Dogs ears being cut / modified

[Afcg]

With all this talk about the Bully XL breed in the news, WIBU to think that more should be done to stop the horrendous and unecessary practice of lopping off most of their ears?! I'm pretty sure it's illegal, so I don't know why people are going out and about quite shamelessly when it's clear that their dog's been mutilated. Dogs' ears are really important to them for communicating, so if they are unable to do this it will obviously affect their well-being. Not to mention the pain of having someone who's unqualified "operating" on them, without anaesthesia. It's not the vets doing it, it's just randoms!!

I just don't understand why this is so commonplace / normalised.

Thing is, it isn't normalised in most circles and the ones it is normal for as the type who really won't care about the animal nor about what we the public think.

I totally agree it should be banned and seen as cruelty to animals and as such, the owner banned from owning pets again, but because it's all happening "underground", all someone has to say is the dog looked like that when they got them and they can't really be disproved.

Again I think this sort of thing could be monitored with dog licences, a dog register and for things to actually be enforced.

It’s already illegal. People are having it done abroad before importing the dog.

Agree.
RVN for 15 years.
You would be surprised that there are some "vets" (either ex vets or unscrupulous vets) who do actually carry out these operations.
It's in the same vein as de-clawing (which actually removes the first joint of the toe, not just the claw, leaving a cat defenceless), de-barking, and tail docking (unless done for medical purposes).

And sorry if this offends anyone but the general type that owns these dogs doesn't care if they are out and about with a clearly mutilated dog. The reason they do it is to make the dog look more aggressive (forward facing ears mimicking aggression and dominance).

They will usually say that they dog was already like that when they acquired it.

All of these surgeries are barbaric and the people who carry them out and ask for them are horrible.

It’s been banned for nearly 2 decades. I never saw it until recently, apart from one friend who had a rescued dobe they got living in the states that they brought back when they moved back to the U.K., now I see cropped bully’s everywhere and a lot of footballers have cropped/docked dobermans and share them on social media….
I’ve got a couple of vet friends who say much the same as Hooty.

💯 this

I can't say I've noticed any in my area, but I am aware that there is an import market that ships them over once mutilated and I think these should be checked at airports to be honest. Why aren't these animals being checked over for these barbaric practices when they land at customs and why aren't the people that have bought them being fined?!

If you need to change something about a dog's appearance, then you don't care about the dog.

I recently found out about de-barking as it's legal in some states in the US apparently and honestly, it's just shocking that people would go to those lengths to remove an animals natural trait.

It is illegal in UK.

But it's not illegal to import dogs whose ears are cropped, so that is what the arseholes who do it claim. And the people carrying it out illegally in this country may well not be vets. It's unspeakably cruel.

I know another dogwalker whose dog has cropped ears - the poor thing was a rescue at about 9 months old, and despite the most horrendous start in life he has a really sweet nature. The owner has worked, I think, miracles to rehabilitate the dog, who is now normally behaved. (Not a bull breed, BTW)

So if you see someone with a dog like this, remember that it's possible the human is the saviour, not the abuser.

It's in the same vein as de-clawing (which actually removes the first joint of the toe, not just the claw, leaving a cat defenceless), de-barking, and tail docking (unless done for medical purposes)

I had a rescue cat that had been declawed (I was living abroad, where it was not illegal) and he was my only cat I ever kept as an indoors cat (just not fair to let him out in an area with other cats and other wildlife). He was lovely though, very affectionate, quite a character at times and seemed happy with his life.

I really don't have any sympathy at all with people who do these kinds of operations on animals (unless actually indicated eg after an accident)

There is a vet inside my local big name pet store who crops ears and docks tails, I asked the receptionist about it, saying that I thought it was illegal, he replied that it's not illegal as its done for "health purposes and stops them getting ear infections" while they have that get out card to play they will always get away with it.

I hardly go in that store, it gives me the rage when I walk past the vets corner.

It's illegal to do it here, as PP said, and not illegal to import a dog with docked ears though it should be.

It is a massive red flag that the owner doesn't care about the dog's welfare, or public safety.

(I'd also ban further purebreeding of the brachial breeds that you can hear coming 20 feet away because the poor things can't breathe properly)

I've seen cropped ears a lot lately.
It's really disgusting. I don't know how it's legal in any country.

