People are legally allowed to brutalize their dogs in the United States for cosmetic purposes and it needs to end. No matter what veterinary theories have been circulated to try and justify tail docking, ear cropping, and dewclaw removal, there is no evidence that they serve a medical purpose, or one that could not be achieved through non-invasive care. These procedures are purely aesthetic, endorsed by people more obsessed with their dogs’ appearance than their wellbeing.
Take ear cropping, for example: a portion of the poor pup’s ear is sliced out, and the bloody pieces are sewn back together and bound so that they will heal upright. People try and reason that this is for sanitary purposes, but regularly cleaning your dog’s ears would get the job done just fine. During a tail docking procedure, most of a dog’s tail is literally chopped off, eliminating a key balancing tool as well as the way through which they express joy! Why would any dog owner not want to see a long, happy, wagging tail? And while dewclaws are vestigial, meaning dogs evolved past using them, removing them is still essentially like amputating a finger. These procedures are painful, not without complications, and cruelly unnecessary.
We need a law to protect these sweet dogs from painful and dangerous procedures they don’t need. Sign the petition asking Congress to pass a law making these procedures illegal and classifying them as animal abuse!