Cut off tails and croped ears

Hey wysperwolf, here's a picture where you can see Ripley's hind dewclaws if you look closely. Ripley is the tri color.
 

Our boxer has a docked tail, because she was from a show litter. However, we knew we would never be showing her, and we decided against cropping her ears. It just didn't make sense to us. She is 11 years old, and there has not been a month of her adult life when one of her ears has not had a sore on it that I was keeping an eye on. It never got to the point that I was willing to crop her ears, but I have had to eat crow with her breeders, as they warned me this might happen. She just seems to knock them into stuff.

ORIGINAL: rwbeagles

Breeders remove them the same way some vet's would

 
Thanks Rwbeagles, Can I assume it is done very early in the pups life and a pain inhibitor is used.

ORIGINAL: DPU

ORIGINAL: beagles

Breeders remove them the same way some vet's would

Thanks Beagles, Can I assume it is done very early in the pups life and a pain inhibitor is used.

 
It's done at such an early age there is no pain because the nerves aren't fully developed and functioning.  Like a baby and circumcision The breeder I know that does it herself does it right as the pups are born. 
 
 

In Europe in breeds that developed before, say, Victorian times, you can roughly chart "gentleman's dog" versus "blue collar dog" depending on whether the tail was docked or not. Working terriers were docked, while lap dogs which were based on terrier breeds (like the Crestie), and most bull terriers, were not. Hunting spaniels were docked but not house type spaniels.

That distinction got a little muzzy once the middle class gained strength and some of the former working dogs caught the fancy of the higher classes. Collies are a good example, and pointers.

In the herding type, it was roughly true once that you could tell a droving breed from a gathering breed by its tail. That's because most of the superior droving breeds stem from naturally bobtailed stock brought to Europe with the Romans. The tax that DD mentioned was an effort to weed out "useful" dogs from "just farm" dogs using the bob tailed distinction.

Aussies come partly from that old bobtailed stock and when they solidified as a breed out west, many stockmen preferred the bobtailed look. There's not really a practical reason - as someone pointed out, there's more cattle working breeds that HAVE tails, than do not. And if it were an issue with brush and such, rough coated breeds like Aussies and Border collies (and collies in the past) would do as well out west as they have and continue to do.

The amusing thing is to hear conformation people explain such characteristics standardized in their breeds in working terms: "The rough coat is for protection against the heavy brush they worked in." and anther breed says the exact same thing: "The coat is smooth to avoid getting tangled in heavy brush." LOL.

C'mon guys, just say it's that way because it's always been that way and you like it! [] That goes for most docking/cropping questions now.

Dewclaws depend on the purpose of the breed and how well they are attached. A torn dewclaw is a horrible injury that can permanently weaken the leg for a performance dog. It's far better to get it off as a pup. That's mostly applicable to the rear dews that are not firmly attached in some dogs [shudder].

My Maremmas, and most livestock guardian breeds (and other mastiffs, I believe), have rear double dewclaws that are firmly attached. I don't know how formidable a weapon they'd actually be, but they look pretty scary! They point both ways and are huge and strong.

Breeders routinly remove dewclaws on basenjis because if they did not, the basenjis would learn to use power tools and heaven knows we don't want that.
 
Interestingly enough, I know dogs use their dewclaws to turn and such, but I also know that a lot of people who lure course their dogs will wrap the dewclaws before the dog runs.  Why?  Because of a problem with dewclaw injuries.  (I haven't seen this done in agility, perhaps it's done in other venues more?)

Ears wounds bleed extensively; even small scrapes look like a big deal because of all the blood.  Dogs with a figthing heritage were routinely cropped so there was less chance of another dog grabbing the ears and ripping them during a fight. a true "fight crop" has the dog's ears shaved off very near the head--ick, IMHO.

ORIGINAL: TH

Why do people cut tails and crop ears on certain breeds?

There are many sides to this debate, I'll take none of them.

Ears were cropped to give a more alert appearance.

Tails were docked for three reasons of which I am aware:  To prevent a "bad" person from using the tail as a handle, and to prevent brittle tails from breaking, and to remove the outward "happy" appearance of a wagging tail- and thus discourage intruders.

