Ear-cropping ban shocks dog breeder

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This article was published 18/02/2012 (5024 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Cropping the ears of dogs for cosmetic reasons is now banned in the province.

The Manitoba Veterinary Medical Association (MVMA) banned the procedure as of Feb. 3, something that doesn’t sit well with Doberman Pinscher breeder Lynn White.

“I was very shocked and I was confused because Manitoba vets don’t crop anyway, so why they would turn around and ban something they don’t already do is beyond me,” White said. “We’re not out there giving the vets money because we feel like it, we’re doing for the health of the dog.”

White has been breeding Doberman pinschers for more than 30 years and believes there are many benefits to cropping.

“It’s healthier in the long run because your dog doesn’t get ear infections,” White said. “Once you are dealing with ear infections, it is very painful for the dog and it typically takes months for it to clear up.”

White, who is from Brandon and travels to the United States to get her dogs’ ears cropped, said in many cases it’s the type of role the dog is expected to perform that determines whether the ear should be cropped. The Doberman — a man-made breed that was created for protection — needs cropped ears to better perform its job, White argues.

“The dog’s job is to protect its owner. It needs to have a prick ear,” White said. “It needs to know what is going on around it at all times.”

Although not banned until this year, the act of cropping had largely ceased to exist within the province, prompting White to question why the association felt it was necessary to ban the surgery now. She believes the group will use the ban as a spring board to ban other controversial practices.

“They might ban you from owning a cropped dog in the future,” White said. “It might start the tail docking issue or the declawing of cats. And once (the MVMA) get that, they are going to go after the farm animals and a lot of people don’t realize that, but it’s all part and parcel.”

White refuted animal activist groups claims that the surgery is unnecessary and barbaric.

“I have sat in the cropping room with my puppies … My puppies are up eating and playing within half an hour,” White said.

She did admit the appearance of the cropped ears plays a role in the surgery, but it isn’t the primary reason dog owners or breeders have their animals ears cropped.

“Of course we like the looks,” White said. “The fact that we like the looks is how we want the dog cropped, but it’s not the reason we get the dog cropped …It is cosmetic because we will have it cropped a certain way, but the fact we want it cropped is for the health of the animal and the job it was designed to do.”

Jay Thrush, a veterinarian at Brandon Hills Vet Clinic, is pleased with the MVMA’s decision to ban the surgery.

“It’s a purely cosmetic procedure to conform to a breed standard,” Thrush said. “We feel it’s in the best interest of the pet to ban the surgery and we don’t want to perform any procedure unless it is medically necessary.”

The notion that a cropped ear was in some way healthier for the animal didn’t stand up for Thrush.

“You hear the argument that it’s for health reasons … but that’s not valid,” Thrush said. “We see lots of floppy eared dogs that don’t have any problems at all and we see a lot of dogs with naturally erect ears that have all kinds of problems. So it has nothing to do with if the ear stands up or hangs down.”

In many cases, particularly in the past, Thrush said dogs had their ears cropped for fighting.

“When you look at pit bulls, it’s actually called battle cropping when they crop them short because they want them to be fighting dogs and don’t want something that opponent dogs can grab a hold of and chew on,” Thrush said.

The procedure is already banned in many countries around the world and Thrush wouldn’t be surprised if tail docking is the next surgery that is banned within the province. And for good reason, Thrush argues, as the tail and ears play a vital role in the dog’s body language.

“Dogs use their ears to communicate with each other,” Thrush said. “When we crop the dogs ears or we dock their tails, we handicap them as far as communicating with other animals.”

» ctweed@brandonsun.com