This page is intended to provide a compilation of past opionon pages I have written. I will add to it when I have the opportunity, or feel something important has come to light.
Please remember these are just my OPINIONS, and are not intended as anything but my personal observations. I offer them here with the intention of giving help and topics of conversation for my customers and friends.
This last month I wrote about Hugo, my new Great Dane puppy. I'm learning alot going through "the puppy stages" again after 14 years without a pupy in the house. It's also very different to have a very large, fast growing pup in the house. AND in my car, and under my desk and.....and..... everywhere. It presents new challenges that have reshaped some of my concepts about raising puppies, and some health and welfare issues.
One of the issues I said I would write about is ear cropping. I elected to have Hugo's ears cropped as a puppy. I know this is a touchy subject that carries some strong opinions.
I have already experienced the questions, misunderstandings, and judgments from people both in and out of my store regarding Hugo's taped ears. I hear people who are not familiar with cropping, ask what happened to him. I hear people say, "oh, what did they do to you...", or "...you poor thing..." and other similar comments from people who disagree with cropping. I've even had someone refuse to look at him or interact with him because his ears are taped.
Others are accepting of what has been a practice as a breed standard for many years in America. Those people generally ask questions regarding how long he will have to have his ears taped, or when he had his surgery.
Ear cropping is the removal of about 1/2 of the dog's ear. It is a surgery that is done under full anesthesia, and sometimes includes an overnight stay at the vet. After-care must include pain relief, keeping the ear clean removing the stitches, and providing support for the ears while the cartilage of the maturing dog begins to support the lesser weight of the smaller ear. It is completely cosmetic, and should not be considered lightly. As with any surgery it can have complications, even those that are deadly.
It should be noted that ear cropping is not accepted in Europe, and is considered a form of mutilation. The pracitce of cropping was originally used for the practical purposes of protecting the dog's long ears while he was hunting or sporting as he was bred to do. Often a wild animal, perhaps a boar in the case of the Great Dane, would catch an ear and tear it causing pain, the need for veterinary care, and possibly the loss of dinner for the hunters. Ear cropping then became a standard in the appearance for these dogs as they became popular to breed and show in the United States. There is a certain regal look to the cropped ear that exposes the full eyes and jowls of the dog's profile that is not there with a long, full ear. Breeders became used to it and liked what they saw.
There is a movement in the United States, by many breeders, to have the natural ear accepted like it is in Europe. More Danes with natural ears are begining to place in the show rings, although it is a slow process. The cropped ear has been around for so long now, that many judges simply don't care for the natural ear. It will most likely be a change that will come, but slowly.
I've always liked the look of the cropped ear. I'm not opposed to plastic surgery, but I do understand that when it comes to our animals it truely is, as most everything is, elective surgery that we elect for them. That means that we need to be sure it is done humanely and with their best health in mind. Since many breeders practice ear cropping in Danes, Boxers, Schnauzers, Mastiffs, Dobermans and others, the industry is still quite alive and varied in its approach. This was one of the considerations for me. I have seen some pretty awful looking results from croppings that include botched surgeries and the lack of care and concern for the pups after surgery.
I interviewed the only surgeon in our area who anyone would touch for ear cropping. He was very informative, and willing to talk me through the procedure. I was saticfied that I could get a good surgery from him, but the after care was up to me.
I'd already looked into an alternative way to stablize the ears after surgery that would be, what I thought, most comfortable for the dog- light weight, not touching any aea of the surgery site (the edge of the ears), and something I could take care of myself. I had information from my vet regarding natural relief from pain and trauma, and products from the store to clean, reduce pain and promote healing.
As it turns out, I changed the breeder I decided to purchase from, and this breeder cropped the puppies at 7-1/2 weeks of age.
Most ear cropping is done between 6 and 12 weeks, depending upon the breed. In all my research, most Dane breeders cropped at 7-1/2 weeks. It just seemed to be the accepted standard for change, preparation to leave the litter, young enough to heal quickly, and with a lower amount of developmental impact.
After talking with my breeder, I was saticfied that her years of experinece with her own vet would be a better choice for the ear cropping as it would be done at an earlier age before he would come to me.
I knew what I was getting and I knew what to expect. I knew I would have to remove his stitches within the week that I got Hugo. I knew I would have to keep his ears clean and prepare to move them to the stances I wanted him to have. The breeder's vet used a stack of foam cups to tape the ears to stablize them after surgery. It is very common, and if sized correctly, keeps the ears in an ideal position.
After seeing horrible videos with puppies who had giant contraptions to hold their ears up, or so much tape and glue that their ears lost circulation and sometimes broke off at the tips, I was really determined to get the new stances on and make my puppy free of all the binding and taping.
Well..... when the time came (about 5 days after I got him) to take Hugo's stitches out and take the cup off, I had to deal with what I actually had. Oh, I'd kept him clean and checked the edges to see if his ears were healing, but now that the stitches had to come out, I got to figure out how to get all the very sticky tape off and the stitches that were starting to embed themselves in his healing ear. Fortunately I had adhesive remover to slowly work the tape glue off, and my daughter's sharp eyes to be sure we cut only the sutures.
I 'm not including pictures in this information partly because I think it is enough to say that Hugo didn't like what had to happen. Even as careful as we were, it was obviously frightening and painful (although minimal as we could make it). Once the new stances were on, Hugo and I were both much happier.
As it turned out, the stances were too light weight to support his ears properly, and I ended up changeing to traditional taping. Once we got past the first few weeks of learning what we were doing, all went well.
The healing was actually pretty quick, and I only really worried those first few weeks. The next hurdle was getting the ears to stay up. That ment, and still means, alot of changing posts and tape to keep them in the right position and give the ear time to change.
Like many things that are coming to light with having a new puppy, I believe the actual experience of dealing with the care of cropped ears, and seeing the lack of understanding in my young puppy, I would not do it again. I still love the look, and am happy with how Hugo is progressing, but my next dane will not be cropped by my request.
Now Hugo pretty much sits and waits for me to finish taping his ears, and often half-sleeps through the process. It's easy for me now, as I'm used to it, and know it doesn't hurt him. I know not all people will respond to his taped ears, or even his finished cropped ears in a positive way. That is understandable. I know I will continue to do the best I know how with the dog I have. The ear cropping is one of several things I've been working with over the last 7 weeks that I've had the growing Hugo in my home.
