GoCougs, I didn't mean the show ring, as traditions seem to override the current style. I really meant to say that more and more people in the dog business, ie. vets, are starting to shy away from unneccessary "cosmetic" alterations. My vet and I had this discussion just recently. He was saying that in the past, vets did whatever alterations to keep the breed "standard". He is finding in the past decade that vets are now accepting that some of these practices, though traditional, are really not neccessary unless the dog is competing in the show ring. He said the show ring will be the last place to conform to the modern theory of leaving a dog "au natural". I am seeing more and more boxers with natural ears and tails.....which makes me believe that what the vet is saying is true. There will always be those that will still want to crop cause they like the look, but those who feel the need to keep the traditional look are waning. I happen to like the cropped ears and docked tails, but if I were the one to decide to do either, I would opt out of both.
Tail docking is the procedure more recently outlawed here.