[doberkim]

What's there to wonder? Flaccid, cute ears remind people of puppies and harmless bunny rabbits.

Personally, I prefer the cropped ears. It makes them look more sophisticated and vicious. When I'm walking in the park at night, I want any would-be mugger to know that I don't have a Weimaraner on the end of that leash, but a bloodthirsty, 80 lbs of relentless man-killing potential. You know, but that's just me talking.

i think youve made yourself clear what you think about the breed and i dont think theres a single person on this board that thinks you are fit to own one.



that being said, i used to think i wouldnt own one with a tail, but 2 of my three dobes have been natural eared and i prefer it in many ways. this is my first dobe iwth dew claws and he uses them CONSTANTLY, so in the future i wouldnt necessarily remove them if they had them. i also never thought i would ever own a dilute, and now i do, so...

so now, id have to say - yes, if a dog came to me with a tail, i would definitely keep the tail unless it hurt it in some way. i love my dogs because they are dobermans, and they are all stunningly beautiful in their own way. most of the time

=kim (whose natural eared doberman was more of a danger to people that pretty much any cropped dog on this board - they are ears, not weapons).

 

[Zucker]

i think youve made yourself clear what you think about the breed and i dont think theres a single person on this board that thinks you are fit to own one.



that being said, i used to think i wouldnt own one with a tail, but 2 of my three dobes have been natural eared and i prefer it in many ways. this is my first dobe iwth dew claws and he uses them CONSTANTLY, so in the future i wouldnt necessarily remove them if they had them.

so now, id have to say - yes, if a dog came to me with a tail, i would definitely keep the tail unless it hurt it in some way.

=kim (whose natural eared doberman was more of a danger to people that pretty much any cropped dog on this board - they are ears, not weapons).

Kim, I'm curious, how does your dobe use his dew claws?

 

[doberkim]

darn you quoted my old post before i edited it

well, to start - rah has very nice feet. he has awesome cat feet, wonderful arch to the toes. his declaws are very tight to the leg and they ARE attached by bone (some dogs just have skin but no bone connecting the toe to the leg.

rah uses his very often - so much so i dont have to trim them. whenever he runs, they grip the ground when turning - so much so they get run down and bleed occassionally.

he also does a LOT of chewing and he uses them to hold his bones, toys, and anything else he plays with.

ive had other dogs with dewclaws that havent used them, but rah uses them all the time. so in the future, for an adult dog i received, i would evaluate teh dog before i necessarily just removed them. im glad i didnt take rah's off - i almost did when he was neutered.

 

[MIA]

Personally, I prefer the cropped ears. It makes them look more sophisticated and vicious. When I'm walking in the park at night, I want any would-be mugger to know that I don't have a Weimaraner on the end of that leash, but a bloodthirsty, 80 lbs of relentless man-killing potential. You know, but that's just me talking.

ROFL Most people don't know my dog is a Doberman because she's red so really what do I care either way? What I care about is that she is trained and will protect me regardless of her ears/tail. I had a GSD/Belgin before that looked like a teddy bear, she was totally protection trained and would attack given my command! To look at her you would all want to simply hug her, regardless of time of day!

Looks mean nothing at the end of the day, for me temperment/training is No.1 :boldblue:

 

[LeighaG81]

ROFL Most people don't know my dog is a Doberman because she's red so really what do I care either way? What I care about is that she is trained and will protect me regardless of her ears/tail. I had a GSD/Belgin before that looked like a teddy bear, she was totally protection trained and would attack given my command! To look at her you would all want to simply hug her, regardless of time of day!

Looks mean nothing at the end of the day, for me temperment/training is No.1 :boldblue:

Amen Mia! Amen.

 

[doberkim]

One thing that *is* a plus for cropping a dog's ears (whether it be pitbull, boxer, dobe...you name it) is simply for cleaner ears-any dog with large, droppy ears are constantly suceptible to yeast infections as well as other bacterial infections in their ears. Cropping, however, drastically reduces the problem to be minimal.

theres no real truth to this statement - some dogs are infection prone and others are not - my cropped doberman and MUCH dirtier ears than both of my natural eared dobermans , for the record. when i "clean" rah's ears or when i did bowie's - i take q-tips and clean out the little nooks and crannies that have the teensiest bit of healthy wax in the ear - they NEVER have build ups, and bowie never had an ear infection in his life with me.

some dogs have poor immune systems, food allergies, and eat crappy food - id say that has a lot more to do with the condition of their ears than if they are cropped/erect ears, or have floppy ears. GSDs get ear infections all the time and their ears are almost all erect.

