ear cropping

[Moonshadow]

Though a controversial subject --- I need to know when the BEST time to crop the ears is. We are anticipating showing Rigo and are beginning the "read everything you can get your hands on" stage.

We are also concerned about the quality of the job. We have seen many cropped ears that weren't done well. How would we find out the best "cropper" to take our precious babe to?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Karen — Best friend of:
Lady Nala - beautiful brindle boxer girl, four years old
Meta - special white rescue boxer girl, three years old
Rigo - our newest addition - beautiful flashy fawn boxer baby boy
2 Cats (Kahlua & Amaretto), 2 visiting cats, 3 his kids, 3 hers kids

Moose(at the bridge) & Sumo (stolen) - handsome brindle males

 

[JulieM]

Ears are usually cropped at 10-12 weeks. Anything past 16 weeks is too late, and even at 14-16 weeks some vets won't do it.

As for finding the right vet - talk to the breeders in your area (whose crops you like!) and find out who they go to. Chances are there will be one vet (maybe two, depends on where you are) that all the show breeders go to.

 

[Moonshadow]

Thank you so much!

Julie M.

We called around yesterday, visited two vets who crop and after viewing lots of pictures and letting the vet study our baby, we have found someone who we think will do a good job on his ears. He said that it wasn't too late for him because he had strong bases. He has an appointment tomorrow to get them done, not a minute too soon.

More weeks of constant care and attention to further spoil my precious little one. It will be a lot of work to take care of him, but hopefully in the show ring it will prove to have been worth the work.

Thanks again! Keep doing that thing you do!!! appicon

Karen

 

[amnesia]

How did the cropping go?

 

[Moonshadow]

update on cropping

Yes, the ear cropping went well. He came home from the vet with the funny looking cone on him and the big girls would have nothing to do with him. Meta was even scared of him.

The first night he was fine. The second night he woke me up whining, so I got him out of his crate, lay down on the couch with him and massaged him for a while. He was better when he got back in his crate.

Since then he has been playing like he didn’t know he had anything wrong with him. He runs into things occasionally and chases the cats and his big sisters, but he feels fine.

However, if we weren’t planning on showing this puppy, he would still have those cute natural ears God gave him. I know that it is not worth the trouble, pain and expense otherwise.

Additionally, we won’t really know how well they did for months. My fingers are crossed. Our moose had one floppy ear and one standing and so does our Meta.