Tail docking/ear cropping

[NH homesteader]

Oh yeah that sounds awful. They don't do all that with this breed. They just cut them shorter, they're younger than 8 weeks and none of her litter mates needed painkillers. They don't do all that taping stuff, I've never heard of that.

 

[Southern by choice]

First tail docking needs to be done within days after birth. When done at this time it is no more of an issue than removing extra dewclaws. Although I am not a fan of banding tails. I prefer cut and suture or surgical glue.

We had considered having our mutt Lucy's tail getting docked. She was older and it would require anesthesia and would have been far more of an issue so we didn't. I will say however this dog (Lucy's) has broken more blood vessels in people's legs than I can keep track of, as well as she has broken her tail 3 times. She has cut it and spat blood everywhere, she has smacked herself in her face so hard she has yelped and given herself welts. Her tail is truly a whip.

I have seriously bad veins and when she hits mine the spot will blow up as big as a golfball and I am down for days. Obviously I am very careful around her tail. The list could go on but this dogs tail should have been done as a pup! She is half boxer and half lab. It boils down to many "breeders" don't have a clue what they are doing, don't want to spend a dime on a litter and then , and then claim they don't do those things because it is cruel. There are a host of other reasons that this has now become "cruel" in the people's mind. I have watched the whole dog world evolve into something quite disturbing really.

There are certain breeds I think are best to not have tails and some breeds best suited to having their ears cropped. However I am also a fan of dogs having a job and purpose as they were originally domesticated for.

The weird thing is all the boo- hooing and whining about how cruel ears/tail being done are but have no problem doing a spay or neuter.

 

[NH homesteader]

The breeder told us if we did her ears we should just lie and tell people that's what their ears look like and avoid the drama. The vet didn't allow them to tell anyone who did their ears for fear of backlash.

 

[misfitmorgan]

First tail docking needs to be done within days after birth. When done at this time it is no more of an issue than removing extra dewclaws. Although I am not a fan of banding tails. I prefer cut and suture or surgical glue.

We had considered having our mutt Lucy's tail getting docked. She was older and it would require anesthesia and would have been far more of an issue so we didn't. I will say however this dog (Lucy's) has broken more blood vessels in people's legs than I can keep track of, as well as she has broken her tail 3 times. She has cut it and spat blood everywhere, she has smacked herself in her face so hard she has yelped and given herself welts. Her tail is truly a whip.

I have seriously bad veins and when she hits mine the spot will blow up as big as a golfball and I am down for days. Obviously I am very careful around her tail. The list could go on but this dogs tail should have been done as a pup! She is half boxer and half lab. It boils down to many "breeders" don't have a clue what they are doing, don't want to spend a dime on a litter and then , and then claim they don't do those things because it is cruel. There are a host of other reasons that this has now become "cruel" in the people's mind. I have watched the whole dog world evolve into something quite disturbing really.

There are certain breeds I think are best to not have tails and some breeds best suited to having their ears cropped. However I am also a fan of dogs having a job and purpose as they were originally domesticated for.

The weird thing is all the boo- hooing and whining about how cruel ears/tail being done are but have no problem doing a spay or neuter.

Some vets are stupid and just want money. I have seen more then one vet's office offer tail docking without anesthesia up to 2 weeks old. Of course i have also seen them offer ear cropping anytime before 6 months old. I place these vets in the same category as the vets who offer to burn horns on goats that are 4 months old.....appalling!

Oh yeah that sounds awful. They don't do all that with this breed. They just cut them shorter, they're younger than 8 weeks and none of her litter mates needed painkillers. They don't do all that taping stuff, I've never heard of that.

Most any breed that has medium or long crop ears that need to stand up require several months of taping and posting ears to train them to stand after the cropping is done. Short crop ears like those on some pits dont usually require posting.

 

[misfitmorgan]

First tail docking needs to be done within days after birth. When done at this time it is no more of an issue than removing extra dewclaws. Although I am not a fan of banding tails. I prefer cut and suture or surgical glue.

We had considered having our mutt Lucy's tail getting docked. She was older and it would require anesthesia and would have been far more of an issue so we didn't. I will say however this dog (Lucy's) has broken more blood vessels in people's legs than I can keep track of, as well as she has broken her tail 3 times. She has cut it and spat blood everywhere, she has smacked herself in her face so hard she has yelped and given herself welts. Her tail is truly a whip.

