derples: luzerna: mothernaturenetwork: ...

13th February 2012

luzerna:

mothernaturenetwork:

Manitoba bans dog ear cropping
A veterinary medical association in Western Canada announced the ban on, but some breeders warn it could lead to torn floppy ears.

good, the only thing i wonder is why we hadn’t banned this practice a long time ago.

if breeders are worried about dangerously floppy ears, perhaps they should start breeding dogs with less comically exaggerated features.

hey sock what about dogs that already were bred terrible and can’t get unbred now? Ie: my dog’s tail would have broken long ago if it weren’t cropped

1. no dog ever needs to have their ears cropped, ever, it’s a purely aesthetic practice that is really painful for them to go through. the reason given in the article (floppy ears will tear when they fight) is bullshit mainly because a) if another animal wanted to bite and tear the ear, they can still tear the ear it’s cropped (not that dogs typically go for the ear anyway when they fight, they don’t), b) bloodhounds, labradors and other hunting dogs have floppy ears that are sometimes five times as long as a doberman’s and yet you never see a basset hound with a cropped ear, and c) a lot of dogs that have cropped ears will never fight anyway, because they are show dogs and they had the surgery to look nice. granted some long eared dogs do have problems with ticks/scratches/etc., especially stumpy dogs because their ears are so close to the ground, but these problems are never fixed by chopping off a good part of their ear except maybe as an absolute last resort.

also there are a few people who defend it because the pointed ears are “natural” which is also bullshit because if it was natural for this breed they would be born with pointy ears.

2. docking is a bit different because yeah, there are dogs like yours that have disorders and such that would have a higher quality of life if they weren’t docked. i don’t think it’s a problem if it’s a medical intervention instead of cosmetic surgery. if your dog’s ear is frostbitten and goes necrotic or her tail would crack in two if she accidentally hit something with it yes ok you should probably amputate. that’s a different situation and i doubt a vet would say no because in that case it’s about the dog’s health and not the owner’s vanity.

3. if you need to do cosmetic surgery in order for dogs to fit the breed standard and win shows then there is some serious fucking problems with how you judge those shows.

4. no trait can’t be “unbred.” ofc there will always be some dogs born with disorders and problems because it is difficult to completely eradicate recessive disease (especially when it’s not evident from birth/symptoms show up in adulthood after they have already potentially passed it on to their litters), and it isn’t only purebred dogs that are affected. there’s nothing you can really do about it, it’s just bad luck. other times the breed is pretty much synonymous with certain inheritable diseases mainly due to hardcore inbreeding and breeders caring more about looks than about the health of their dogs. a cavalier spaniel with mitral valve disease is no longer allowed in shows but that hasn’t stopped people from deliberately breeding them to get (hopefully healthy) puppies with a showstopping look. other dogs have defects written into the breed standard and dogs without the defects are culled or sterilized (the dermoid sinus issue in ridgebacks stems from the same gene that causes the ridge, and being ridgeless does not compromise the health of the dog). THESE can be unbred by selecting for health over nice tails and crossbreeding with similar but healthier breeds to introduce genes that aren’t shitty. god forbid if the dog isn’t rigidly adhering to breed standard to the point of being a living caricature. i guess this point is off topic but i have feelings about it.

Tagged: reblog reply post mad about dog shows