# No way to have gsd ears cropped



## Mason702 (Jun 7, 2015)

If your gsd dogs ears won't stand. Can you have a vet crop them to make them stand? 
Just curious. Haven't seen this talked about


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## eddie1976E (Nov 7, 2010)

Ear cropping is no longer popular and few vets would do it on a breed that is traditionally not cropped.


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## carmspack (Feb 2, 2011)

there are many countries which no longer allow cropping or docking - including Dobermann and Rottweilers


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## dogfaeries (Feb 22, 2010)

Putting aside the whole cropping debate, I'll give you the practical answer.

If a dog's ears are not standing, and they are past the age that they are going to stand, then cropping would not make them stand. For example, when a Doberman puppy's ears are cropped, they are taped and "posted" for several months, so they stand. Pretend that ear cartilage is kind of like cardboard that is wet, and you want to make it dry standing up. That's why you tape ears, to let them set. 

Anyway, the short answer is you don't crop shepherds ears.


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## dogfaeries (Feb 22, 2010)

ooops forgot to add, that a dog whose ears are down, and the ear cartilage is broken, is not going to be able to to have those ears stand.


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## Carriesue (Aug 13, 2012)

Not to mention cropping should only be done at a young age around 8 weeks or so, with an older dog its much more painful but the cartilage has already hardened so it won't do anything but make the dog look worse.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

No you do not crop a German Shepherds ears.


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## Persinette (Jan 31, 2015)

You wouldn't 'crop' a shepherds ears anyway, they would look off/odd. Cropping is just cutting the ear into a shape, it has nothing to do with the actual upright nature of the ear. POSTING the ear is what gets it to stand. For example, if you crop/cut a dobe's ears and don't post it , they will just be floppy and an odd shape. You have to post the ears. If the shepherd's ears aren't standing, you would post/tape the ears up and try to help them stand. You would never crop/cut them.


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## Persinette (Jan 31, 2015)

Try the ear sub-forum here  LOTS of posts about how to help get the ears of a GSD to stand if they aren't doing it naturally after teething/7-11 months, including feeding special foods.


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## WesS (Apr 10, 2015)

Cropping is a joke. It's only utility was really in dog fights for pitbulls etc. for opposing dogs to have less to bite onto.

Since dog fighting is illegal and disgusting, and since there is no utility.. There is absolutely no reason to crop.

Now cropping a gsds ears... Well that just meat headed. Don't do it. And I doubt it would make it look like the ears are standing anyways. Not to mention it would look rediculous if it somehow did work.

Just because some people do it because it 'looks cool'.. Even if accepted by a breed std. Does not make it right.


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## MustLoveGSDs (Oct 31, 2008)

Why are they not standing? You should figure that out first before resorting to surgery. You can crop any dog's ears but for traditionally uncropped breeds you'll probably have a hard time finding a vet to do it. I have seen Doberman/Malinois with cropped ears. 

WesS, your statements about cropping and fighting dogs is actually very incorrect. Historically, the serious dog men preferred not to crop their fighters ears and the farther you go back in time looking at old photographs of fighting dogs/champions, you won't find many with cropped ears. Think about it. A floppy ear gives the other dog something to grab on to saving other vital areas. A cropped ear makes the head and other areas an easier target.


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## Ryankappel (Jun 19, 2015)

Is the dog a mix or a full GSD? Cropping seems a bit extreme. just let those ears do what they will. Hopefully you love your dog enough to not care too much if his ears stand or flop 

Although next time if it's imparative, instead of getting a young puppy get an older dog whose ears already stand! then no gamble lol


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## Orson (Aug 3, 2015)

I am a vet assistant and I work with a veterinarian who does ear cropping. It is more than just simply taping the two ears together. The vet surgically removes part of the ear that has a lot of nerve endings which enables hard scar tissue to form while the two ears are posted. It is not a pretty procedure, I am not a fan at ALL. I can't even imagine doing it on a GSD since their ears are a lot thicker than the typical doberman / roti.


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## counter (Feb 20, 2009)

From The Doberman Pinscher Club of America website:



> *The Dobermans “look” is that of a compact, powerful, medium sized dog that shows an attitude and temperament reflecting great nobility and confidence. His short, tight coat and cropped ears and docked tail add to his clean lines and effectiveness as an elite protection breed. But, the docked tail and the cropped ears on the Doberman are historically VERY FUNCTIONAL in origin and serve important purposes.*
> 
> A docked tail was an important characteristic of the Doberman because the tail represents a “body part” that can be easily and readily injured.Injury can happen by accident, such as knocking it against hard surfaces or getting it caught between surfaces (doors, windows, car doors) which can cause bruising, hematomas (pockets of blood), sloughing off of hair and tissue, gangrene and terrible fractures of the vertebra requiring major reparative surgery to treat and even save the tail. The tail also served as a handle that an attacker could grab and injure which could cause the dog to experience pain and trauma and cause him to abandon his job of protecting his owner. So docking was also a functional part of the Dobermans effectiveness as a family protector.
> 
> *Cropped ears, likewise, were the logical, functional addition to complete the Dobermans physical equipment to make him the elite family companion and protection dog that he was, even from the beginning. There are two primary reasons that we desire cropped ears, and both have to do with FUNCTION. The first is that a neatly cropped ear is less of a “handle” for an attacker to hang on to. Since the Doberman has been bred to be a personal protector, a cropped ear gives the dog a decided advantage in a confrontation with a perpetrator. The second has to do with sound “localization”. An erect eared dog can localize the source of a sound to within a 5 degree cone,whereas a drop eared dog can only localize a sound source to within a 20 degree cone. Since Dobermans do SEARCH AND DETECTION as well as SEARCH AND RESCUE, cropped ears are a decided advantage.*


