floppy or cropped???

[superruben]

I personally love the floppy eared look. I have also found that people react different to Ruben who has floppy ears than they do to my mom's neighbors dog who has cropped ears. For some reason with some people the cropped ears = a meaner dog. Also a lot of boxers I see have way to short of a crop and it just does not look right. If you do decide to crop please don't do them short or close to the head like a pit bull!

 

[brianloki]

Cropping ears has always seemed kind of cruel to me. I mean, everyone knows that it hurts the dog (which is why it's illegal in many countries around the world, including the UK). A friend of mine has a Great Dane that became terrified of going to the vet after having his ears done there. I would personally never put a dog through something like that.

And aside from all that, I don't even like the look of cropped Boxers. They look so much friendlier and expressive with the floppy ears.

 

[CodysPop]

Cropped ears imo is not the way to go. The only reason they ever did in the first place was due to breed standard. It isn't even practiced in Europe and many other parts of the world anymore. There is a big risk that they won't even stand up correctly and it is very hard to keep care of. Besides...the facial expressions they make with their ears is soooooo freakin adorable :P

 

[GoCougs]

I mean, everyone knows that it hurts the dog (which is why it's illegal in many countries around the world, including the UK).

No....everyone doesn't know that. When done right, the pain is minimal. I won't say it's painless....but the pain aspect is overblown and perpetuated by the anti-cropping type. If we're going to do away with anything that is painful, then we can lump all kinds of surgery into the mix. Pain isn't the deciding factor.

The only fair argument for not cropping, and the real reason it is "illegal in many countries around the world" is because there is no medical justification. Cropping is nothing more than cosmetic surgery.

 

[kayboxer]

No....everyone doesn't know that. When done right, the pain is minimal. I won't say it's painless....but the pain aspect is overblown and perpetuated by the anti-cropping type. If we're going to do away with anything that is painful, then we can lump all kinds of surgery into the mix. Pain isn't the deciding factor.

The only fair argument for not cropping, and the real reason it is "illegal in many countries around the world" is because there is no medical justification. Cropping is nothing more than cosmetic surgery.

Wow, great response! When we got Buster my husband wanted his ears cropped but I was against it. Since he was kind enough to agree to a second dog in the house I went along with him. We had a great vet with years of experience. We opted for the shorter crop instead of the longer show crop, they are still long but not as long as the show crop. We did this because we didn't want to deal with the taping for quite as long a period of time and my husband liked the ears just a bit shorter. Anyway, I was surprised how well he did. He really didn't act like he was in pain. The first day home he was a bit less playful, but the next day he was ready to go again and I had to keep a close eye when he played with Roxy so he didn't damage the taping. I opted to have the vet retape every time since I wasn't comfortable doing it, which meant almost an hour drive every time but it was worth it. His ears turned out great, stand perfectly and he did absolutely beautifully. I understand why people don't want to do it, but I disagree that it is just excruciating for the puppy. I saw none of that with Buster. The only time I could possibly see it being really painful is if the owners were irresponsible and didn't do their job in making sure the ears were protected during the healing time and let the tape and wrapping come off. Then, of course with any other surgery, it would be their fault it was so painful.

 

[brianloki]

No....everyone doesn't know that. When done right, the pain is minimal. I won't say it's painless....but the pain aspect is overblown and perpetuated by the anti-cropping type. If we're going to do away with anything that is painful, then we can lump all kinds of surgery into the mix. Pain isn't the deciding factor.

That's funny, because I don't recall mentioning the severity of the pain. If you say it's not painless, then you more or less justify my point that it is in fact painful for the dog. The severity of the pain is irrelevant. You're still causing pain for an ultimately unnecessary purpose.

 

[gmacleod]

That's funny, because I don't recall mentioning the severity of the pain.

I don't recall you mentioning that you were around in 1875 either, and thus likely to have any earthly idea of why cropping was banned in the UK at that time.

Be very careful of making political statements on Boxerworld (i.e. don't). You're perfectly entitled to your opinion on cropping and whatever ethical perspective you care to take on it, but you will not use Boxerworld as a political soapbox.

Since the OP appears to have abandoned this thread and their question is already answered anyway, this thread is now closed.