josebrwn
28th March 2004, 23:28
When my mom was finishing law school, I was just finishing high school. She was participating in something called "moot court" where the first day you would argue one side of a moot question, say, abortion, death penalty, or how many angels can dance on a pinhead, and the next day you would have to argue the other side. She would pick my brain for ideas. So with that in mind, I want to introduce a moot question, for debate.
Question: Should you crop your Presa's ears?
I'll go first.
No! You should never crop a Presa's ears. The reasons for not doing it are morally correct, legally correct, and logically correct. The reasons for doing it, are absurd.
The first reason for cropping ears is the most absurd: the dog "looks better". This gut feeling you have when you see a photograph of a cropped versus uncropped dog, leading you to conclude without being able to exactly find the words to explain why you feel the way you do, that the cropped dog "looks better" is a result of a genetic trick being played upon you. Human beings are genetically programmed to recognize and read human faces. For the most part, only humans are capable of reading human faces. While some primates have a limited ability to read faces, the greater part of the animal kingdom is genetically developed to read body language, not faces. A good animal trainer knows this instinctively, while a bumbling novice unknowingly wastes huge amounts of energy either trying to read an animal's face, or trying to communicate with an animal with facial expressions. And this is insidious. Have you ever looked at a turtle's face, and thought you knew what the turtle was feeling? Think on that one a bit. Humans have bred dogs to appear human. Through a process called neoteny, also known as paedomorphism, dogs have developed to have infantile expressions: big eyes, wide faces. Humans too developed as paedomorphic beings: we play into adulthood, and for all our bluster we resemble infants. It is an aesthetic built into our psyche by genetics. We can see this played out in the development of modern breeds through photographs. Look at a photo of a Saint Bernard or English Mastiff 50 to 100 years ago compared to one of today. There is little resemblance, yet the standards are largely the same. This is because standards, for all the appearance of technical documents, are interpretive, and we subconsciously prefer the most paedomorphic face. We can't put words to it, we just feel it. Cropping a dogs ears makes it look more human. And this is why the dog "looks better".
The next reason, that it has some practical purpose, is laughable. Unless you dog is a pit fighter, there is absolutely no practical reason to have your dog's ears cropped. It is purely cosmetic, elective surgery, nothing more. And any argument that there is some hygenic reason to crop ears is just as ridiculous.
The last reason, that it's been done so long that the quality of the dog will be damaged by exposing the fault of ear carriage, is putting the cart before the horse, and absolutely unethical. Like it or not, if your beautiful show dog has bad ear carriage, you are committing fraud if you crop the ears. You are simply perpetuating a situation you have already agreed is wrong. The right ear carriage is a valuable selection criteria, and it is wrong to perpetuate its removal from consideration by cropping.
The reasons for not cropping: it is a painful, sometimes dangerous, absolutely unnecessary procedure, that robs the animal of it's natural state, and it is illegal in most western countries. A dogs ears are beautiful. They are a part of the dog and cutting them off is simply barbaric. If you have a dog with natural ears, you can stroke and pet their ears. A dog with natural ears is pretty up close, a dog with cropped ears has nothing but little stubs and scars. Like Gertrude Stein said of Oakland, "There's no there, there."
Ok, your turn. :)
Question: Should you crop your Presa's ears?
I'll go first.
No! You should never crop a Presa's ears. The reasons for not doing it are morally correct, legally correct, and logically correct. The reasons for doing it, are absurd.
The first reason for cropping ears is the most absurd: the dog "looks better". This gut feeling you have when you see a photograph of a cropped versus uncropped dog, leading you to conclude without being able to exactly find the words to explain why you feel the way you do, that the cropped dog "looks better" is a result of a genetic trick being played upon you. Human beings are genetically programmed to recognize and read human faces. For the most part, only humans are capable of reading human faces. While some primates have a limited ability to read faces, the greater part of the animal kingdom is genetically developed to read body language, not faces. A good animal trainer knows this instinctively, while a bumbling novice unknowingly wastes huge amounts of energy either trying to read an animal's face, or trying to communicate with an animal with facial expressions. And this is insidious. Have you ever looked at a turtle's face, and thought you knew what the turtle was feeling? Think on that one a bit. Humans have bred dogs to appear human. Through a process called neoteny, also known as paedomorphism, dogs have developed to have infantile expressions: big eyes, wide faces. Humans too developed as paedomorphic beings: we play into adulthood, and for all our bluster we resemble infants. It is an aesthetic built into our psyche by genetics. We can see this played out in the development of modern breeds through photographs. Look at a photo of a Saint Bernard or English Mastiff 50 to 100 years ago compared to one of today. There is little resemblance, yet the standards are largely the same. This is because standards, for all the appearance of technical documents, are interpretive, and we subconsciously prefer the most paedomorphic face. We can't put words to it, we just feel it. Cropping a dogs ears makes it look more human. And this is why the dog "looks better".
The next reason, that it has some practical purpose, is laughable. Unless you dog is a pit fighter, there is absolutely no practical reason to have your dog's ears cropped. It is purely cosmetic, elective surgery, nothing more. And any argument that there is some hygenic reason to crop ears is just as ridiculous.
The last reason, that it's been done so long that the quality of the dog will be damaged by exposing the fault of ear carriage, is putting the cart before the horse, and absolutely unethical. Like it or not, if your beautiful show dog has bad ear carriage, you are committing fraud if you crop the ears. You are simply perpetuating a situation you have already agreed is wrong. The right ear carriage is a valuable selection criteria, and it is wrong to perpetuate its removal from consideration by cropping.
The reasons for not cropping: it is a painful, sometimes dangerous, absolutely unnecessary procedure, that robs the animal of it's natural state, and it is illegal in most western countries. A dogs ears are beautiful. They are a part of the dog and cutting them off is simply barbaric. If you have a dog with natural ears, you can stroke and pet their ears. A dog with natural ears is pretty up close, a dog with cropped ears has nothing but little stubs and scars. Like Gertrude Stein said of Oakland, "There's no there, there."
Ok, your turn. :)