 

[BackInBlack]

theres no real truth to this statement - some dogs are infection prone and others are not - my cropped doberman and MUCH dirtier ears than both of my natural eared dobermans , for the record. when i "clean" rah's ears or when i did bowie's - i take q-tips and clean out the little nooks and crannies that have the teensiest bit of healthy wax in the ear - they NEVER have build ups, and bowie never had an ear infection in his life with me.

some dogs have poor immune systems, food allergies, and eat crappy food - id say that has a lot more to do with the condition of their ears than if they are cropped/erect ears, or have floppy ears. GSDs get ear infections all the time and their ears are almost all erect.

I do the same with Rommel, I clean out everything with a q-tip, it doesnt seem clean if I dont. Just curious, but do you think that the GSD ear infections has to do with the amount of fur in the ear?

Oh, and I have to say... Honestly, Before I joined this forum and before I had Rommel, I dont think I would have wanted a natural dobe. Now, I could care less...I almost think it would be cool to have one with a tail and all. I was just used to seeing the cropped/docked doberman, so I wasnt really open to anything else. There are so many pretty natural dobes on here though! And, Now that I have Rommel, I appreciate him for his "doberman personality" and I dont think I would care one way or another...cropped/docked...or not.

 

[LeighaG81]

I do the same with Rommel, I clean out everything with a q-tip, it doesnt seem clean if I dont. Just curious, but do you think that the GSD ear infections has to do with the amount of fur in the ear?

.

Wouldn't it be opposite? I would think any dog with fur in it's ear would be LESS suceptible to potential infections considering the fur, just like eyelashes are suppose to keep dirt away from the eye???
My poms have erect ears and never have infections, I think my largest had one once but that was it. Maybe (like kim said) it's due to the fact that they are on a strict, hollistic food regimen and not crap food, but they all come from poor breeding backgrounds, that's for sure since they're all from pet stores or BYB's (rescues)

 

[DreamDoby]

Wouldn't it be opposite? I would think any dog with fur in it's ear would be LESS suceptible to potential infections considering the fur, just like eyelashes are suppose to keep dirt away from the eye???
My poms have erect ears and never have infections, I think my largest had one once but that was it. Maybe (like kim said) it's due to the fact that they are on a strict, hollistic food regimen and not crap food, but they all come from poor breeding backgrounds, that's for sure since they're all from pet stores or BYB's (rescues)

Actually the hair traps the dirt in the ear. Thats why my poodle gets a good plucking when he goes to the groomers. It helps to keep down the the dirt and makes it a whole bunch easier to clean. My dogs eat holistic food also, but when he is out rolling in the dirt like is his favorite thing to do and splashing in the water to make mud, you tell him it is all his breeding and food. I agree that some are more prone to infections given their bodies, but you have to take everything into consideration here.

 

[BackInBlack]

My aunt has poodles also (the little tiny ones) but still poodles, and that is what made me think of the fur in the ear thing. My aunt has to frequently get the hair out of their ears so that they dont get infections. Maybe it is just poodles, I dont know?? Maybe the texture of the hair???? Hmmm, something to think about.

 

[TracyJo]

and, you're assuming the mugler is dog savvy and would recognize the dobe up close for what it is just uncropped .

No, I'm not. I don't care what the mugger thinks is on the other end of my leash - He could think she's a cocker spaniel for all I care. What I care about is how my dog acts/reacts. Let's face it, pretty much any dog and especially the larger breed dogs are a deterrent - It's not often that a would be attacker is going to approach someone walking a dog. If a person is desperate enough to approach and try to harm me while I'm walking an uncropped Dobe, a collie, a st. bernard or whatever, he's going to be stupid enough to approach if I'm walking a cropped Dobe too. If someone started to approach, from the front, back or side and intended to do harm, I can guarantee he would not make it within 10 feet of me before he quickly realized that Chi was not a dog to fool with, ears or not. The only way he would harm me is with a gun and if some nut is out there running around with a gun, pointy ears aren't going to mean a whole lot to him.
I jog almost every single night. When we discussed the different breeds, one of the most important criteria was a jogging buddy for me. I do not feel as though Chi would be any more of a detterent than she already is if she had her ears. I would feel comfortable jogging with her just about anywhere, that said though, I don't try to tempt fate, at night, I stay on base in well lit areas.

