Cropping & Docking - For or Against?

Yea I had to tell my boyfriend they didnt come like that either. he though all cropped dogs came like that (dobes, pits, great danes ect) Thats why he wants a rotti now, he doesnt want to have to crop the dobes ears.

You dont get the option of chooseing with breeds like that because they have to be docked at 3 days old. Now if you are on a list before the pup is born and have say 1st pick and are willing to pick when the pup is a day old AND pay for the pup in full at 1 day old then YES you should be allowed to decide if you want the dog docked or not. QUOTE]

I wouldn't count on that scenario occurring. Breeders don't know how any puppy is going to grade out at 8 weeks when they're three days old or less. So they're almost certainly going to dock the entire litter.

Hmm, maybe if one pup turned out to have a visible disqualification, such as a white spot on the chest or something, and it turns out you wanted it, I would think that a breeder would go ahead and leave that pup undocked at your request since they know it would be going to a pet home?

Personally, I'm more against tail docking than ear cropping. I have a Pembroke Welsh Corgi, and I so so so wish he had a tail. If I had a choice, I would go back in time and somehow undock his tail. Fortunately, other dogs can usually read his body language by his big ol' expressive ears!

Ear cropping usually doesn't take off all of the ear (although it sure looks like some Pitbull breeders do that!) so other dogs would be able to tell read their body language. As long as the whole ear isn't gone, I personally have no problem with it.

Tail docking annoys me, especially in breeds where there is quite literally only one vertebrae for a tail, like a Corgi, or very very short, like a Rottweiler.

I don't really see the point in docking tails at such an awkward length, though, like an Irish Terrier or a Vizsla or an Airedale.

I can only respond through the perspective of my own breed, Dobermans. Our standard allows for a white spot on the chest of up to 1/2". A white spot larger than that would be a fault, but not a DQ. At 3 days of age or less, there'd be no way to tell what size a white spot might wind up being. And many, many puppies are born with white spots there that completely disappear by 8 weeks. So again, I doubt you'd find many breeders willing to do this.

Another concern breeders have about leaving puppies uncropped and/or undocked is the difficulty in placing mature dogs with drop ears and long tails if a puppy is returned to them for any reason. You can do the best job possible screening, yet stuff happens no one can control..people die, etc. And it's VERY difficult to place dogs like this.

My own personal feeling is buying a puppy isn't like buying something off of a Chinese menu where you pick one item from category A and one from Category B. Puppies come "as is", the way the breeder wants them. When I've produced litters in the past, it was to try and create MY vision of the Doberman...and that vision *does not* involve drop ears and long tails. There's no point in going through all the work and expense if the culmination of my effort is an animal that isn't pleasing to me.

Anyway, it's extremely difficult to find a GOOD Doberman breeder in the US who'll place an uncropped puppy...and I'm positive it would be even more difficult to find one who would place an undocked puppy. People who can't live with docked tails should probably think about importing a puppy from a country where docking is prohibited, or going through rescue. Or find another breed.

My dobes are all docked right around the second joint..no shortage of tail body language around here!

If you disagree with it don't do it. If you agree then do it. It is not wrong either way .

I've never seen breeders sell cropped puppies....I thought at least that was left up to the owner? Once again, cropped dogs are highly unattractive to me, especially dobermans....

Last time I looked, most of the traditionally docked breeds don't require being docked or cropped in the show ring. It's like an opitional thing now.

There is nothing remotely attractive about amputating perfectly functional body parts. I think the practice of cropping especially is absolutely disgusting. It is PURELY cosmetic and serves no functional purpose. Altering a dogs natural image to fit some written 'ideal' standard.

I can't believe that it has not been outlawed in the USA yet.

In many cases it is, but not in all. Ear cropping can help with chronis ear infections... one member cropped her Dobe's ears and the ear infections stopped. I'm afraid I can't remember the member's name, though... maybe someone else can. I also vaguely remember someone telling me their vet recommended it for their Lab.. LOL.