Do you like natural or cropped ears?

[RealPitBull]

Apr 30, 2008 11:16:10 GMT -5 bullymommy25 said:

I think that for conformation showing, natural ears would be MORE desireable, as they cannot hide the flaws (like ears that stand straight up instead of halfway, etc...) the same way cropped ears can. That would allow breeders to make better decisions when selecting breeding pairs. I think my dog has such perfect little ears, they stand up about an inch or so and then neatly flop over... but of course she's MY dog so I always think she's exceptionally beautiful over any other dog =)

In ADBA shows, you'll see lots of dogs with natural ears - why, because the ADBA tends towards promotion of the more historically accurate APBT, and that means NATURAL EARS!!

UKC shows have a mix of both, although lots of cropped. The UKC standard gives no preference to natural or cropped ears.

AKC shows have the most cropped eared dogs in their rings, and guess what? The AmStaff standard actually says NATURAL PREFERRED!!! The breeders keep putting cropped dogs out in front of the judges, though, so the judges keep putting up the cropped dogs. Natural eared dogs can finish their championships, but it is harder for them. It's really ridiculous and I have to wonder what people in other breeds think of us AmStaff folk when we so blatantly ingnore the standard.

[mcgregor]

I favor natural ears , its all dog !...those who crop; do it for their ego.....to show off mainly .....If one loves his /her dog, they should accept it as the way it looks when it is born...If ones human children 's looks do not appeal to the parents,would they opt for cosmetic surgery to make them prettier? , Im sure that is what is apparently on their minds equaling that to cropping a dogs ears .. either to make the dog look appealing for cosmetic reasons or to make an ego manic look tough among his peers...Im all for floppy ears , it shows the cuteness , the sweetness and definately the true beauty of a pitbull inside and out.

[RealPitBull]

I've known lots of people who cropped their dogs' ears - and I used to crop. Lots of people do it for lots of reasons, and it's not fair to label. For me personally, I liked how it looks BUT I mainly did it for show ring purposes. My ideas about cropping have changed dramatically since I last had a dog cropped (over 10 years ago).

But the bottom line is it IS purely an aesthetic thing - there is no benefit to the dog.

[valliesong]

Since it was brought up:

I am completely against declawing as well. In fact, after working with cats in shelters and rescues, I am more opposed to declawing than ear cropping. If anyone wants to know why, please send me a private message or visit www.declawing.com

As for ear cropping, I agree with bullymommy. It can be used to hide incorrect ear carriage and serves no benefit to the dog.

[RealPitBull]

I am TOTALLY opposed to declawing. I agree it is worse than cropping. Totally brutal.

[OurPack]

Ooooo natural for me. I love those soft velvety ears. I love kissing them.

Marthina
www.ourpack.org

[AmyJo27]

My aunt got her cat declawed when it was a kitten and now that its an adult (6) it is having severe problems with its feet because of the surgery! Its pitiful!

[babsterrojax]

I love the cropped look. But it is very painful and I don't do pain so I don't want Jax to. I had a guy tell me one time if I would hold him down he would crop them that he wouldn't bleed long. That he would squirm and scream alot though. This man was a kennel owner. Thank goodness my son was with me. I was escorted off the premises.

[coolhandjean]

The poll is closed, but I love natural ears on APBTs, though I have seen one or two APBT will good crop jobs.

[Courtney]

I am really opposed to cropping, declawing, tail docking, etc.

Why anyone would put their dog through pain and possible infection...all for vanity's sake, is beyond me.

Any time surgery is performed, their is a risk of infection. No one should take this risk unless absolutely necessary!

I'm extremely passionate about this (I'm opposed to plastic surgery on people too) as someone very close to me died from an infection that was a result of surgery.

Don't crop!

[RealPitBull]

I'm with you Courtney, although I try to remain non-judgmental of people who choose to crop/dock. I honestly would like to see these procedures banned except for medical purposes (i.e. split tails, etc).

