Thank you to Elaine Greenwood for giving me permission to share this about ear cropping.
The public’s reaction to ear cropping has changed over the six decades that I have owned, bred and shown cropped dogs. People, including vets, and most especially young children, are now outright accusatory, asserting that ear cropping is cruel etc. We used to take the time to show them that the cropped ears are completely healed and are not painful. If we had a puppy, we carefully explained that the taping is merely to help the ear to stand, and that cropping is a surgical procedure, done by licensed medical professionals, in a medical setting, with proper anesthesia, pain meds and monitoring, and palliative after care, really not much different than a circumcision, ear piercing, braces, rhinoplasty or other elective cosmetic procedure. But it’s hard to condense all of that into a catchy jingle or 2-second sound bite message. So lately I have a new tack, grounded in the Constitution, with a nod to the NRA.
Most Americans believe in some version of the natural right of self-defense; most believe in the right to bear arms. My choice of self-protection or “arms” is a protective dog. Without question there are breeds that are larger, stronger and more aggressive than a Doberman, breeds that are not necessarily compelling because of how they look, but rather because, if push comes to shove, these breeds can do significant bodily harm. These sorts of breeds are of no interest to me. I do not want a breed that is only a strong deterrent after the fact, after bodily harm has been inflicted. I do not want the litigation resulting from a dog bite, even a provoked dog bite. These fierce breeds are too much responsibility to own and house properly, and some are belligerent, living to please themselves, rather than living to please me.
What I want is an intelligent, loving and devoted breed of dog that does not have to go to the extreme of physical contact in order to be effective protection for me and my property. I want a breed that is protective, with the least risk to me, to the dog and to the general public. I want a dog that comes across as more fierce than he/she actually is. And that dog, that protection, is a cropped Doberman. The intensity of the look of a cropped Doberman, when aroused, is unmistakable. The cropped look, in and of itself, is actually a safe, harmless, extremely effective deterrent. This effective deterrent is not remotely the same with an uncropped Doberman. When an alert cropped Dobe focuses on a threat, you can almost see the pee trickling down the leg of the intruder as they back away. Over the years Arthur (who is active duty United States Air Force, with over 30 years of service to this country), has been deployed overseas, including multiple tours in both Operation Desert Strom and Operation Enduring Freedom. While Arthur has been off fighting for our country, his family and property were safe at home because we own cropped Dobermans. I have never seen a person continue forward in the face of an aroused, alert, cropped Doberman. A cropped Dobe conveys an extremely effective intensity which cuts across language and cultural barriers. A cropped Doberman is our “arms” of choice for self-protection. The cropped look, in and of itself, most effectively conveys “get the frick away from here” better than any other form of self –protection available. We have cropped Dobes that are truly pussycats, but when they are aroused and alert, the message conveyed, because of the ear crop, makes them incredibly effective (yet relatively passive) protection for our home and persons. This, btw, is the reason that cropping is integral to the Doberman breed itself. An uncropped Doberman is no more an effective deterrent than a Black and Tan Coonhound.
Ear cropping is directly related to my fundamental Constitutional rights of self-protection, and of “life, liberty