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Before ear cropping. Karma is 8 weeks old in this picture.
2 weeks after ears were cropped. Karma is 10 weeks old in this picture.
There are a lot of good reasons to crop ears, and a lot of good reasons for floppy ears, you need to decide what you think is best. Dobermans with floppy ears look less like Dobermans and therefore less intimidating. Dogs that will be used as therapy dogs or SAR dogs, generally are more accepted by people with floppy ears. Cropped ears have the Doberman deterrent look to them. I have some of each. Cropped ears need less cleaning, stay dryer and have fewer infections. Floppy ears are cheaper, and you don't have to worry that your investment will be lost if they fall. Whatever you decide, your puppy will come to you floppy eared.
Many breeders have vets that will crop ears at 5 weeks old to help make the pups more marketable. At five weeks of age, the ears are no bigger than my thumb nail, and the head is as small as an apple. It is very hard to do a good crop that way. At 9-12 weeks of age the ears and head are balanced in their growth and a very successful crop can be achieved by a good Vet. Ear cropping though is an art not a science, and you have to trust the artist to some extent. I always ask to see pictures of previous crops the vet has done. Any artist that is proud of their work will keep a scrapbook or have dogs available to be seen. If you like how they turned out, then trust the artist if they want to do the ears early.
We can recomend our vet do the ears for you, Dr Ann Barlow is newer in the art of cropping, but has had great succsess in doing dobie ears. She has done my dogs ears along with some of our puppies here at Riverside.
You will aslo want a vet or the breeder to show you how to properly tape the ears. If you haven't done ears before, the re-posting can be a bear. It isn't good to have a cropped dog with floppy ears, if you aren't dedicated enough to make the ears stand, don't go down this path. Dr' Ann Barlow is willing to crop at 8-9 weeks old.