 https://dpca.org/PublicEd/the-doberman/ears/


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## MustLoveGSDs (Oct 31, 2008)

Orson said:


> I am a vet assistant and I work with a veterinarian who does ear cropping. It is more than just simply taping the two ears together. The vet surgically removes part of the ear that has a lot of nerve endings which enables hard scar tissue to form while the two ears are posted. It is not a pretty procedure, I am not a fan at ALL. I can't even imagine doing it on a GSD since their ears are a lot thicker than the typical doberman / roti.


Beaucerons are a cropped breed and their thick ears heal and stand just fine.


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## dogfaeries (Feb 22, 2010)

I bought a Dobe puppy years ago, that had her ears cropped at about 8 weeks old. I picked her up a few days after the surgery. She didn't skip a beat over those ears. Never acted like they hurt or were sore or anything when I would retape them. I was very surprised. I thought it would be a battle to even touch them. Her spay surgery, on the other hand, was a different story. Major drama queen. 

Most people that breed and show a dog that has cropped ears take their puppies to a vet that is very experienced in cropping that particular breed.


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## WesS (Apr 10, 2015)

MustLoveGSDs said:


> Why are they not standing? You should figure that out first before resorting to surgery. You can crop any dog's ears but for traditionally uncropped breeds you'll probably have a hard time finding a vet to do it. I have seen Doberman/Malinois with cropped ears.
> 
> WesS, your statements about cropping and fighting dogs is actually very incorrect. Historically, the serious dog men preferred not to crop their fighters ears and the farther you go back in time looking at old photographs of fighting dogs/champions, you won't find many with cropped ears. Think about it. A floppy ear gives the other dog something to grab on to saving other vital areas. A cropped ear makes the head and other areas an easier target.


No.. Your arguement makes no sense...

SPCA:
"Why Do Fighting Dogs Have Their Ears Cropped and Tails Docked?
Fighting dogs used by all types of fighters may have their ears cropped and tails docked close to their bodies. This serves two purposes. First, it limits the areas of the body that another dog can grab onto in a fight, and second, it makes it more difficult for other dogs to read the animal's mood and intentions through the normal body language cues dogs use in aggressive encounters.

Fighters usually perform this cropping/docking themselves using crude and inhumane techniques. This can lead to additional criminal charges related to animal cruelty and/or the illegal practice of veterinary medicine."

In any case... floppy ears... ARE NOT protection from a bite... That is rediculous. If nothing is there, there is nothing to hang onto... Less skin.. Less chance to get a grip and rip. Now if its not the ideal target fine.. Never been to fighting rings. But still your statement makes 0 sense.


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## WesS (Apr 10, 2015)

counter said:


> From The Doberman Pinscher Club of America website:
> 
> 
> 
> https://dpca.org/PublicEd/the-doberman/ears/


Sometimes the americans, (with regards to animal treatment) have it COMPLETELY wrong. There still after the american dentist who killed the lion in Zimbabwe I believe, all over the news. Hope they agree to extradite him to face justice.

Cropping:
No dog with cropped ears is eligible to compete at any Kennel Club licensed event.
- See more at: Competing with docked or cropped dogs in the UK ? The Kennel Club

Now if it is a working dog and the desired agencies see some 'benefit'.... Well fine... But generally there is very little function, and neither should it be desired to disfigure a dog for function... Dogs dont pull carts anymore for one... If your dogs pull carts go for it... But huskies seem to do just fine with their tails intact as sled dogs.

People can feed any lie and the masses jump on the bandwagon. Its ILLEGAL to crop ears in MANY countries.


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## WesS (Apr 10, 2015)

counter said:


> From The Doberman Pinscher Club of America website:
> 
> The Dobermans “look” is that of a compact, powerful, medium sized dog that shows an attitude and temperament reflecting great nobility and confidence. His short, tight coat and cropped ears and docked tail add to his clean lines and effectiveness as an elite protection breed. But, the docked tail and the cropped ears on the Doberman are historically VERY FUNCTIONAL in origin and serve important purposes.
> 
> ...


Sometimes the americans, (with regards to animal treatment) have it COMPLETELY wrong. There still after the american dentist who killed the lion in Zimbabwe I believe, all over the news. Hope they agree to extradite him to face justice.