I have seriously bad veins and when she hits mine the spot will blow up as big as a golfball and I am down for days. Obviously I am very careful around her tail. The list could go on but this dogs tail should have been done as a pup! She is half boxer and half lab. It boils down to many "breeders" don't have a clue what they are doing, don't want to spend a dime on a litter and then , and then claim they don't do those things because it is cruel. There are a host of other reasons that this has now become "cruel" in the people's mind. I have watched the whole dog world evolve into something quite disturbing really.

There are certain breeds I think are best to not have tails and some breeds best suited to having their ears cropped. However I am also a fan of dogs having a job and purpose as they were originally domesticated for.

The weird thing is all the boo- hooing and whining about how cruel ears/tail being done are but have no problem doing a spay or neuter.

i missed the spay/neuter part.....according to them spay/neuter is for the health of the animal...which i dont really buy.

The breeder told us if we did her ears we should just lie and tell people that's what their ears look like and avoid the drama. The vet didn't allow them to tell anyone who did their ears for fear of backlash.

If we ever cropped ears or adopted a crop eared dog we wouldnt lie about it. That seems a little odd but i know how people can be i guess. DH would tell them right where to go, if they tried to give us drama over it. We have had a very very few people try to bring up the tails being docked in a negative way...DH sets them straight. Also not to many people are gonna try to start anything with a man who is 6'4"

 

[NH homesteader]

Lol this area is full of the type of people that you will hear it from!

 

[Southern by choice]

The breeder told us if we did her ears we should just lie and tell people that's what their ears look like and avoid the drama. The vet didn't allow them to tell anyone who did their ears for fear of backlash.

Years ago one of the vets I was close to was one of the only ones left doing the ear crops. The real reason back then had more to do with the vets NOT knowing how to do ear crops & tail docks for the specific breeds. Some of these vets really missed the mark on the ears. Pretty bad seeing a Doberman with Pit ears.

Schnauzers are another that many just couldn't get right and IMO theirs need done good golly the ear infections on those dogs were horrible.... rarely did I see one have ear infections with cropped ears.

One really needs to look at the development of breeds... sadly some development also meant drop ears. Many LGD breeds have cropped ears in other countries and it makes sense. Far less trauma and issues for the dogs that actually work.

@misfitmorgan Agree! so much bs out there about spay/neuter and it is so sad. Of course it takes two.... when people just do things blindly without questioning, without educating themselves and just do as they're told that is when we have an entire culture completely brainwashed and I see this all the time. If you are 40 and under for the most part you never have been around intact animals, never been around a female in heat, don't know what to do, don't know how to manage your own dogs. I was around before all this spay/neuter junk and saw what was happening. I have watched this evolve into such crap I can't even go there. I get so mad and so frustrated. This didn't have anything to do with "too many" puppies... never did and still doesn't. If vets would take the 10-15 minutes or hand out a brochure on reproduction and heat cycles instead of bulling people into spaying and neutering for 10-15 minutes then and only then will we see a reduction. Before the spay/neuter programs we had far less dogs, far fewer shelters and far fewer nutjob crazy dogs. I have hundreds of pages of documentation but no time to compile it. When I tell people the truth about it they are kind of in disbelief at first, then comes the look of nahhhhhhhh, then comes the look of wheels turning, then come the questions.
The only time I consider doing such is when it is actually medically necessary.

 

[Bruce]

After all we do dock our sheeps tails

Because most breeds of sheep don't have sufficient tail muscles to lift them high when they poop. Then you get a big mess back there. IIRC, Katahdin is one of the few breeds that have decent tail muscles and people don't dock them.

The breeder told us if we did her ears we should just lie and tell people that's what their ears look like and avoid the drama.

Sorry, I have zero respect for that breeder whoever they are. If you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen ... and choose a different breed to own or sell.

I agree that there are specific dogs that are working and should be cropped/docked for their safety. Doesn't apply to a lap or foot warmer. Plenty of "drop ear" dogs get ear infections whether they are a breed that is typically cropped or not. Yes it is easier to keep them "aired out" if they are up.

I don't understand why we would have more shelters and more dogs after the neuter craze started. Fewer dogs getting out and making puppies without the owner's consent or knowledge should result in the opposite.

 

[NH homesteader]

He was telling us that for our sake. He doesn't lie about it himself, if you ask. Considering he has some with long ears that argument wouldn't make much sense if someone compared his dogs. The comment was more about how critical people are of the practice. There are very few Alanos without cropped ears.

 

[Latestarter]

I moved the applicable posts from @soarwitheagles thread about his sheep giving birth per his request.