our position on docking, cropping and dewclaw removal
The Association for the Preservation of Purebred Dogs was formed in 2012. We are a partnership of animal owners, breeders and breed club organizations dedicated to animal welfare, responsible breeding practices, and maintaining the rights of citizens to responsibly dock tails, crop ears and remove dewclaws from our pets or breeding stock. The pressure to ban these traditional husbandry practices comes from false and outdated beliefs and a lack of information about modern surgical techniques. Anesthetic drugs and techniques are so safe today that veterinarians anesthetize dogs for routine procedures such as dental cleaning and treating deep ear infections. Additionally, there are new methods of cropping with lasers that are virtually bloodless and require less aftercare.
We OPPOSE The Canadian Veterinarian Medical Association's recommendations for breed associations to change their breed standards so that procedures they (CVMA) deem to be cosmetic are not required.
We OPPOSE the constant pressure on provincial Veterinarian Medical Associations and Veterinarian Colleges to change their code of ethics to include by laws prohibiting Veterinarians from performing ear cropping, tail docking and dewclaw removal on dogs for cosmetic purposes.
We OPPOSE any potential penalties to Veterinarians who perform these procedures from the CVMA which may range from a letter of reprimand to termination of their veterinary license and possible fines.
Despite the rhetoric of groups like the Canadian Federation of Humane Society, or the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta). Ear cropping and tail docking can now be performed with so little risk or pain that there is no longer a legitimate reason to outlaw it and, in a free and diverse society, many reasons to allow it.
APPD supports reasonable laws designed to improve the well-being of animals and strongly opposes laws that ignore science and interfere with decisions that should be made by pet owners working in consultation with their veterinarians. We also support the rights of Veterinarians that chose to perform or pursue the advancement of these procedures. Many times Breeders and Veterinarians are called “Mutilators, or Butchers” when they should be held with the utmost respect in their field or profession.
Our members spread throughout the Provinces of Canada and represent of over 70 CKC accredited breed clubs with members ranging from 20 to 200 members that strongly oppose, the proposed ear cropping, tail docking and Dew claw removal bans, because the decisions that have been made are based on a precedent that replaces the professional judgment of veterinarians with restrictions based on the beliefs of special interest advocates.
This in turn could create a type of enforcement in which activists could harass veterinarians and dog owners and Breeders. Docking and cropping bans also represents an unwarranted intrusion in the relationship between dog owners and their Veterinarians.
The practice of veterinary medicine should be left to veterinarians with the best interest of the patient and animal owners in mind.
Ear cropping and tail docking is also performed on military dogs, police dogs, rescue dogs, and other protection dogs to prevent injury during work and to improve hearing acuity in breeds without natural upright ears. An amendment was made in the United Kingdom to permit the docking and cropping of working animals, again proving that these working breeds can do their jobs much more effectively with these procedures done. It should not be surprising that many pet owners want to maintain the true characteristic of their breed as they still need do their jobs effectively as do the canines owned by the various exempted organizations. Even dogs that are technically in a ‘pet’ environment are placed in situations that ask them to do their intended jobs such as earth dog trials, tracking, hunting, guard dogs, etc. There should be no restrictions placed on owning a docked or cropped breed.
Elective surgery for pets has been around for a long time. Tail docking and ear cropping were, until recently, routine for certain breeds. It is hard to believe that a country like the UK bans docking and cropping and dew claw removal without any research to back its claims to be only cosmetic, but still offer Plastic surgery. U.K. insurance company Petplan reported that in 2011 a 25 percent increase in pet nose jobs over the last three years. Those procedures added up to a total cost of roughly $2.5 million. Another $1.6 million was spent on pet eye lifts. Why is it that breeds can undergo surgeries that improve breathing and sight, but not for improved hearing or the prevention of injuries that have been proven to be high risk in these breeds.
APPD believes that pet owners should be able to make animal husbandry decisions based on their own experience and that of the medical professionals they consult, and should not be bound by the values and ethics of radical special interest groups, operating with little practical knowledge of the subject.
APPD also believes that veterinarians should have a choice to perform these surgeries just as they have a choice to specialize in other types of procedures. Therefore, we urge you to support us in our efforts in Retaining our Rights to Crop and Dock and dew claw remove.