random question for dog owners.

[entropygirl]

Let me preface this by saying I have never owned a dog nor have any intention of doing so and even if I did I would never ever do the following, but as a result of a random comment on a random thread I was wondering what the opinions on / legality of getting a dog's ears pierced are?

My guess is that everyone here would be against but what specific arguments would you bring?

Hahaaaa- what thread?

Because it would make the owner look like an idiot?

Oh no it was more random than that...the thread was just should some people not be allowed to keep pets...which led me to think that in some ways we find it easier to care about what happens to dogs than babies.....including piercings and any other non-medical surgical activity - which Im guessing does not happen for dogs.....

Dog will rip it out himself or on something, and then you just have a raggety eared dog.

I don't know if you can pierce them without answering an animal cruelty charge, but certainly people get the ears of their children pierced without SS getting involved. Cows all have pierced ears, with their tags....

Its a lot easier to care about dogs because they never grow up to disappoint you! But I find they tend to disappoint you right from the get go and never really stop....

And most people class babies with dogs, until they start saying "NO!"

There is absolutely no reason at all to get a dogs ear pierced the same for babies, those who do it need a reality check and a swift boot up the bum.

hmmm see I would def class dog piercing as animal cruelty but then I would also class baby piercing as child cruelty....but lots and lots of people would disagree...I wonder if the same people would also disagree about dogs?

Dont know what to think about cows.....

hey south I didnt want to derail your AIBU with too many random musing :)

Loons!

Cows sheep pigs have ear tags for ID purposes it's done quIckly and doesn't bother them. No sensible dog owner would want their digs ears pierced.

No to piercing dog's ears, and no to piercing babies and small children?s ears, after all it's all for the parents not the poor child/dog. Having worked with dogs most of my life I look at some owners and hope they never have kids. On more than one occasion I have said that if an owner can't train/toilet/groom/feed a dog correctly what hope do they have with children.. really isn't much different, they both need love/nurturing/discipline/routine/boundaries/patience.

Oh and if you want earings on dogs, there are special doggie glue on jewels that some groomers will apply for you! Popular I'm told with shortcoated breeds especially SBT's..

Surely the difference with piercing livestock's ears is that it serves a purpose (tagging). Piercing an animals ears so it could wear earrings would make you mad as a box of frogs. I did see an absolutely barking American woman on tv the other week who'd had her pet monkey's ears pierced. I felt sorry for the poor creature, and judged the fuck out of the woman.

Do Americans still slice off part of the ears of some breeds?

don't pierce any sentient being's anything

My female cat had a notch cut from her ear after she was spayed before we collected her from the rescue. It was a standard thing they did to identify cats that had been done to save them going through the op again if they came back into rescue

This was 14 years ago now, before chips were so widespread.

Piercing dogs or babies ears is cruelty as far as I'm concerned.

Calatalie, it is not illegal to "clip" a dogs ears in many states in the US. It seems to be mostly the guard/hunting dogs that get modified, both ears and tails. Some for quasi legit reasons, some due to pure unadulterated ignroance. It is usually illegal to do it yourself. But it is also still legal to declaw a cat and dock a horse's tail too. Since every state has their own laws regarding animals, it's not likely to change country wide.

But folks can also get their kids ears pierced at a very young age(very popular where I live).

ignorance! how ignorant to not know how to spell ignorant!

I know I read about someone being prosecuted for animal cruelty after piercing his cat's ears to 'make it look cool'

ikboo yup thats the nub of the issue...if you can be prosecuted for piercing animals to make them look cool then how can it be that the same isnt true for piercing up babies to make them look cool.

oh well...maybe I will right a letter my MP - like that would ever work...

havent heard of piercing dogs ears - but I know some have tattoos.

There are a whole host of Acts of Parliament that state that to alter an animal for cosmetic purposes is illegal. Tattoos are still performed in particular in the Met Police's neuter and identify program - these dog have a tattoo and a microchip.