Selective attraction to shorter muzzles in dogs is a hidden driver of the brachycephalic welfare crisis

Bognár, Z, Kawaguchi, Y ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6682-4964, Nakamura, K and Kubinyi, E, 2025. Selective attraction to shorter muzzles in dogs is a hidden driver of the brachycephalic welfare crisis. Scientific Reports, 15: 34699. ISSN 2045-2322

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Abstract

Modern dog breeds show a trend towards shorter muzzles in the Western world. Using an international online questionnaire (N = 780), we examined how muzzle length, as the sole varying feature, influenced visual preference for dogs, using digitally morphed images of the same individuals. We investigated how preferences for shorter muzzles were influenced by demographics, personality, pre-existing attitudes towards brachycephalic dogs, awareness of health issues, and desired dog traits. Shorter muzzles were generally preferred. Associating more health problems with brachycephaly was negatively associated with preference for shorter muzzles, except among those with positive attitudes towards brachycephalic dogs. Preference was positively associated with positive attitudes towards brachycephalic dogs, older age, conscientiousness, extraversion, and appreciation of aesthetics; and negatively associated with dog-related professional expertise, openness, and a liking for control in dog keeping. Among respondents without prior attitudes, preference was positively linked to viewing the ideal dog as childlike, and negatively to valuing a humorous personality in the ideal dog. Our results show how age, dog-related profession, personality, health awareness, and attitudes towards brachycephalic dogs and the ideal dog intersect to shape preferences for shorter muzzle length. Our findings support the notion that individuals preferring shorter muzzles may prioritise aesthetic traits over health concerns.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Scientific Reports
Creators:	Bognár, Z., Kawaguchi, Y., Nakamura, K. and Kubinyi, E.
Publisher:	Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date:	2025
Volume:	15
ISSN:	2045-2322
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1038/s41598-025-16562-9 DOI 2576287 Other
Rights:	© The Author(s) 2025. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Laura Borcherds
Date Added:	17 Feb 2026 14:00
Last Modified:	17 Feb 2026 14:00
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/55295

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