Merlin Comes Home

This is my little grand-dog Merlin.  In this picture he is 8 weeks old and looks way bigger than he actually is.  He's a little petite Doberman Pinscher; no, he's not a Miniature Pinscher.  We got the opportunity to pick him up yesterday just under the Ohio order to Stay at Home.  He's so delightful, he's so playful and he's so sleepy; all rolled up into one.

While I could go on and on about how beautiful he is and how his breath smells like puppy breath and how his little paws are so soft, I'm not going to do that.  I'm going to talk about his ear cropping.

That "cone" on the top of his head is there to protect his ears since they were just cropped last Saturday.  Generally, the dogs ears are cropped around 7 weeks old and are put up in that cone to protect the ears and start them on their upward journey that makes a typical Doberman look like a Doberman.  Cropping a Doberman's ears have a purpose.  They are meant to increase hearing and decrease infection.  The cropping and the subsequent posting take time, but in the end it gives Doberman's the regal look that is known as the American Kennel Club (AKC) Breed Standard.

I know there is a lot of controversy when it comes to cropping the Doberman's ears and my daughter (who owns Merlin) catches a lot of flack for having a puppy that has been cropped and docked.  But, what most people don't realize is that the cropping and docking is done by the breeder before you physically get to see your new puppy.  The cropping is done under anesthesia and experiences very little pain if any.  How do I know that?  They are groggy from anesthesia but not crying after the procedure.

Now let's talk about what I consider to be the human counterpart of cropping (in a loose sense) and that would be circumcision.  The doctor takes a loose piece of skin around the penis (Doberman's loose skin is around the ears) and cuts it back to help decrease the incidence of infection.  This procedure is done about 1-3 days after birth and involves a lot of wailing. Truthfully, I can't see much difference except one is a dog and the other is a fragile human being.

Another thing I don't get is why is it anybody's business if she crops his ears and docks his tail?  Maybe she's going to show him which she would not be able to do if those things were not done.  If the cropping and docking is done humanly, like any other surgery, why would it bother people? 
We rip out the internal organs of dogs and cats when we spay and neuter them but that is for the "greater good."  Maybe cropping is for the greater good.

I can say these things because I have two Doberman Pinschers.  One is cropped and one is not.  The uncropped Dobie always has a field of dirt in his ears from digging outside; the cropped Dobie's ears are clean and yet she digs in the yard too.

My uncropped Dobie is sometimes thought to be a big ole' hound dog and people don't fear him until I let people know what kind of dog he is.  With my cropped Dobie, there is never a doubt.  I didn't buy a hound dog, I bought a Doberman Pinscher - a regal looking dog with ears that stand proud.  My uncropped Dobie came home when he was 12 weeks old; too late to crop, but we love him still.