I was wondering if it was posable to crop dogs ears in the UK.
it is just a general question so please, no rude posts!

No, it's been illegal for over 100 years.

Thank goodness! I think dogs look so much nicer with their natural ears.

I have a Briard, and in France and America they crop their ears. I personally think it is cruel. They just look soooo gorgeous with big, hairy, swingy ears.

Julia

Julia, they outlawed cropping Briard ears in France and the rest of Europe last year ;) I don't like nor believe in it, but I respected the French way of doing things as, afterall, if it wasn't for the French we wouldn't have our wonderful Breed :)

Well you learn something new every day. I did not realise that cropping was outlawed in France and the rest of europe last year (where have I been). Better check my facts in future, sorry if any offence caused.

Julia

Hey, julia, you didn't offend me ;) I was following the change of law because of my French connection. And of course, my penchant for following all things Briard :P

Ooo! "The French Connection"! You don't have a Dodge Charger as well do you? ;)

No Thank God it is illegal .Also dogs with Cropped ears cannot be shown in this country either.

You can import a dog with cropped ears though :)

But they won't be allowed in the showring.  Quite a few imports of cropped dogs have been made and they could be bred from but not shown.

around here there is a cropped HUGE dobie,that is the biggest dobie ive ever seen! hes really nice but his ears do make him look very mean!!!!!!
& a cropped mini snauscher. the first time i saw it i stood for about 3 mins trying to work out what was diffderent about it

Is it illegal in the south of ireland?

i dont think thats right you cant show cropped dogs i think it looks good on certain breeds and if it was done on the dog before it is imported then why on earth cant you show it? thats seems stupid to me

I think they're banned from the showring because it might encourage other people to emulate it.

:rolleyes:

You might look better with half your ears cut off and stuck up in a point on the top of your head, but I'd hope you wouldn't do it just to "look good".

I loathe danes with cropped ears. They have gorgeous silky ears and its downright cruel to crop them.

hi chloe,when i was having a nosey about danes on the net,i was suprised by how "finely" boned the US danes looked,
some looked like greyhoundxs!

Indeed. And heres a prime example of just how STUPID they can look with vile cropped ears: Cropped fawn

their ears are to tall to be standing up like that!!!
theres not many danes in my area,but there is a lovely fawn that lives next to the harbour,who has loevly velvety ears, & i know two harliquins who do obedience,they have lovely big floppy ears!!!!
(flynn is actually abit scared of them...he wont sit next to them in stays!!!!!poor danes!!!!!)

Oh My God!!  Why would anyone would to make a dog look like that poor Dane?!

I think they look like upside down icicles. Surely they would snap off if they got caught on something. Horrid.

Because cropping is outlawed in the UK & showing a cropped dog means it breaks the KC rules re operations to alter the conformation of the dog

I don't know why they don't do what the min pin breeders did & breed for the erect ear carriage instead of putting the dogs though an unnecessary operation

i wonder if when it was first banned if there was a problem with ear type & how long it took to "settle"into an acceptable standard?
also i wonder why some breeds opted to breed up right ears such as the ETT & some like the GDs were happy just to let them be floppy?

my point is that if cropping is allowed in the country that the dog comes from, and it is ped and regd then it should be able to be shown, to not be able to show it because it has cropped ears is stupid and hypocritical! docked dogs are allowed to be shown so why not cropped ears?

Danes in the US are taller and leaner than the danes bred over here. If the ears are done properly I think it makes them look really nice. everyones entitled to their own opinion.

I think ear cropping might be legal in ireland but would like someone to clarify?

When in Rome, IBS! As cropping is illegal here then it applies to all dogs, not just UK bred ones. Docked dogs are allowed to be shown because docking is legal here. The countries which have banned docking also do not permit our legally-docked dogs to be shown either. Just as dogs which come from abroad to compete in UK shows are judged by the UK standard, not the standard of their home country.

Yes thats the case in most EU countries now J/G, ok to show in the country if its legal there but if its illegal in another country then not allowed to show in that country. Remember a couple yrs ago a bit of an outcry at world show cos docked breeds were not allowed to be shown even tho it was legal to dock in counrty you coming from.

Christine, Spain.

would not meet the current UK standard though?

Being new to this board and to different terms etc, looking at the picture of the Great Dane with his ears sticking up like that (and I dont like it), can someone tell me exactly what they have to do to crop ears as how on earth do they get naturally floppy ears to stick up and stay there?  Its not a daft question as Im cant really have an opinion on it unless I can find out whats involved - does that make sense.

