Its about time! Ear cropping.

[conniegirl]

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/evil-dog-owner-sent-down-27373146

A man jailed for 16 weeks and banned from keeping animals for life for paying £200 to have 2 puppies ears cropped.
Its about time someone was prosecuted and made an example of over this barbaric practice.


ETA sorry about the paper, it popped up in my FB so don’t have a different link.

 

[ycbm]

Good.
.

 

[Ratface]

Double good. I hope he meets lots of dog lovers in prison... If he's got half a brain cell, he'll say he's inside for nicking cars or something.

 

[Millionwords]

At my work its a spot visited by folk from all over on the edge of the Peak District, there was this beautiful puppy...Cropped ears....arseholes. These people want their ears cropping by unqualified passing folk with stanley knives.

 

[Birker2020]

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/evil-dog-owner-sent-down-27373146

A man jailed for 16 weeks and banned from keeping animals for life for paying £200 to have 2 puppies ears cropped.
Its about time someone was prosecuted and made an example of over this barbaric practice.


ETA sorry about the paper, it popped up in my FB so don’t have a different link.

Good news, its a horrible practice.
I get that hounds have their dew claws removed and tails docked due to the injuries that are caused whilst out hunting but even think that's totally wrong (tail). Its still mutilating the body.

 

[Prancerpoos]

Good. I saw a pit bull type last week with cropped ears and barely managed to curtail a sneer. Probably would have ended badly.

 

[Errin Paddywack]

I get that hounds have their dew claws removed and tails docked due to the injuries that are caused whilst out hunting

I have never known hounds have their tails docked, shooting breeds yes, spaniels and the like but not hounds.

 

[DressageCob]

Good first step. Next I hope they ban the import of cropped dogs too, to stop people buying them from Eastern Europe like so many Cane Corso and Doberman people seem to be doing the days.

 

[Birker2020]

I have never known hounds have their tails docked, shooting breeds yes, spaniels and the like but not hounds.

Yes they do believe it or not. I thought it was terriers, retrievers and spaniels, that kind of dog. But I've found a couple of articles on it and I distinctly remember my partners former boss who was a kennel man for a beagle foot pack telling us that he knew of beagles that have had their tails docked. I know they hold their tails higher than a spaniel for example so I'm not sure why it was necessary, I think its certainly something that was done but whether its still a procedure that's carried out I'm not sure. It may be more popular in America which was where this chap was from.



When talking with some hunters who own Beagles a few of them have told me that they dock their Beagle’s tails because they have had experiences when hunting with their Beagles that their tails get injured and bleed from banking through the thick brush.

 

[GSD Woman]

I absolutely despise ear cropping. I remember back in the early 90's talking to a young man who was starting his boxer breeding career. (he did breed a few champions.) I told him if I ever owned a boxer I wouldn't do the ears. he was all up in arms about that. He also told me that an old vet came to the house and used a little inhalant anesthetic on a cotton ball to have the puppies asleep while he cropped the ears. Still makes my shudder.

I'm so glad that natural ears are getting more popular here. docked tails are still the norm. As undocked dogs are winning in agility and obedience trials some breeders are leaving tails.

the people doing IGP, if that is the current name for schutzhund, have traditional docked and cropped breeds that are left natural. Yay!

 

[SOS]

Ear cropping is horrendous and particularly disgusting as it is purely cosmetic and cannot be done legally.

Dew claw removal and tail docking I am on the fence with. I have posted about this before but having seen the injuries working dogs (mainly shooting) come into veterinary practice with from catching their tail, it can be horrific and they are often very troublesome to heal. However I do feel there should be a change of protocol that these animals are docked under anaesthetic, not just at a few days old where they supposedly “forget” about it. Forgotten suffering is not, not suffering.

Dew claws similarly cause problems in working dogs (shooting and farm dogs) and many long dogs. My own whippet regularly catches hers and unsheaths/rips off the entire nail with quite a painful reaction - understandably! Therefore when she is neutered I will probably have them off. Again I have seen many dogs rip the nail off or if the dew claw is not probably attached to the rest of the carpal structures, rip the actual dew claw off so it needs emergency surgery.

