Learn the facts about dog’s cropped ears and docked tails, is it natural?

What is cuter than a sweet and cuddly puppy? When you look into those big brown eyes and smell that puppy breath, you undoubtedly melt. When it comes to certain breeds of pups like the Doberman Pinscher, Miniature Pinscher, Staffordshire Terriers, Boxers, Great Danes, some terriers, spaniels, hunting Dogs and retrievers, just to name a few, many people view them with Cropped Ears and short tails. The question is, are the cropped ears and docked tails natural or forced by humans.

The procedure of ear cropping and tail docking on dogs

There has been quite a bit of controversy regarding the human method of cropping a dog’s ears or docking a dog’s tail.

Because of how people perceive some of these dogs, a study was performed, asking the participants to look at photos of a Doberman with cropped ears and docked tail along with three other breeds. They have been invited to rate ten traits of each breed, and which were human-caused or hereditary. The overwhelming response is that people believe the animals were born with short tails and erect ears. They were not born that way, but most humans accept the breeds at face value rather than the result of the decision of people over the years.

The history and procedure of cropped ears and docked tails on dogs

When people adopt specific breeds of dogs, they automatically believe the animal cannot survive healthy and happy without human alterations.

The surgeries in question are tail docking and cropped ears. These “amputations” or barbaric practices started with the Romans who believed dog tails spreads rabies and dog fighters, hunters and ranchers who believe prey can’t grab the animal by the ears or a docked tail. Recent studies have been performed by a University of British Columbia student regarding unnecessary animal surgeries.

A review of the studies was published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. These cruel, life-changing procedures are performed by breeders or vets when pups are only three to five days old, most frequently without any anesthetics. Cropping ears and docking tails are now banned in Australia and Europe but continue throughout North America and even in Canadian veterinary medicine.

Such practices are not necessary for the dog’s health but perceived appearance. Shouldn’t the animals be regarded more as being approachable and friendly they way they were born? Is it normal or necessary to put a dog through the surgery of cropping the nails or docking the tail.