Frenchie needed surgery after 15-minute walks left him 'struggling to breathe' - now RSPCA are calling for Crufts to ban the breed

A French bulldog owner was left with ‘no choice’ but to send her beloved dog, Frankie, for surgery after a 15-minute walk left him struggling to breathe. Barbara McKernan later discovered her dog actually had no nasal passage at all.

The owner noticed from when she first got him as a puppy that he struggled to breathe, and when he was one year old, she was so worried about his health that he had to have veterinary intervention so he could breathe properly.

Frankie was diagnosed with a condition called Brachycephalic airway obstructive syndrome (BOAS), and needed surgery to widen his nostrils and shorten his soft palate to give him a better airflow.

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Barbara, from Liverpool, said: “I read up on the surgery but there seemed to be so many complications, I didn’t want to put him through it. However, he was getting worse so I had no choice really.

“I noticed that his breathing was a bit laboured and that his whole stomach seemed to move when he was sleeping.I tried to manage the condition by not taking him out for long periods and not taking him out in the heat but he was getting worse - a 15-minute walk in the early morning was leaving him panting and out of breath.

“He didn’t sleep very much and usually slept with a toy bone in his mouth.”

Although apprehensive about the surgery and the potential complications, Frankie’s condition was getting worse, so Barbara made the decision to go through with the operation.

She added: “ It broke my heart to have to put him through it all, and I was so worried about it.”

After the surgery, the vet told Barbara that Frankie had virtually no nasal passage at all but had