that extreme features such as flat faces, pinched nares, thick necks, screwtails and short bodies result in profound health issues that shorten lives and cause suffering for an unacceptable percentage of French Bulldogs. Our breeding dogs all have longer snouts and natural open nares, with more moderate features. Because their spines are free of hemivertebrae they are slightly longer, with varying tail lengths.

We follow the recommendations of the Australian Veterinary Association's Brachycephalic Breeding Policy, whilst aiming to meet the French Bulldog breed standard as closely as we can without compromising the health, longevity or wellbeing of our puppies. Read the AVA policy.

How we weigh DNA against the dog in front of us

A DNA result tells you what a dog can pass on. It does not tell you how that dog is actually living. We look at both. A dog can carry a variant and still breathe well, move well and have a good life, and another dog can have a clean panel and still have a spine or an airway we would not want to breed from. So we assess the dog in front of us on its breathing, its movement, its spinal structure, how it recovers after exercise and its general quality of life. The DNA results then tell us who that dog can safely be paired with.

DVL2 shows why this matters. It sits at very high frequency in French Bulldogs, at or near fixation in sampled cohorts. If we excluded every carrier we would have almost nothing left to breed from and would lose a great deal of other quality along the way. So we bring the copy number down generation by generation through careful pairing.

On colour

We breed all colours and patterns, apart from merle.

We will not breed merle. It carries real risks to hearing and vision, especially when two merles are bred together, and the allele is not native to the French Bulldog.

Beyond merle, we are not convinced that the colours we breed cause health problems, and we have read the research ourselves. A lot of the criticism comes from registry bodies and it mixes up two very different arguments. One is about breed standards and where these alleles originally came from. That is a fair discussion to have, but it is not a health argument. The other is that the colour itself causes disease, and for most of the loci involved we have not seen the evidence.

What matters far more is that colour has never decided anything here. No dog has come into this program because of its colour and no pairing has ever been made for one. Health and structure decide the pairing. Colour is whatever it turns out to be.