I am against ear cropping as it involves much more than simply cutting the ears. it is my understanding that the ears are cropped much later in the puppy's life than the tail clipping and there is a process of training of the clipped ears that lasts for several weeks. All the boxers I have had the pleasure of caring for have had floppy and natural ears and they have not seemed to be any worse for the lack of the AKC standard fashion statement.

That is so funny....cus I was just thinking about this tribe and how I miss people posting...
no drama in here, just cool people.

I used to raise dobermans - we cropped some of their ears and in hindsight, it was so mean.
I would NEVER put a dog thru' that again...They have to wear the head braces & it hurts cus'
the tape is stretching the ears and holding them up...and they itch like hell...and they bonk the
head braces into everything...it just sucks.

Nice to hear from you guys....

I have a boxer with natural ears but a docked tail, never liked the cropped look on boxers because to me it gives them a more aggresive look and any bulldog has enough problems with being judged by the breed instead of the dog anyhow. That being said I have a giant Schnauzer, my 3rd so far, and all of them have had cropped ears and docked tails. I prefer the look, it is much easier to keep clean beacuse they do have a lot ear problems due to hairy insides of there ears holding in moisture,dirt and debri. The cropping is usually done at about 4 to 5 months and with all of mine there were no ill side effects, no problems what so ever. They are a bit sore the 1st couple of days if they bump into something but that is about it. They do have to wear tape for a couple of weeks to let the cartlidge heal in a stiff upright postion otherwise they would still droop. Some states here and I think some places in Europe are thinking of banning cropping and docking all together unless medically needed. Now like everything else you can research on the web and find some who say there is no need while there are others who will show stats that "prove" there still is a need. I read one place where they studied rottweilers (i think, but not positive of the breed) that had not had their tails docked and they actually had worse hip conditions later in life from carrying more weight and the motion of that weight over the years.

It boils down to being your choice. To my understanding with most breeds that have docked tails and cropped ears it was originally done to give less for another animal to grab a hold of in a fight as these dogs were mostly originally breed as gurad dogs and protectors of herds,so it might not be useful todfay unless you are one of those sorry scumbags who loves to raise and fight your dogs, then I just pray for the day they see you as a piece of meat. Pardon my open opinion on that subject. But then again with dogs like schnauzers who have ear problems, the cropping can be a good thing. My vet didn't come right out and reccomend it when I got Lucy, but he leaned that way in saying that it does help reduce ear problems by making it easier to clean and allowing more air flow to keep it dry inside there. And if the studies on the docked tails prove to be true it may be better in the long run for large breed dogs to have docked tails due to them always haveing hip issues later in life anyhow. Anyone who has ever been knocked to the ground by a Great Dane's run away tail when they so happy to see you can testify to the power that tail has and then think of the pressure it is putting on their hip joints, much like you swinging your arm all the way out 12 hours a day, see how long your should joints and rotater cup lasts like that.

And again I know that anyone can go online and find stats to contradict every point I tried to make which is my main point to begin with, it is the owner's choice, so long as it is done by a qualified vet with all the proper post operation care and extra tlc thrown in just because the deserve it cropped/docked or not. I prefer the cropped ears on my shcnauzers but wouldn't do my boxers becasue they have no hair inside the ear. Queen is 6 years old now and never an ear infection, Lucy the Giant Schaunzer had 3 before her ears were cropped at 5 months and none since then and she is now 19 months. it is up to the individual to research these things, hopefully prior to getting a paticular breed so they know what they need to do and have a plan before hand. And don't just go by stuff online, talk to vet's and breed specific rescues and shelters and owners of the breed. They will be able to tell you better than anyone what their experiencs have been.