Humans

[snippet]

That is all so sad and so true.

[BJean]

I think they refer to hacked off ears, not ear cropping

How can you tell the difference?

[BJean]

Nice pic, I don't buy into the cropping debate, I have read many pros for it other than for aesthetic human vanity though. many negs for it too. Aus is a mute point I wont begrudge the cropped Amstaffs that are imported.

They cut off the ears at the head on pit fighting dogs so that the other dog can't get latched onto it and rip it off during a fight.

What about the other dogs that have their ears cropped at the skull?

Edited September 16, 2011 by lilli

[Weasels]

Nice pic, I don't buy into the cropping debate, I have read many pros for it other than for aesthetic human vanity though. many negs for it too. Aus is a mute point I wont begrudge the cropped Amstaffs that are imported.

They cut off the ears at the head on pit fighting dogs so that the other dog can't get latched onto it and rip it off during a fight.

What about the other dogs that have their ears cropped at the skull?

Just victims of jerk humans that want to look tough

ETA: i'm not lumping in cropping with unsanitary ear chopping here, although i'm not personally a fan of cropping and docking, it is nothing like the cruelty of crudely lopping off dog ears to fit a fighting-dog image

Edited September 16, 2011 by Weasels

[BJean]

Nice pic, I don't buy into the cropping debate, I have read many pros for it other than for aesthetic human vanity though. many negs for it too. Aus is a mute point I wont begrudge the cropped Amstaffs that are imported.

They cut off the ears at the head on pit fighting dogs so that the other dog can't get latched onto it and rip it off during a fight.

What about the other dogs that have their ears cropped at the skull?

Just victims of jerk humans that want to look tough

ETA: i'm not lumping in cropping with unsanitary ear chopping here, although i'm not personally a fan of cropping and docking, it is nothing like the cruelty of crudely lopping off dog ears to fit a fighting-dog image

Well you're assuming a lot

yet you want others to desist from making assumptions about PBs.

[Weasels]

Well you're assuming a lot

yet you want others to desist from making assumptions about PBs.

yes i could see i was being baited there.

Ok then, enlighten me with a good reason for hacking off a dog's whole ears with scissors. I'm not talking about ear shaping or hunting dogs that are at risk of injury, since you can tell when someone's just hacked at a dog's ear inthe backyard to make it look all fighty.

Also i've never even seen a pit, so i don't want anyone to think anything about them. I was just adding a historical (and in some places, contemporary) fact.

[zayda_asher]

I was just adding a historical (and in some places, contemporary) fact.

Excepting that, just for the record, you point about them taking off the whole ear for the pit is incorrect. The crop you see on show Amstaffs IS actually the crop that was used on old pit dogs, when they were cropped, not all were... The hack the whole ear off thing is done by people that don't actually know how to crop, I.e. Backyarders. You are right in that they are normally done by twits with scissors and what they don't realize is how the head changes and grows as the dog grows. Most of the idiots were not going for whole ear off as the "look", they just did a botch job. They hack off too much ear, so there is nothing left when the dog has grown. Here are some photos of old Colby pit bulls. You can see the ones that are cropped have a crop that is the same as what is seen in the show ring, not the ear off down to the head.

ETA: obviously I'm talking show dogs in the States, as cropping is illegal in Aus.

Edited September 16, 2011 by zayda_asher

[BJean]

Well you're assuming a lot

yet you want others to desist from making assumptions about PBs.

yes i could see i was being baited there.

Ok then, enlighten me with a good reason for hacking off a dog's whole ears with scissors. I'm not talking about ear shaping or hunting dogs that are at risk of injury, since you can tell when someone's just hacked at a dog's ear inthe backyard to make it look all fighty.

Also i've never even seen a pit, so i don't want anyone to think anything about them. I was just adding a historical (and in some places, contemporary) fact.

I'm not baiting.

How you can tell if a dogs ears have been cropped ("hacked off") at the skull with scissors or not?

I've seen many dogs with ears cropped to the skull and I still can't tell when/how it was done.

Yet you can?

[zayda_asher]

What about the other dogs that have their ears cropped at the skull?

Is there a breed where the standard crop is whole ear leather off to the skull? Genuine question, I'm not baiting or anything

[zayda_asher]

How you can tell if a dogs ears have been cropped ("hacked off") at the skull with scissors or not?

I've seen many dogs with ears cropped to the skull and I still can't tell when/how it was done.

Yet you can?

In AST / APBT it is not an acceptable crop, so you can generally assume the person who did it to one didn't know what they were doing. You can also often see on them that the crop is lumpy, uneven and / or healed badly, all of which points to a backyard jobbie... I won't comment on other breeds, as I don't know about them

Edited September 16, 2011 by zayda_asher

[Weasels]

I was just adding a historical (and in some places, contemporary) fact.

Excepting that, just for the record, you point about them taking off the whole ear for the pit is incorrect. The crop you see on show Amstaffs IS actually the crop that was used on old pit dogs, when they were cropped, not all were... The hack the whole ear off thing is done by people that don't actually know how to crop, I.e. Backyarders. You are right in that they are normally done by twits with scissors and what they don't realize is how the head changes and grows as the dog grows. Most of the idiots were not going for whole ear off as the "look", they just did a botch job. They hack off too much ear, so there is nothing left when the dog has grown. Here are some photos of old Colby pit bulls. You can see the ones that are cropped have a crop that is the same as what is seen in the show ring, not the ear off down to the head.

ETA: obviously I'm talking show dogs in the States, as cropping is illegal in Aus.

Thanks ZA, informative post

And to assess whether a dog has been 'hacked' I would also go by the precision of the cut, signs of infection, plus the context - e.g. environment of dog, disposition of owners etc. to narrow down a statistical probability. And these days I would think most dog fighters are backyarders, except maybe in parts of Mexico (?).

And even if I was wrong, the consequences are zero since I couldn't do anything about it I also don't know of a situation where a full removal of ear is an acceptable practice, always happy to learn tho.

[BJean]

A lot of dogs from Central Asia (Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan etc) and Turkey

have their ears removed.

It is usually done when they are puppies but some are done as adult dogs.

Once the hair grows over the ear stub I cannot tell how or what age the cut was done.

Edited September 17, 2011 by lilli

[Weasels]

A lot of dogs from Central Asia (Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan etc) and Turkey

have their ears removed.

It is usually done when they are puppies but some are done as adult dogs.

Once the hair grows over the ear stub I cannot tell how or what age the cut was done.

Why are they removed?

[BJean]

A lot of dogs from Central Asia (Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan etc) and Turkey

have their ears removed.

It is usually done when they are puppies but some are done as adult dogs.

Once the hair grows over the ear stub I cannot tell how or what age the cut was done.

Why are they removed?

It is easier for the dogs' upkeep.

Actually I've found that people dont actually 'notice' the ears are missing, or they think the ears are born that way: little stubs like those African prairie (?) dogs.

Edited September 17, 2011 by lilli