Hounds/beagles do not have tails docked regularly, I believe it is incorrect conformation not to have a “straight stern”. I can imagine if the tail is injured they may be docked. Much like any dog, pet or otherwise.

 

[GSD Woman]

The horror of dogs having their ears cropped with razors is why I don't want ear cropping to become illegal in the USA. It will just be driven underground. At least responsible breeders have it done at a veterinary hospital under anesthesia. Doesn't thrill me but better done with pain relief than not.

 

[Btomkins]

My pup traditionally would have cropped ears. So glad she’s doesn’t, barbaric.

 

[GSD Woman]

I personally like the natural look. As more and more dogs are imported from western Europe I hope it become more normal in the US. I have to admit the first time I saw a natural Doberman puppy I made an astonished comment about her having a tail and ears. The breeder laughed and told me they all have them at birth.

 

[Btomkins]

ETA - also, following some of the breed groups on sm I inevitably see the arguments for/against. Some of the false and honestly worrying information about how it is ‘healthier’ and ‘more natural’ is astounding.

 

[Btomkins]

I personally like the natural look. As more and more dogs are imported from western Europe I hope it become more normal in the US. I have to admit the first time I saw a natural Doberman puppy I made an astonished comment about her having a tail and ears. The breeder laughed and told me they all have them at birth.

Why would you want to chop off that adorable curly piggy tail??

 

[GSD Woman]

ETA - also, following some of the breed groups on sm I inevitably see the arguments for/against. Some of the false and honestly worrying information about how it is ‘healthier’ and ‘more natural’ is astounding.

Back in the early 90s a Great Dane breeder I met at a show told me that she insisted all the puppies she bred be cropped before going to their new homes. She claimed it kept them from getting ear infections. What a pile of poo. There is a thing called ear cleaning.

Why would you want to chop off that adorable curly piggy tail??

Oh, I wouldn't! It was just a shock at the time to see a puppy with the undocked tail. More and more people in my sphere are asking for a puppy to be left with their tails. It does mean that they're gambling on the undocked puppy be the best match for them. So far no one has been disappointed.

It makes me so happy that my breed goes through life with natural tail and ears.

 

[GSD Woman]

Oh, yeah. I ran into a friend about 8 months ago who has Dobermans. He had his young bitch with him. Her ears were done. Made me sad. Her breeder did them before she left home. Friend is having her shown in breed ring. I wish natural dogs would win here.

 

[SOS]

@GSD Woman

It won’t let me quote you, and I know you know this but the ear cleanliness claim boils my blood. Yes dogs with long, floppy and hairy ears - spaniels, basset hounds, golden retrievers etc. may have an ear that isnt as breathable and creates the perfect warm environment for bacteria to grow and ear infections. The breeds being cropped generally have short haired, flopped ears with structure aka air flow! Plenty of “up earred” dogs also are prone to ear infections.

By cropping them and changing their anatomy you create a perfect funnel, with no guard hairs for crap to literally fall into the ear canal, which we already know is poorly designed and allows this.

Plus generally ear infections can be managed well if treated straight away at a vets. The illegal chopping of ears in the UK can not be managed well let alone humanely.

 

[GSD Woman]

By cropping them and changing their anatomy you create a perfect funnel, with no guard hairs for crap to literally fall into the ear canal, which we already know is poorly designed and allows this.

Plus generally ear infections can be managed well if treated straight away at a vets. The illegal chopping of ears in the UK can not be managed well let alone humanely.

I so agree with this. I compare my dogs' ears to cropped ears and there is no comparison. I hate, hate, hate ear cropping. I just want to see it done properly with pain relief if people are bound and determined to do it. They're going to do it as shown by what happens in the UK.

A former co-worker bred a litter of Am staffs and wanted their ears done. And the vet that did the ears totally messed up the crop. I remember asking her before hand why she wanted to do it and her who reason was that she liked the look. I hate to say it, sort of, but the messed up cropping served her right.

 

[SilverLinings]

The horror of dogs having their ears cropped with razors is why I don't want ear cropping to become illegal in the USA. It will just be driven underground. At least responsible breeders have it done at a veterinary hospital under anesthesia. Doesn't thrill me but better done with pain relief than not.

