To think that dogs in the past were well 'ard compared to dogs now?

[Antiqueanniesmagiclanternshow]

Dogs of yore...didn't wear coats, ran around unsupervised a lot, ate crap they found on the street, chewed on bones, had fights, did white dog poo.

Nowadays i am also seeing friends having to take their dog to the emergency vet because they ate a bit of chocolate, dogs in fluffy jumpers etc

Is it because many more dogs were mongrels and so they were just tougher? Or or is there another reason dogs seem much wussier these days?

Yes DP and I have talked about this. His families dogs in the countryside never had training classes, dogs were fed with concoctions made on the stove and leftovers, taking a dog out a walk meant opening the back door to let them out, and they were shut in the kitchen when the family were eating at the table and never allowed upstairs to the bedrooms.
They were never fat, all lived a very long time and vet visits were very rare. But they did get masses of exercise and a lot of attention, and were never single dogs.