100 years of breeding

I've long thought that a lot of dog breeds suffered grotesque misshaping in the recent years, due to poorly worded standards. Recently it has been happening to cat breeds too. When you have statements like "nose as short as possible", soon the animal's nose is liable to recede behind the eyes - just look at what happened to Persian cats. Even something as innocuous as "chest wide and barrel-like" can distort a bulldog's body into something out of a freak show. Breeds like Cocker Spaniel, Chow Chow, Dachshund, English Bulldog and more have become caricatures of their former selves. And still, breeders will insist that a Pekinese's flat face, which nowadays often requires surgery to let the animal breathe, is "functional" and necessary in "a working breed". (I am not making this up, I heard it stated in an interview.)

Here is a collection of photos showing how distorted some modern breeds really are.

http://imgur.com/a/LVV1A

Perspective can be refreshing. It can also be terrifying.