Cropped Ears and Docked Tails Are Not Breed Features

A Doberman with erect pointed ears, a Great Dane with tall triangular ones, a boxer with a short stump of a tail — none of those is how the dog was born.

What each procedure is

Ear cropping removes part of the ear flap, usually at six to twelve weeks, and the remaining ear is taped or posted upright for weeks or months while it heals into position. Done under anaesthetic by a vet where legal; done without one where not.

Tail docking removes most of the tail, usually in the first days of life. Commonly performed with a rubber band or surgical scissors, and in many places without anaesthetic, on the reasoning that newborn puppies do not feel it — which is not supported.

Neither changes the dog's genetics. A cropped Doberman produces drop-eared puppies.

Where they stand

Banned across most of Europe under the European Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals, in Australia, and in New Zealand. Tail docking has been prohibited in England and Wales since 2007 except for specified working dogs.

Restricted in several Canadian provinces, where veterinary associations have prohibited members from performing them.

Legal in most of the United States, though several veterinary bodies including the AVMA oppose both when performed solely for appearance, and a number of states have considered restrictions.

Kennel clubs differ. The AKC standard still permits cropped ears for several breeds; the UK Kennel Club will not accept cropped dogs at all.

Why the justifications do not hold

"It prevents ear infections." No evidence supports this. Breeds with cropped ears do not have lower infection rates than the same breeds left natural.

"Working dogs get their tails injured." There is a genuine argument for a narrow set of working gundogs, which is why English and Welsh law carves out an exception for them with a vet's certification. It does not extend to a pet Rottweiler.

"It's traditional." It is. Ear cropping originated with fighting and baiting dogs, to remove something an opponent could grip.

What it does to identification

It removes two of the most useful characters, and it makes a dog look like a different breed.

• A cropped-ear dog loses the ear carriage entirely — one of the six questions in the identification key.
• A docked dog loses tail carriage, which is the character that separates a husky from a malamute and a Border Collie from an Australian Shepherd.
• Cropped ears push dogs toward the "pit bull type" visual category, which in some jurisdictions has legal consequences — the reasoning in pit bull is not a breed.

If you are trying to identify a dog with cropped ears, work from the rest: muzzle length, build, coat, size, and whatever the tail is doing.

Natural bobtails, which are different

Some breeds carry a genuine bobtail mutation and are born with short tails — Australian Shepherds, Pembroke Welsh Corgis, Brittanys and others.

That is genetics rather than surgery, and it is why an Aussie with no tail may never have been touched. It also means two natural bobtails should not be bred together, since the mutation causes spinal defects when homozygous.

Telling a natural bobtail from a docked tail is usually possible: a docked tail has a scar and a blunt end, a natural one tapers.

If you are getting a puppy

Ask for the dog as it was born. A breeder who crops and docks by default is making a cosmetic decision on your behalf, surgically, before you have met the dog.

Dewclaw removal, which sits in the same category

Front dewclaws are functional. They contact the ground at speed and in turns, and they are attached by tendon rather than being vestigial.

Removing them is routine in some breeds and is increasingly questioned for the same reasons as docking — it is done in the first days of life, usually without anaesthetic, for appearance or for a hazard that is rarer than the surgery.

Rear dewclaws are a different matter: they are often loosely attached and can genuinely catch. Some breeds — Great Pyrenees, Briards — carry double rear dewclaws as a breed feature and they are not removed.