[bubsy]

Oh man I'm totally in love with rose ears...so natural ears for me!!

[pitpupmom]

When my aunt bred over 20 yrs ago. Cropping was in. Then as the years went by natural ears were better. I know a few with cropped ears. My breeder has both cropped and natural. I like the natural on a smaller headed dog but block heads look just a bit nicer with the ears cropped. But around here I don't trust any vets to do it. So I voted natural.

[kirra08]

I have to go with natural I didnt get kirras ears croped because I didnt want her to go through all that pain just for looks I love it when I say something to her and she kinda like pokes her ears up and turns her head like she doesnt know what i'm talking about

[apbt4me]

I love natural ears. I think it adds so much to their personality and sometimes you can really tell what they are thinking just by how they hold their ears. True story, Muncie's ears stood straight up when he was a puppy......drove me nuts I hated how he looked. I actually considered cropping them but my husband wouldn't let me. When he turned 6 months old his ears flopped down on their own and they haven't stood up since, now I'm glad I didn't crop them.

Another true story; a member of my group has a beautiful red/red nose that is a resuce. Someone turned her into one of our shelters as a puppy, she was found in front of a business bleeding from a home crop job. Whoever tried to butcher her ears did such a terrible job that the vets had to crop them even more just to even them out; poor dog hardly has any ears left. She is the sweetest thing though.

[DiamondTiger]

I think it adds so much to their personality and sometimes you can really tell what they are thinking just by how they hold their ears.

I was about to say exactly this!

[tombaughapbts]

The UKC has never required a dogs ears to be cropped. Both natural and cropped ears are acceptable in conformation. I like both the natural and cropped look, since I am active in conformation, it really depends on how the ears are. Not all my dogs ears are cropped though, I had one boy that had one ear that would flop over and the other would stand straight up lol.

[smilinpitbull]

I do like the cropped look, a really nice crop can make a pretty head look even prettier. That said though, I don't think I would be able to do it on a dog that I owned. For show purposes it is done like someone said to hide a faulty ear set and that's the only reason except for what I said about making the head shapelier.

I DO think it damages the dog's ability to communicate. Natural ears are so expressive, up, back, out to the side, alert, submissive. when you crop a dog, you lose that. I think a dog with a crop is more likely to receive a negative response from a strange dog than an uncropped dog that has them set in a "friendly" position.

[emilys]

Apr 30, 2008 11:50:37 GMT -5 RealPitBull said:

AKC shows have the most cropped eared dogs in their rings, and guess what? The AmStaff standard actually says NATURAL PREFERRED!!! The breeders keep putting cropped dogs out in front of the judges, though, so the judges keep putting up the cropped dogs. Natural eared dogs can finish their championships, but it is harder for them. It's really ridiculous and I have to wonder what people in other breeds think of us AmStaff folk when we so blatantly ingnore the standard.

Standards mean NOTHING... and this is true for most breeds.

Forget about ears... what about the AST height/weight standard? Why are 19-20 inch/ 70-80 pound dogs common and winners over correct dogs? I had this discussion on a Staffy board.. their standard calls for FAULTING dogs not within the height/weight standard. But the dogs aren't wicketed or weighed, so a judge can't possibly actually fault them. Correctly sized SBTs look like midgets (also true for ASTs). But everyone told me size/weight are just "cosmetic" and aren't that important.


My non-conformation APBT/AST has perfect ears. Many show people have coo-ed over them.. but as Mary says, the judges now expect cropped ears so they feel "forced" to crop... :whu:

[RealPitBull]

Nov 4, 2008 11:12:19 GMT -5 emilys said:

Standards mean NOTHING... and this is true for most breeds.

Forget about ears... what about the AST height/weight standard? Why are 19-20 inch/ 70-80 pound dogs common and winners over correct dogs?

Oh laaaawd, don't even get me started on the height/weight thing! It's insane! I look at photos of ASTs from the past and drool over them. Then I compare them to what's in the ring now, and I cry. :cry: