Ear Cropping

[yuk237]

How painful is it for a puppie to have his ears cropped? Other than looks what point does it serve the dog? We just got our first pit so I will be asking alot of probably dumb questions, but thanks for all the help.

[damienApbt]

a lot of people in this forum think differently towards the subject. me personally can care less either way. the purpose is pureley cosmetic. it looks real good and brings out their stronger features. as far as confirmation goes its difficult to get a perfect set of ears to do well in shows. so a lot of show dogs will have them cropped. although comfirmation standard say natural is acceptable, it is hard to get the judges nod with natural ears, so most have show crops.

some people do say that there cropped dogs are less prone to ear infections than there natural babies. my boy has nat. ears and he has seasonal ear inf. but i think thats mostly because of his allergies. i dont think anything has been proven that way though.

as far as pain, im not too sure. i always thought that they do it at a young age before the nerve endings grow into the whole ear, thus nullifying any lasting pain. thats why they dont do it much past 3 or 4 months or before teething ends. but some in this forum will vouch that it causes much pain to the pooch. i personally have no experience with cropping.

[Fast-N-Nefari0us]

yuk237,
Probably very painful and that's why they put them to sleep when doing the procedure.

Serves no other purpose unless you fight your dog :naughty:

[mnp13]

Yes it hurts, probably a lot. However, there is no lasting mental or physical damage. If there was, the dogs would exhibit headshy behaviors after the surgery.

Michelle

oh, and Fast, most actual fighting dogs do not have cropped ears. Natural ears help to protect the ear canal, eye and cheek during a fight.

[damienApbt]

. Serves no other purpose unless you fight your dog :naughty:

thats not true at all. :naughty: early on it was considered as a disadvantage by exposing the inner ear to severe damage when pitted against a "head fighter" And there were also people who cropped to minimize the risk of siezing by the ear. but over all today its completely cosmetic. people do it for show dogs and other because they feel it smartens the appearence.

thugs nowadays just do it because they're dumbasses and almost take off the whole ear. just because they dont know any better. they do scissor jobs and hack em off. if your going to do it obviously go to a vet.

[Fast-N-Nefari0us]

AGAIN, we can say it's a matter of preference. Pit fighting wasn't limited to just one group of individuals; it's was a world WIDEEEEEEEEE sport and depending on LOCATION and FAD, ears were cropped or not. But, yall can't tell me it was one way or the other or you can't say "Most" fighting dogs weren't cropped, cause it was a world WIDEEEEEEEEE sport. I was simply answering Yuk's question.

[damienApbt]

a world wide sport. but as far as pit bulls it was originated in england and ireland. they didnt come to the US until the late 19th century. so for pit bulls its not world wide. i think mnp was referring to them, not all fighting breeds.

i just disagreed with your comment. fighting your dog isnt the sole reason for cropping ears. thats an unfair statement.

[Fast-N-Nefari0us]

damianAPBT,
But at no time did I say it was the "SOLE" reason why they crop ears. I was simply answering Yuk's question and LOOKS/Appearance was already established. Hellooooooo? Are you trying to prove a point or did you not see the fact that Yuk asked this question: "Other than looks what point does it serve the dog?"

OR, do you know of another purpose cropped ears serve?

[yuk237]

Thanks for all the advise. I was just wondering?

[damienApbt]

damianAPBT,
But at no time did I say it was the "SOLE" reason why they crop ears.

im sorry what did this mean??

Serves no other purpose unless you fight your dog :naughty:

thats what i disagreed with. and with the emoticons, its as if yuk would be doing something wrong if he cropped. i dont want to start a debate, sinse it has been done in here. but loose comments like those can start em.

appearence was established, but to me you discounted it as a purpose. may be i misunderstood. and he did ask a question why people get ears cropped and i doubt any one in here would say because they fight their dogs.

again may be i misunderstood.

[mnp13]

AGAIN, we can say it's a matter of preference. Pit fighting wasn't limited to just one group of individuals; it's was a world WIDEEEEEEEEE sport and depending on LOCATION and FAD, ears were cropped or not. But, yall can't tell me it was one way or the other or you can't say "Most" fighting dogs weren't cropped, cause it was a world WIDEEEEEEEEE sport. I was simply answering Yuk's question.

However, if you go through the old pictures and etchings of pit bulls, especially the Colby lines, the cropped dogs are much rarer than the dogs with natural ears. The Colby pit bulls are some of the best documented dog lines in the country, and they have never really hid the fact that it was a fighting kennel.

As for world wide fighting, I don't know and I don't really care all that much. I do, however, know some history of pit bull fighting in England, Ireland and the US and since this is a pit bull forum that is what I was referring to.

Oh, and dog fighting is not a 'sport', it is abuse.

Michelle

[jmann4]

Is it painful? Probably. If done at the proper age by an experienced person the pain and problems like stitches coming out etc... should be minimal.

[kendall]

Anyways...
It's pretty much universaly accepted that cropping is painful while the procedure is actually being done and for some time after it's done. But it doesn't (that we know of) cause the dog any discomfort later in life. There is some risk of infection after it's done also, during the healing process, but if you go to a good vet *who has done it before* your chances of a healthy recovery are good.
As for purpose, nowadays it doesn't serve a purpose. It's cosmetic, and there isn't a medical reason. Certain breeds' AKC/UKC standards still call for ear cropping and tail docking so many people do it for shows. Hundreds of years ago it was done to many working dogs to prevent the ear from snagging on anything while doing their work (hunting, herding, etc.).
In Europe in like the 1700s people were taxed for their dogs... unless it was a working dog. Therefore a lot of people cropped ears and docked tails (since this was supposedly only done to working dogs) to avoid paying taxes.

[jmann4]

In Europe in like the 1700s people were taxed for their dogs... unless it was a working dog. Therefore a lot of people cropped ears and docked tails (since this was supposedly only done to working dogs) to avoid paying taxes.

Interesting. Learn something new everyday.