Cropping some horses ears for aesthetic reasons used to be practiced in the 16th-18th centuries in the UK until it was outlawed (I own a book from the early 1700's showing desirable cuts to make a coarse looking horse look more 'refined' by trimming their ears), and since then it stopped completely rather than going underground. Ear cropping in dogs is illegal in the UK but there is currently still a problem, partially due to owners who don't care/like it and partly due to ignorance (people who think it's legal, or don't even realise that their new puppy's ears should look any different). Hopefully over time, and with better public awareness, ear cropping in dogs will go the way of that in horses and cease to be seen.

I understand what you're saying GSDW, and surgical cropping in the US is preferable to 'homemade' cropping, but I would hope that in civilised societies outlawing the practice leads to its eventual demise, even if it is a bit slow initially. It would help if celebrities stopped buying dogs with cropped ears and posting 'cute' pics all over SM though

 

[stangs]

Cropping some horses ears for aesthetic reasons used to be practiced in the 16th-18th centuries in the UK until it was outlawed (I own a book from the early 1700's showing desirable cuts to make a coarse looking horse look more 'refined' by trimming their ears)

What book is that? Sounds terribly interesting.

 

[GSD Woman]

Banning something in the USA can be difficult. Unless one stacks the SCOTUS with people who lie during their confirmation hearings.

A country wide ban on "Personal Choice" such as docking and cropping would never pass. and the personal choice is a wee bit of sarcasm.

 

[CorvusCorax]

Oh, yeah. I ran into a friend about 8 months ago who has Dobermans. He had his young bitch with him. Her ears were done. Made me sad. Her breeder did them before she left home. Friend is having her shown in breed ring. I wish natural dogs would win here.

You can't have a cropped/docked dog in the grounds of some FCI member kennel club shows in Europe and they've been stopped from doing working degrees by some clubs too.

 

[windswoo]

Why would you want to chop off that adorable curly piggy tail??

View attachment 95961

You're dog is gorgeous

 

[GSD Woman]

Had a conversation with a woman who also runs agility. She has Papillions now but in the past she had Wheaten terriers and Australian Shepherd she bred them and showed. She discussed the docking procedure. I think one reason she switched breeds is so she wouldn't have to do tails to win. A friend was there with her 2 young Aussies. She asked the breeder to leave the tail on one. The other was supposed to go to a show home so her tail was done. The tail looked so cute.
But discussed the problem with people who have to dock to win in the breed ring. We both agreed that hopefully since people like to show in Europe as well the USA ears and tails will be left on.

 

[MurphysMinder]

Aussies are an interesting one aren’t they as they can be naturally bobbed , I think it’s something like 1 in 5 . So you see them here in the ring and there is no way of knowing if they have been docked or born that way .

 

[SilverLinings]

What book is that? Sounds terribly interesting.

Sorry Stangs, I have only just returned to this thread and seen your message. I collect old horse-care/veterinary books from 1850 back to around 1680 (earlier than that they become very expensive) and ear cropping is definitely mentioned in at least two of them. I will have a look at the weekend and see if I can find out which books they were, and will let you know the titles and authors. I find it absolutely fascinating how much veterinary care has progressed from practically witchcraft to the modern science we have today, but that's a bit of a digression for this thread!

 

[GSD Woman]

I find it absolutely fascinating how much veterinary care has progressed from practically witchcraft to the modern science we have today, but that's a bit of a digression for this thread!

Would you be willing to start a new thread? It would be very interesting.

 

[SilverLinings]

What book is that? Sounds terribly interesting.

I have finally had a quick look Stangs, I haven't gone through all my books but found the following reference to cropping or cutting of the ears of horses in 'A Compendium of Veterinary Art' by James White, 1825 (London):

'The ear is enclosed by a pair of clams, which is so inclined as to give the ear the form required. All that part of the ear without the clam is cut off by one sweep of a keen knife; no dressing is necessary after the operation, and the horse may be turned to grass until the ears get well. If the flies are troublesome apply some train oil with a little tar dissolved in it.'

It looks as though by this point (1825) ear cropping was becoming less common, whereas tail docking and nicking were still widely practiced in horses in England.

Sorry OP for the thread diversion!