What do you say to the people who give you flak for cropping and docking?

[wolfy-hound]

The reason the tails were cut in the first place was because farmers kept their money sacks strapped to their back, and a criminal wasnt able to grab the dogs tail to hold it an grab the money sack...

That's not the story I had found. "Way back when"... there was a tax on dogs kept for sport. (pointers, setters) Dogs kept by farmers were exempt and the way you could say yours was a farming/herding dog was to dock the tail. That's why many herding dogs ended up with docked tails. Rotties were known as butcher's dogs and they were primarily herding dogs, although the bit about the owners putting the purse on the dog's collar is correct. Mainly because it was so difficult to get the purse away from the dog, unless you were the owner.
That's the original story as I researched it way back when.

[sekaiNdobes]

Easy... I say that my dogs are from a responsible breeder. And any responsible breeder of Dobermans has puppies cropped - it's the breed standard, and I can't think of many responsible breeders that don't show or work their dogs.

At the time of docking, a breeder has no way of knowing which puppy is going to be a show dog, and which is going to be a pet... so they all get docked. Not to mention that dobe tails consist of bone, a bit of muscle, some thin skin, and a bit of hair. They have NO protection, enthusiastic wagging can lead to tails splitting open... and once they're open, they're next to impossible to heal. I've known too many dogs with similar tails (greyhounds) that have had to go through painful amputations as adults to feel ANY shred of remorse for my dobes being docked at three days old.

As for cropping... it's my right, it's the breed standard, and it's how the founder and creator of the breed intended them to look. I like a properly cropped ear - it's visually appealing, and it's a visual deterrant. I don't *want* my dogs to look "soft" or "friendly"... part of the reason I have them is for protection, and to intimidate would-be attackers!

Properly cropped ears are not as traumatic as hack jobs. A good cropper will crop ears with such skill and finesse that the puppies are back to their antics in a few hours. I've seen puppies grabbing other puppies by the cone and flipping them around, I've seen puppies ram their cones into their littermates to make them fall down. I've seen entire litters of puppies dive into their food voraciously after cropping... a puppy in agony would do none of these things.

The ears heal in 7-10 days. The rest of the time it's posting. Sure, the posts are irritating at first, but so are collars - point is, the dogs get over it pretty quickly.

And come on... how cool is a dobe with a nice crop? I mean really....





Ilsa's crop - done by the same person, but her ears were naturally very short... so there wasn't much the cropper could do with them, length-wise!

[Blu Mongoose]

Very nice dobe!

[sekaiNdobes]

Thanks Blu! The first two photos are of my male, Ronin. The second two are of Ilsa, my female.