Well sorry I dont go to parks that are that dark then. I wouldnt put myself in that postion. The parks I go to still have lighting, dim lighting but lighting none the less. So you would be able to tell a cropped from a nat. Im sorry I should have thought about other places other than my own, to put with what he was saying.

I wasnt saying anything about looking aggressive. Most people(outside of dobe owners) that think they know what dobermans look like,tend to think of the traditional look. (at least here in the USA). Sorry if you took what i said as some sort of smart remark. I dont think anyone would disagree that the guy has not proved himself to be a good dobe owner. I also was not going there either. Again, sorry.

No need to apologize I didn't take it as a smart remark. I was just trying to clarify what I meant in my prior post

 

[DreamDoby]

I think it is more like the texture and thickness maybe? When I was younger we had an old english sheepdog with the same issues. Same coat texture. I think bottom line would be if there is a lot of hair in there, it needs to be cleaned more frequently.

 

[Tollers-n-Dobes]

Yes, without hesitation. I actually prefer natural Dobes, but last week I sure was glad that Winston was cropped. He got into a dog fight with another male Dobe over my Rottweiler pup and ended up needing stitches to sew together a piece that had been ripped off. He's healed fine and looks normal now, but I can only imagine what it would've looked like had he been left floppy. I bet he would've had a large piece missing from his ear. Anyway, I love Dobes, all shapes, sizes, colours, etc. but if I ever get another I hope she'll be left all natural but if she was docked and cropped, I'd love her just the same.

 

[doberkim]

truth be told most of my dobes will be rescues, and i wont have much of a say in the issue - the right one that fits into my life is the right one, irregardless of looks! i of course have preferences, but cant ignore fate.

 

[LeighaG81]

truth be told most of my dobes will be rescues, and i wont have much of a say in the issue - the right one that fits into my life is the right one, irregardless of looks! i of course have preferences, but cant ignore fate.

Kim, what you said couldn't of been better said! I have preferences too...I'd LOVE a red, cropped dobe but as fate might have it I will be adopting a natural eared black and tan.

 

[Lexus]

truth be told most of my dobes will be rescues, and i wont have much of a say in the issue - the right one that fits into my life is the right one, irregardless of looks! i of course have preferences, but cant ignore fate.

What a great way to put it

 

[dalefuller]

Molly Maguire is all natural, including her dew claws. This is how we requested her from her breeder. She is also all Dobermann from what I can tell judging by how she acts/reacts at 7 months (she's the first Dobermann I've lived with).

Our Boxer is also uncropped, although someone did dock his tail. He's a rescue Boxer, so he is the way he came to us, although I would prefer that he had his tail, also.

We're very sympathetic to the bans on unnecessary surgery (i.e. docking/cropping) and hope to see them enacted in the US eventually.

 

[Dobesanddragons]

We're very sympathetic to the bans on unnecessary surgery (i.e. docking/cropping) and hope to see them enacted in the US eventually.

Yes, these procedures are mostly cosmetic.

But respectfully, it bothers me you hope no one can crop/dock Dobermans in the US soon.

Out of curiosity, have you ever seen a Doberman litter after cropping or docking and watched their reactions shortly afterwards? How many cropped Dobermans have you posted ears or helped with aftercare on to see just how much it bothers them?

I don’t mind the natural ears; I think they look very nice on some Dobermans.
But my experience is people who don't support the right to choose cropped and docked have no experience with cropping and docking, not enough to make an informed decision, they just think it is cruel and not needed. Just wondering how you arrived upon your particular view point to where you support the choice being taken away from responsible Doberman owners in the United States.

Jut curious, do you think spaying and neutering are "necessary"? A spay, while routine, is pretty invasive. But it is also done at a veterinary office, under anesthesia, with modern equipment and pain medication. The only difference is it is not mostly cosmetic (as ear cropping is).

 

[Dobesanddragons]

truth be told most of my dobes will be rescues, and i wont have much of a say in the issue - the right one that fits into my life is the right one, irregardless of looks! i of course have preferences, but cant ignore fate.

I agree, you can't ignore fate =) Your boy is just great.

 

[VegasDobe]

"Yes, these procedures are mostly cosmetic.

But respectfully, it bothers me you hope no one can crop/dock Dobermans in the US soon."

I was going to say the same thing. While I understand opinions vary. But a dobe owner to wish others to not have that freedom, bothers me as well. I have gotten kinda nervous to say anything these days, cause i have noticed sometimes people think its their opinion that counts and no one elses, and if you disagree then your a bad person.

Not that im saying anyone here has implied that, cause thats not what i mean. Just that it has become such a touchy subject.