Stop displaying sick animals!

These days videos are often shared online.

A bulldog is shown running up a hill.

Halfway up it stops and rolls down the hill. The bulldog gets back up, continues up the hill, only to fall down again.

Some people think that watching the dog tumbling down the hill “is funny”, as if, by it’s own free will, it rolls down the hill.

STOP STOP STOP! Dogs don’t think things are funny! Fun is a manmade property we project onto our animals.

The video does not show normal behaviour for DOGS. The DOGS behaviour is not motivated by it’s own free will.

The dog rolls down the hill for one reason only.

The bulldog is bred “brachycephalic”, which means that the bones in the skull is pressed together in such a way that there is little room for the soft structurea eg. the soft palate.

Many bulldog have narrowing of their airways, which means that the bulldog can have difficulties breathing.

The strain of running up the hill causes the dog to lose conciousness because of the lack of oxygen, it collapses and falls, only to roll down the hill. Shortly after it recovers and tries to run again.

Loss of conciousness by exertion due to a heart condition cannot be ruled out either.

The video shows an alarming tendency in our society: we fail to see the signs of illness in animals and interpret their behaviour as “funny tricks”, when in reality the dog has a serious condition.

This is NOT funny! I hope that we can stop these wrong interpretations, and not let animals poor health entertain us.