ORIGINAL: agilebasenji

Breeders routinly remove dewclaws on basenjis because if they did not, the basenjis would learn to use power tools and heaven knows we don't want that.

Interestingly enough, I know dogs use their dewclaws to turn and such, but I also know that a lot of people who lure course their dogs will wrap the dewclaws before the dog runs.  Why?  Because of a problem with dewclaw injuries.  (I haven't seen this done in agility, perhaps it's done in other venues more?)

Basenjis too?  Pharaohs are more prone to learning how to get into locked cabinets and such![] (perhaps the "bad-senjis"  would use the power tools for that!

Dew claws are wrapped, if present, in alot of lure coursing dogs- it prevents those horrible ripping injuries.

Our Brittany had a cropped tail and I just expect that since its done at birth and is the breed standard.   I have seen them with tails and I guess I wasn't sure what kind of dog it was at first!  I actually passed over several irish setter pups that had dew claws.  We have never owned a pure bred dog that had them.  It used to be unheard of.  We are old school I guess.  I knew that I had found a serious long time breeder when she was surprised I would ask such a question about dew claws!  It is just how its done.  I prefer the breed standards if your going to pay the price for a pure breed dog.  What my parents went thru with our GSD growing up to keep one ear from falling over.  No one thought to question the standard appearances of the breed.

Jewlieee

3. To maintain breed standards
Should the docking of tails be eliminated, hundreds of otherwise good breeding animals wouuld be removed from gene pools and this could be a huge downfall for the breed. 

   This doesn't make sense to me.  Tail docking is not a method of birth control.

I love the look of a cropped & docked dobe! 
 
From the Dobe website.

  
A docked tail was an important characteristic of the Doberman because the tail represents a "body part" that can be easily and readily injured.  Injury can happen by accident, such as knocking it against hard surfaces or getting it caught between surfaces (doors, windows, car doors) which can cause bruising, hematomas (pockets of blood), sloughing off of hair and tissue, gangrene and terrible fractures of the vertebra requiring major reparative surgery to treat and even save the tail. The tail also served as a handle that an attacker could grab and injure which could cause the dog to experience pain and trauma and cause him to abandon his job of protecting his owner.  So docking was also a functional part of the Dobermans effectiveness as a family protector.
 
Cropped ears, likewise, were the logical, functional addition to complete the Dobermans physical equipment to make him the elite family companion and protection dog that he was, even from the beginning. There are two primary reasons that we desire cropped ears, and both have to do with FUNCTION.  The first is that a neatly cropped ear is less of a "handle" for an attacker to hang on to.  Since the Doberman has been bred to be a personal protector, a cropped ear gives the dog a decided advantage in a confrontation with a perpetrator. The second has to do with sound "localization".  An erect earred dog can localize the source of a sound to within a 5 degree cone, whereas a drop earred dog can only localize a sound source to within a 20 degree cone.  Since Dobermans do SEARCH AND DETECTION as well as SEARCH AND RESCUE, cropped ears are a decided advantage.

Boston Terriers ears are cropped to accentuate the squareness of the head. It was done a lot when the breed was still young.  Here's some examples...
 

 

 
It's not done as much now but you will often find Boston Terriers who are being specialed with cropped ears. Docking is not allowed in the breed and it's a disqualification for a Boston Terrier to have a docked tail.

I have to admit, I'm neutral about ear cropping (I don't have a cropped breed, so I really dont' have an opinion on it), but I *love* the look of docked tails on most of the docked breeds. I really think that the docking ban is hurting Pembroke Corgi breed type, for one thing- although a portion of the breed is natural bobtailed, there's this tendency for people to breed towards a Cardigan-ish brush tail, somehow (Look at photos of champion Finnish and Danish Pems), which is changing the whole tailset and rear structure of the breed. Ick.

Some breeds- like poodles- I don't mind a natural tail, but on the vast majority of them, I think they really do look better docked. And docking is SUCH a minor procedure that I really don't get the fuss over it.

I also love the look of most cropped/docked breeds. But, if I was getting a pup form a breeder and the decision to crop or not was my call, I wouldn't do it. I just couldn't.