What are your views on cropping and docking?

[Aleron]

Originally Posted by Flyinsbt

The one I didn't get, when I worked for the vet that cropped, was this one couple dropping their Dobe puppy off to be cropped the next day, and the woman was all angsty because they'd not left their puppy anywhere overnight before. And I was thinking "you're stressing about leaving your puppy somewhere overnight, and you're having his ears cut off?!" Just didn't make sense to me, if you're that sensitive about your poor darling puppy, why would you want to do this? Of course, I didn't say anything like that. As long as I was accepting the paycheck, it wasn't my place to be critical.

Stuff like that kind of makes me laugh too. On another forum someone was debating having their dog's nails cut back and cauterized during his neuter. People were largely saying how doing that didn't sit well with them and they'd think the dog would be sore from it, etc. And I'm just like...ummm... you do realize she's taking her dog in to have his balls cut off right?

[Southpaw]

Don't like it.
But what am I gonna do about it?

Obviously, I own a docked breed. I am not going to go searching high and low for a breeder that doesn't dock boxers, sooo I am stuck with that.

It is not something I would personally opt for, if I had the choice to leave Juno undocked I absolutely would have!

Most breeds I don't think look good cropped, and even if I did I'm just not a supporter of surgically altering a dog purely for aesthetics. It's silly to me.

[Saeleofu]

I am not going to go searching high and low for a breeder that doesn't dock boxers, sooo I am stuck with that.

Gavroche is all natural, and he was a stray That's actually one factor that leads me to believe he's mixed, though there's the possibility that he was left nautral because he's white. There's another person in my dog club with a white, all-natural boxer that was a rescue. Looks EXACTLY like Gavroche. She doubts whether her dog is purebred too lol.

I don't like the look of cropped ears on boxers. I do like the look of cropped ears on dobes.

[JustaLilBitaLuck]

I think it's up to the individual/breeder. I would never condemn someone who chooses to crop/dock a traditionally cropped/docked breed, but I wouldn't condemn someone who wanted to leave them natural.

If I ever get a traditionally cropped/docked breed from a breeder, I will probably have them done.

Declawing, however? Absolutely not.

[JessLough]

Those that said they are OK with/prefer removing dewclaws.. what are your opinions on declawing cats?

I mean, the main reason I hear against (and why I'm against) declawing cats is because of the amputation. Seems kind of mute if you're fine with chopping off dewclaws.

Just curious

[CharlieDog]

I don't like dewclaw removal, but I'm not going to argue with someone who wants it done. I really really don't like declawing cats at all. I'd take the declawed cat over the one dumped at the shelter for scratching the house up though. I can't own cats at this point, so that's moot.

I personally don't care one way or the other about docking/cropping your own pet. If it's docking, obviously taking an adult dog in to have a dock done is stupid if it's strictly for cosmetic reasons, and I'd hope the vet would try to educate on the pain that comes with removing a fully grown and developed appendage. If it's for something like chronic happy tail, then yes, I'd rather see the dog docked than given up.

I really prefer the dogs with the short/working crops vs natural ears. I think if my brothers boxer had been cropped, she'd have WAY less issues with her ears than she does now. Lack of air flow/hematomas in the ear, bacterial infections, ect. I think cropping would have eliminated a lot of those problems. She's on an excellent food, and her allergies are food based, not environmental, so it must have something to do with her huge heavy ears.


Though on breeds like Dobes, I absolutely love the long show crops, done correctly, like on Sizzles and NRAs dogs. I'd drive a very long way to have my puppies done by whomever did their ears vs letting some local vet try to pull that type of artwork off. It's supposed to complement the individual dogs head, and that's not something every vet can do.

[DobeLove]

I obviously have no problem with it. I think on most natural cropped/docked breeds being all natural completely ruins the look of the breed. Dewclaws just gross me out in general, especially back ones.

It bothers me when people make any sort of excuse for whether they support/don't support it. It's fine with me if people don't like "dogs getting their body parts chopped off." But I'm not a fan of being told my dog would be able to turn tighter/chew bones better/communicate better if she was all natural. Avril does fine just the way she is and I doubt she misses any of it. Also not a fan of people making up excuses to why they did crop. Ours are done 100% for cosmetic reasons.

[thehoundgirl]

I think it's all about personal preference. Would I personally have a dog cropped? No, but I have seen a few dogs at the shelter I worked with nice crops that looked good on them and they were both bully breeds. Now, Dixie's tail is docked and I don't mind it. She still can express herself with her little nub. She wags it a lot, she had her tail docked probably as a puppy when she was born or something.. I adopted her when she was 9 weeks old.

And I really am not against removing dewclaws on dogs. They can get caught up on stuff if they are big enough in the back. Let the front ones be though unless they pose a problem.

Declawing cats I have a problem with, they can have so many behavioral issues and yes I have seen it when people have adopted cats from the shelter I worked at and declawed them.

Then they return them because they are not using the litterbox and pooping everywhere or they have behavioral issues. Izzy was a perfect example for that. He was adopted then declawed. And after he stopped using the litter box he was brought back. He was almost euthanized because he was fairly unadoptable. SUPER sweet cat but he just wouldn't use the litter box so he was adopted out as an outside cat.

I couldn't and wouldn't bring a declawed cat into my home because I have dogs and they can be brats with the cats sometimes. My cats need their claws in this house. As for debarking, I think it's cruel. But that's my opinion.

[Southpaw]

Originally Posted by JessLough

Those that said they are OK with/prefer removing dewclaws.. what are your opinions on declawing cats?

I mean, the main reason I hear against (and why I'm against) declawing cats is because of the amputation. Seems kind of mute if you're fine with chopping off dewclaws.

Just curious

IMO they're not really the same. A dewclaw on a newborn puppy is more or less a floppy thing that is not firmly attached by bone, so it's not so invasive. And plus dogs are not walking on their dewclaws like cats walk on their... well, feet. You're much more likely to jack up a cat by declawing it, than you would be to have a dog notice it doesn't have dewclaws.

This is assuming we're talking about 3 day old puppies. It does become more involved once the dog is older.

Also note, I DO prefer that dogs keep their dewclaws (never used to care but I see how Juno has a harder time holding bones and toys without them). I just don't think it's comparable to declawing a cat. I don't care that people get dewclaws removed from their puppies, but I cringe whenever a cat is brought in to be declawed.

[yv0nne]

Vizslas have docked tails ..but it's illegal in Nova Scotia to dock tails so Penny has 100% of her tail. Yay? I don't know ..Squirt has a cropped tail. I guess I just don't care as long it's done correctly.