ChloeH

Can i just ask how do they get the dogs ears to stand up like that??

I think it makes them look meaner and I don't like it

At about 8 - 12 weeks of age they cut the floppiest bit of the ear off and stitch up the edges. The ears are then taped to 'posts' to stop them flopping over, and these are kept on for several months, with at first the bandaging being changed every couple of days and the cut edge stretched to try to stop it healing wrinkly. The ears are retaped every week or so after the ears have healed till they stay up. :(

Unfortunately, I think thats the point. Shame when the perfect example of the breed should be a gentle giant :(

They don't crop the ears until the puppy is a couple of months old.  they cut off a goodly part of it's ear and then bandage and splint them up with a contraption to keep them up.  In a cropped doberman pup I saw with his ears taped it was a piece of metal shaped into a flat bottomed U, the ears were bandaged and taped up to the uprights.  Evntually the ear cartilage will striffen enough for the ears to stay that way, though many flop and bounce when they move (in the case of the taller crop that Danes have) and some never stay upright.

Do they not implant pins in some breeds ears?

Not to my knowledge ... I'll see what I can discover.

I thought I read they put plastic lollipop type sticks in to help the ears stick up - will try and find it too

I think that's the sort of thing that gets taped to the ear, not implanted. Could well be wrong though.

Oh thats awful poor little mites!

Awful,it is such a horrible thing to do to a dog.
Sheila.

I don't know the process of cropping other breeds, but in Briards (when they did it in France, up until last year) the ears are cropped/cut when they are 2 weeks old and then stuck together in an upward position using ceramic glue until the dog is 10 months to a year, at which time, the ears stand "naturally" on their own.

well, there is no need to crop ears, there are no medical grounds just personal preference of the owner.  From what i have read it is very painful for the dog, who has no choice in the matter.  Not exactly fair.

Cropping looks disgusting and is a stupid act of cruelty, people who crop should not be allowed to own dogs. imo.
What wud be the point in allowing you to import a dog with cropped ears and being allowed to show it?  It had been banned for a good reason!  Being allowed to show an imported cropped eared dog would indeed be stupid.  I think the kc has done the right thing by banning this, otherwise what would be the point in making it illegal

jenny, there are an awful lot of people out there who shouldn't own dogs, but still do. :(

I myself am not in favour of cropping, but to say that people who crop shouldn't be allowed to own dogs is IMHO taking things too far. personal preference of the owner doesn't always come into it, it is more often than not, the breeder who will crop. I happen to think that cropping doesn't look disgusting on some breeds especially my own. Up until a few years ago, I was looking at importing a French Briard who would have had cropped ears at that time, it certainly wasn't the cropped ears that put me off, but other reasons.

I have been to shows in France, where the breed was cropped at that time, and many thoughts went through my mind about these magnificent dogs, but disgusting certainly wasn't one of them.

i agree with hairy pooch, some breed look better with a crop

but you wouldn't know they "looked better" cropped if they weren't cropped in the first place - would you.

If you want a dog with sticking up ears then buy a GSD :)

I have the best of both "natural" worlds, a GSD and my boy. Although, it has to be said that not all GSD's ears go up, I have had a couple of older rescues in the past, nobody wanted them, precisely for that reason, their ears weren't pricked. :)

chloe I have seen dogs of various breeds both cropped and uncropped and I think that gives me the ability to decide which one I like best :-)

My personal opinion (and everyone is free to disagree of course!) is that no operation should be performed on an animal that isn't to its (the animal's) benefit. Purely cosmetic surgery is unethical. Ear cropping serves no useful purpose nowadays (we don't fight our dogs so they're not going to have their ears torn off) so is unethical and IMHO rightly banned.
:)

This is true JG,  I don't see any useful purpose in it nowadays. And I am also of the opinion that unless a dog needs a surgical procedure for health reasons, we should leave well alone. Heck, I don't like spaying a bitch and always dither over getting it done :rolleyes:

My breeds ears were originally cropped, so that when they were guarding cattle on hillsides and rough terrain (certain brambles apparently used to rip their ears)  and were faced with intruders/enemies like wolves, they didn't get their ears torn in fights and also when they were asleep, the alert pose of pricked ears fooled the opposition into thinking that they were awake :)

IBS,It might give YOU the ability of what YOU like best seen, but after all is said and done, it should be in the DOG'S BEST INTEREST. If some-one said to you, I don't like your ears, have them cropped, would YOU be prepared to undergo extensive surgery to please the minority? When it is not really needed.  Sue

While researching on the net I came across these weirdos. Dogs stand no chance.