On the other hand, I've been called cruel as one of my boxers has a bobtail. People rarely believe me when I say she was not docked, it's a genetic trait that was bred into a boxer bloodline years ago when the boxer was bred with a corgi and then bred back to a boxer until they had enough boxer in them to be boxers.
This was done for aesthetics but also because a lot of boxers suffer from happy tail, anyone who has seen happy tail knows how horrible it is. One of my other boxers has happy tail and it's awful, the vet has suggested tail amputation. I think I'd always choose a bobtail in future because of this reason.

Tail docking legislation is a bit wishy washy, you can claim it's being done for working breeds (even though they are never going to be a working dog). Law was changed in 2017 to allow tail docking under some circumstances so many are done this way. Tails are also legitimately "docked" if they have, for example, an un-healing wound or if the tail is paralysed in an accident to prevent injury further down the road.

Ear cropping, however, does NOTHING to prevent "ear infections" which are much further down the ear canal. This is bogus.
I would very strongly suggest you contact the RCVS to report this practice and this vet, if this is something you are commonly seeing there.

I absolutely loathe the excuse of "it stops ear infections" and any vet that uses it isn't a good vet. And I think I can guess which big name this is.....

My Labrador is prone to ear infections, it doesn't mean that we're going to lop his ears off - we just manage it with a weekly cleanser and make sure to wipe his ears every day.

@Georgethebear - similar here too!

DDog's breed can have a tail anywhere between 2-8 inches. Most dogs do have longer tails (6+ inches) but mine's is about 3 inches. People tend to assume it's docked. It isn't - she was born like that

@hdbs17 I hate it too, my own floppy eared dog had an ear infection, it turned out it was allergies, not once has my own vet suggested cropping her ears to prevent it. I know it's all a load of hogwash

Sadly a vets professional 'diagnosis' trumps my general public knowledge and when I tried to report them to the people that could do something about it, not one of them were interested, especially without proof, I never think on to whip my phone out to record it, once I went to the store daily, now only when I'm desperate, I'm actually banned from the vets themselves.

Whilst it's very horrible for the dogs it's also quite a handy signifier for the sort of scumbags you want to avoid

Amazed to read that "de-barking" is a thing; what the hell? How unspeakably vile would you have to be to do that.

I see these dogs with mutilated ears everywhere where I live, and most of them have no tail at all either. Like, not just a little stump of a tail but the entire thing has been removed. @DimplesToadfoot could you maybe report that vet? It sounds like they are breaking the law.
Wonder if you could somehow prove if your dog lost most of its ears abroad, pets have passports now so police / RSPCA could easily check to see if this was true or just a lie. The whole thing completely enrages me😡 what's the point in having a dog and then removing all its dog-like qualities like its bark, ears and tail.

But yes to PPs who have rightly said that the current owner may well not be the one who did this to the dog and it is a rescue.

Quite frankly I’d love the punishment to be whoever as he’s these poor dogs should have the tops of their ears cut off - but whilst that won’t happen, I think this needs to be seriously considered as part of the banning of the breed. It’s fucking barbaric. I am not a dog lover by any means, least of all for the the XL Bully, but the poor things must get so many ear infections as a rest.

I’d love to have the answer from someone who’s done it - why? What for? There must be SOMEONE on here

Why do people get cats de-clawed?

What bullshitters

Id show them this https://www.rspca.org.uk/-/blog-ear-cropping

My lovely late pittie (not in the UK) already had his ears cropped when we adopted him from our local bully rescue. It’s barbaric. We were constantly getting him treated for ear infections, poor guy.

There’s an extra special place in hell for someone who is one moment so committed to having a dog they mutilate it - then give it up 5 minutes later.

Agree wholeheartedly. The rescue think he was bred for fighting because of known associations in the part of the city in which he was found abandoned. He was really docile, frightened of other dogs and clingy with people so obviously he wasn’t any good for their wretched purposes. Thankfully he lived out the rest of his days as a spoiled little prince! 😆

@Afcg I've tried to report them. I'm not one to sit here and twiddle my thumbs when I see animal cruelty happening. No one is interested in what I have to say especially as I have no proof.

As for the RSPCA, a family 3 houses up from me recently got a puppy, it had ears, now it doesn't, from the state of it it wasn't even a vet job, no one cares.

@MartinChuzzlewit I'm not sure if you've seen where I've said I'm now banned from from that particular vets plus quite a few others of that brand around my area, even branches I've never set foot in over this, I can't show them anything.

Mostly because they are losers who care more about their pristine furniture than their cat ime. It doesn't just make cats unable to defend themselves with their claws (and forces them to resort to biting instead), it leaves them in lifelong pain. Just walking hurts.