Nooooooooooo - leave him be as nature intended!

Errrrr.... it's not quite as nature intended, though is it? Wild canines don't have these extra appendages, which could be a serious liability and injury risk in a wild predator.

So.... if the "bunch of keys" on each hind leg is large and loosely attached, removal of them would be getting the dog back to nature, i.e. to its most useful and functional form.

this is very true

No, they are born with those "bunch of keys" on their hind leg, so leave well alone is my motto. Wolves indeed are not born with dew claws, but dogs are. I don't see the need or the point at all in removing them. I knew a girl at school who had a 6th finger ... thankfully no doctor deemed it a good idea to chop it off!! (slightly different I know, as a dew claw does not have a bony element to it, but I just don't like the random removal of our dog's bits and pieces just because we don't like them).

Many parents have extra toes and fingers removed from their newborns.........

floppy hind dew claws serve no purpose! dew claws are for turning!...in a highly active agile breed like my sibe i choose to remove them when and if he has a GA for anything else,
they are not attached like front dew claws so its not a biggy imo anyway to remove them..

Gnasher, although in principle I agree with the idea we should leave stuff as nature intended and I am totaly against front dew claw removal
Dogs are not as nature intended - we have messed up some breeds pretty badly and if the individual dog is having issues with the dew claw then it is better to remove them

I would also prefer breeders to move towards breeding dogs that dont need operations - but for the individual if it is needed it is needed

My pyrenean had them and the Spanish Mastins, which I have now ( and the ones which passed away recently ) have them as well. some bigger than others. the boy had real floppy ones. vets do tend to advice you to have them removed as sometimes they reckon they could be of hindrance for the dogs or that they might get caught on something but I have never, so far, experienced any problems with them.

Aaagh!!!! How HORRIBLE!!

I am not sure why you think this is "horrible".

Have you had children?

Children are bullied over all sorts of things, no child wants to be different and parents want what is best for their children.

One couple I knew had a son with webbed feet, he too was operated on.

The motive in all these cases was to save those children from being bullied as children and, in those vulnerable years, ie teenagers, where many are extremely self conscious about their bodies, one source of potential grief.

That is what parents do, where they can, help their children.

Like some parent have large disfiguring birthmarks from the face removed.

Do you think that this is horrible too? Or do you think that we should all, as loving parents, just adopt the attitude that "nature made them this way" and do nothing?

I know, as a parent, I would do ANYTHING to protect my child where possible.