Cropping:
No dog with cropped ears is eligible to compete at any Kennel Club licensed event.
- See more at: Competing with docked or cropped dogs in the UK ? The Kennel Club

Now if it is a working dog and the desired agencies see some 'benefit'.... Well fine... But generally there is very little function, and neither should it be desired to disfigure a dog for function... Dogs dont pull carts anymore for one... If your dogs pull carts go for it... But huskies seem to do just fine with their tails intact as sled dogs.

People can feed any lie and the masses jump on the bandwagon. Its ILLEGAL to crop ears in MANY countries.


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## Chai (Dec 11, 2014)

Yup, It's illegal to crop, dock, or debark a dog in Australia ^^^

I've only ever seen one dog like this, a doberman that worked as a security K9. He was imported, though.


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## MustLoveGSDs (Oct 31, 2008)

WesS said:


> No.. Your arguement makes no sense...
> 
> SPCA:
> "Why Do Fighting Dogs Have Their Ears Cropped and Tails Docked?
> ...



My sources are from breed enthusiasts who have actually done their homework and research on the history of the breed and cropping regarding fighting. It is clear you have very little knowledge of the breed's factual history regarding cropping. Look at photos of most of the ch and grch fighters and foundation dogs from the old days and almost all will have uncropped ears. Talk to people who actually know or have researched old dogmen before speaking on a subject that you are contributing to one of the biggest myths and misconceptions. Cropping ears provides no advantage in the pit. It's an urban trend with these moronic, wanna be dog fighters around now. I don't support dog fighting at all and find it horrendous, I just don't like misinformation being spread around. 

Nearly all of Michael vick's rescued fighters are uncropped.


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## WesS (Apr 10, 2015)

MustLoveGSDs said:


> WesS said:
> 
> 
> > No.. Your arguement makes no sense...
> ...


There is plenty of historical records that suggests that's why they started cropping. 

Now if a hill bully dog fighting syndicate does not feel like cropping. Or if some people don't agree it doesn't change those facts. 

People lie, and the reason they lie is because they like the look and want to carry on cropping ears.

Dog fighting aside.... Give me a single functional reason to crop a pits ears?

Also breed enthusiasts? You know the only true am pitbull is bred to fight. All these pitbull enthusiasts why didn't they go for the staffordshire bull terrier? Why did they stick with the name American pitbull? It's all image. Same as cropping ears.

Anyways getting too deep. I'm not a fan of the pitbull enthusiasts. The majority lack common sense or knowledge. They make many false claims. And can never accept some deep truths about their breed.


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## MustLoveGSDs (Oct 31, 2008)

Not going to get into a general cropping debate with you, obviously I have a cropped/docked breed and I prefer it  will agree to disagree about the bully discussion because this is going in circles.


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## MustLoveGSDs (Oct 31, 2008)

Eta....When I speak of breed enthusiasts I am not referring to the people who own a breed and are completely ignorant and misinformed about everything. There are GSD enthusiasts and then there are GSD enthusiasts, for example. There are people involved in a breed for image and then there are people involved in a breed....clubs, training, competing, breeding, improving, educating, etc. Just be forewarned if you ever find yourself in a convo with a bully breed enthusiast of the non-ignorant variety and try and spout off about the huge cropping/fighting myth, you're going to look real silly, just as if someone comes on this forum speaking about ill truths and misconceptions about GSDs as facts.


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## WesS (Apr 10, 2015)

MustLoveGSDs said:


> Eta....When I speak of breed enthusiasts I am not referring to the people who own a breed and are completely ignorant and misinformed about everything. There are GSD enthusiasts and then there are GSD enthusiasts, for example. There are people involved in a breed for image and then there are people involved in a breed....clubs, training, competing, breeding, improving, educating, etc. Just be forewarned if you ever find yourself in a convo with a bully breed enthusiast of the non-ignorant variety and try and spout off about the huge cropping/fighting myth, you're going to look real silly, just as if someone comes on this forum speaking about ill truths and misconceptions about GSDs as facts.


No they look silly. Got Perma banned in 4 posts on the pitbull forum discussing nothing other than pitbulls with no personal attacks and being polite. Also I am not the big bad guy who says pitbulls should be banned. Just for the record breed specific legislation is also a joke. But so are people who say that pits are nanny dogs or the perfect child companion or that Pitts have an equal risk profile with regards to human attacks as other breeds. 

They claim education is the key... But they can't educate because their arguements are dead end and shallow with no substance.

These guys are so insecure. They could not answer the questions so I got the stick. They are beyond clueless. The history and their choice of dog solidifies this. Real dog men would not be compelled by a fighting breed, let alone argue to the grave about ear docking.

I realize people will have dogs with docked ears on this forum. But just because you did it does not mean others should. Neither does it make it a good or educated decision. For the agencies that include it in their breed standard.. Really.. Shame on them.


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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

Off topic and getting nasty. Locked.


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