To Crop/Dock or Not to?

[Vantage]

Those of you who own a CC, what is your opinion on docking their tail / cropping their years? If you were getting a puppy would you have his/her years done? (Why or why not?)

Pros would be easier to clean their ears/stay cleaner? And looks nicer?

Cons would be the "ethics" behind cutting them?

Can you guys add to this?

 

[BlackShadowCaneCorso]

Most breeders you won't have an option on the tail unless they are not docking/cropping at all as they are done very early in life. Cropping is a grey area and should be on personal preference. We allow our puppy owners to decide, but we do crop the dogs we are keeping back.

There are many arguments that are against or for, and on FB at least one angry post a day about them but some of the arguments for pro are less chance of ear infections (no documented scientific proof of this), historically correct for those that believe in purebreds and respecting a breed history, that animals with floppy ears were man-made and not natural, etc.

Against, no proof that they have more ear infections, gives a softer appearance (not sure I agree with this, it is a working guardian breed for a reason), doing so is cosmetic, etc.

 

[glen]

We have no choice in the UK, no cropping allowed, I will say if we had a choice we would have both done, especially the tail our eldest cc as injured his tail in the past they are so thick and powerful.

 

[Boxergirl]

I don't have a CC, but I've had boxers for more than 20 years and they're a breed where cropping and docking has been hugely debated. I've also had both cropped and uncropped dogs, as well as having fostered natural tailed dogs. I didn't notice any difference in frequency of ear infections or ease of cleaning in natural vs. cropped dogs. My cropped boy never had an aural hematoma and two out of four of my natural eared boys did. Hematomas are nasty things, but each of those dogs had allergies and the hematomas were late in life. As for tails - I will always dock if I am able. I don't know if a CC has as happy of a butt as a boxer, not many dogs do, but tail injury is pretty common in the boxer breed. I fostered several natural tailed boxers that had to have their tails amputated due to repeated injury. Done at a few days old it's a docking and while it's not painless, the pups are back to playing in a few minutes and don't seem bothered by it much past the actual procedure. Done at a later age it's an amputation, is very painful, and takes a lot of time to heal. Ultimately I think it's the owner's choice, if the law allows.

 

[glen]

Yes ccs have happy butts that's how budcuss injured his tail,and the next time no reason at all, there tails have made many men bend doublet when there tails have whipped.we have said the next cc we get will be an import cropped and docked, budcuss gets ear terrible gunky wax in the summer the vet even said his ears would be better cropped.

 

[DennasMom]

I love playing with long, soft dog ears. I like the cropped look, but would not opt for that for my own dog.

The happy-butt tail injuries issue is a serious one... and that would be a harder decision. I like being able to "read" a dog by the tail position, and it was really hard to "read" our bulldogX with the stubby tail. But... I wouldn't want to go through a painful amputation later in life, either. Denna has whacked a few men where it counts in her 5 years... but that doesn't bother me! HA!