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.

Bet owners wouldn't be so keen on having their own ears mutilated.

100% this. They should get a plushie instead of a living creature!

Medical issues aside I don't think think it should be allowed either. What seems to be fashion now is for dogs to have absolutely zero tail left, not even a little stump 😕

I’ve actually noticed that. Nothing there at all to wag at all. I can’t get my head around why you’d want to do that to a dog for no medical reason.

It's horrible, it looks revolting too.

Exactly!!!

What seems to be fashion now is for dogs to have absolutely zero tail left, not even a little stump

There are some breeds for whom this is the breeding/natural state - well as natural as breeding for such a mutation can be.

If the tail looks to be docked right up to the rump, the chances are this is a breed without a tail at all.

Whether it's right to allow such breeding, is a different conversation I guess.

I have a Doberman and you wouldn’t believe the amount of people that actually state that the dog would look better with cropped ears and tail, some of even asked me why I haven’t had it done. Makes me mad.

"The human is the saviour, not the abuser"

The bigger picture is that this "rescue" culture is what gives cover to the whole abusive industry.

I'm really soured on it.

For avoidance of doubt, the person I was referring to, who I've known as a fellow dog walker for a considerable time, got the dog from Battersea, and I have no reason to think he was lying. Especially as I used to see the rehabilitation of the dog as work in progress to a good conclusion.

Not all rescues are "rescues" - or would you prefer that even places like Battersea (which will put down dogs that are not claimed by owners and which they assess as not possible to rehome safely) had even stricter policies and destroyed more dogs?

Neutering is always done to benefit the owner. It's detrimental to animal health. It does solve the inconvenience of having to manage a bitch in season, or stop an entire male running off after a bitch.

It's illegal in some other countries

Yes. Makes it sound like a legitimate choice. To leave intact or declaw. Some people would be better off getting a teddy bear instead of a real animal.

Have only skimmed the thread so not 100% sure whether the big name pet store has been identified. But in the absence of confirmation I am going to full-on assume that it is the pet store that first comes to mind when you think fo big UK pet chains.

So I won't be shopping there again.

I can't understand why no meaningful police action has been taken about the new epidemic of ear cropping among UK dogs. Not to mention the continuing practice of tail docking. I don't see much ear cropping where I live, but docked dogs are everywhere, including dogs whose tail has been docked so short it is effectively amputated.

A lot of the earcropping that I've seen on TV recently (for example programmes covering XL Bullies) has been done so badly. Not that it would be any less cruel and unacceptable if it was done neatly, but it does make it even more incomprehensible, like a weird kind of self-harm-by-proxy.

In fact, several aspects of the appearance of XL bullies look like they are associated with body dysmorphia in their human owners. The hyper-muscularity looks like that achieved by men who abuse steroids. Unnatural, unhealthy, dysfunctional.

People should stick to destroying their own bodies, not inflict their fuck-ups on the dogs that they acquire.

I missed this @DimplesToadfoot - please report this to the RCVS, they WILL take it seriously. I would also report to the police but go to the RCVS first, having used their complaint form recently there is the option for 'i have concerns about a vet' and it does not have to be YOUR vet.

It is true that you could legally crop ears for health purposes, but it would be things like removing tumours or where a dog repeatedly gets haematomas in the ear leathers. Such surgery would not result in a neat and tidy show type crop or the 'all off macho' crop on both ears at the same time in most cases and a vet would expect to do perhaps a handful of these ops in a decade!

I wouldn’t even inflict these people on teddy bears …

agree with @WiddlinDiddlin @DimplesToadfoot -if there is an actual vet cropping ears then please report them to the RCVS. The RCVS can’t take action against non-vets who do this, because it is only the regulator for veterinary professionals, but if a vet is proved to have carried out an illegal procedure they WILL get investigated and be up before the disciplinary committee.

Docking is only legal in this country for certain types of working dogs, if done by a vet. Dobermans aren’t one of them. Otherwise it’s illegal. See here -

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2007/1120/schedule/2/made

the exact details differ between U.K. countries but are broadly similar.

AS pp said, many tailless dogs, such as French bulldogs, aren’t docked but are born like that. That’s a whole different thing.

if anyone reading this is thinking about getting a cropped or docked dog, with the possible exception of a legally docked working spaniel with most of its tail left on and the right paperwork, please don’t. It’s cruel, unnecessary and associated with the very worst of the dog trade.

"In fact, several aspects of the appearance of XL bullies look like they are associated with body dysmorphia in their human owners. The hyper-muscularity looks like that achieved by men who abuse steroids. Unnatural, unhealthy, dysfunctional."

This is a really good point @GoodOldEmmaNess maybe it is linked to Instagram culture and the obsession with image these days? People posting photos of themselves and their pets obsessively.

Yeas, good point. Via Instagram and the like society has normalised all sorts of cosmetic procedures on humans.

Tattoos, lip filler, facelifts, tummy tucks etc. And in a few serious cases much more severe and controversial surgery . They all add to a culture where reshaping bodies is a mainstream consumer activity, which reinforces the anxiety some people feel about dog/human body parts that don't meet an Instagram ideal. Body parts aren't a given fact anymore; they are something we are meant to curate and perfect. Exhausting.

It’s illegal to crop ears - if you know of a U.K. vet doing it please report them to the RCVS. The only justification for a vet to remove an ear pinna is under general anaesthetic for treatment for a cancerous growth.
It’s legal to dock tails of litters of puppies only with certification they will be working dogs.
We see a lot of cropped ear dogs whose owners claim they are imports and done overseas but have no passport or paperwork so suspect they are illegally done here.
Nobody is enforcing the existing law.