It's a painful process where a dog's outer ears are removed altogether or are surgically altered, with the tips or huge sections of the outer ear being cut off. It's against the law to carry out this procedure yourself or to send your dog to a vet in this country or abroad to have their ears cropped.
Ear cropping is considered mutilation, purely to make a dog look a certain way. It has no benefit to dogs and causes them nothing but pain and trauma. It also robs the dog of the ability to use their ears in communication, and can negatively impact their hearing.
Veterinary science states there is no medical or physical advantage to the animal from the procedure, leading to concerns of animal cruelty over performing unnecessary surgery on animals. In modern times, cropping is banned in many nations, but is still legal in a limited number of countries.
These days, ear cropping is done for cosmetic reasons. However, the procedure used to be done for practical reasons. For example, Boxers were often used as guard dogs. Cropping their ears actually improved their hearing, which therefore enhanced their job performance.
Ear cropping can be very painful for dogs
As with any surgery, there are risks and ear cropping is an incredibly painful procedure for the dog. This is especially true if carried out as a 'DIY' procedure without prescribed anaesthetic or pain relief.
To crop a pit bull's ears means to remove part of the dog's ear flaps. Owners did this in the past to protect the dog's ears during fights or when hunting. Today those reasons no longer pertain.
The Doberman was a guard dog. Having ears stand upright allowed for increased hearing capabilities. This was an important feature for a watchdog. Today, ear cropping in Dobermans is usually done to comply with show standards or simply for the owner's personal preference.
How Is Ear Cropping Done? In order for the ears to heal in the desired upright precision after surgery, they must be “posted” to a hard surface and taped until completely healed. Bandages need to be changed weekly, typically. The entire process can last from 4-8 weeks.
In dogs, ear-notching (cutting a chunk out of the ear and then sealing the wound with heat cautery) is the most common way of identifying stray and feral animals that have been vaccinated and surgically sterilized.
Ear cropping is a surgical procedure requiring general anesthesia. This is a purely cosmetic procedure and in no way necessary for the general welfare of your dog.
As long as non-curative operations are followed by veterinary methods, they do not violate the law. Procedures such as ear cropping, tail docking, debarking in dogs, or declawing in cats are unacceptable because the suffering and disfigurement they cause not compensated by any benefits to the animal.
Ear cropping is painful and completely unnecessary. Despite what some breeders will claim, cropping a dog's ears does not benefit them in any way. It can be detrimental to their health, behaviour and welfare in the short-term and in the long-term.
Following the surgery, the ears of most breeds and most crop styles must be trained or formed to stand up; it doesn't happen naturally.
When a dog's tail is docked, they can develop an infection or even a nerve tumor called a neuroma. Either of these will be painful, and could even cause the dog to become overly protective of his tail. Dogs use their tails to communicate with each other and humans to express happiness, fear, anger, and excitement.
The most common breeds that undergo ear cropping are: Boxers, Doberman Pinschers, Bully breeds, some Mastiff breeds, Kane-corso, Beauceron, Manchester terrier, Schnauzer and others. Many of us are accustomed to the sleek, clean lines of a Doberman or Great Dane with cropped ears; it's part of the desired look.
You generally don't want to go too much older than about 12 weeks old since the ear cartilage hardens soon after that and the ear cropping is unlikely to be successful. Especially at the age of 2 or 3 years old.
Cropping is the removal of a person's ears as an act of physical punishment. It was performed along with the pillorying or immobilisation in the stocks, and sometimes alongside punishments such as branding or fines. The punishment is described in Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.
That's why we decided to get some clear (and updated for 2022) numbers as to exactly how much it costs to crop a Doberman's ears. It costs an average of $631 for a Doberman ear cropping procedure at a veterinarian inside the United States.
American bully ear cropping does not set out to make the dog look menacing or create an image of a fierce dog. This idea is a myth. Mostly, ear cropping is for performance enhancement or to decrease the likelihood of medical issues in the future, such as ear infections.
Cropping -- cutting off the floppy part of a dog's ear -- is usually performed on anesthetized dogs between 6 and 12 weeks old. The ears are then taped to a hard surface for several weeks while they heal so they stay upright.
Ear Cropping Your Dog
Boxers, Great Danes, Doberman Pincers, Miniature Pincers, and American Pit Bull Terriers, are among the more common breeds in which ear cropping is performed. Usually recommended to be done around the age of 10-14 weeks old, the procedure requires full anesthesia.
A: Tail docking of some breeds may be based on a belief that their non-working members experience risks similar to working dogs; more commonly, however, it is to conform to a distinctive breed appearance or standard.
The Doberman tail is particularly thinner and susceptible to painful breaking or damage just from every day wear/use. Docking the tail prevents later on serious injury or damage.
Tail docking occurs in one of two ways. The first involves constricting the blood supply to the tail with a rubber ligature for a few days until the tail falls off. The second involves the severance of the tail with surgical scissors or a scalpel.