Cropping ears - do you consider it to be animal abuse?

I know that many people are against this as they view it as abuse but I was wondering what your individual opinions where.

My dogs where all docked very shortly after birth and all but the last (Miki) already had their ears cropped without our say. My opinion on Miki was to leave her ears natural but my husband wanted them cropped. We argued over this for a long time but in the end he got his way.

I am still a little on the fence on this subject but would like to hear what you all think.

Hi,

There is a thread on the pros and cons of docking further down this page

Re cropping - I fail to see the reason for doing it. I can see the argument for docking, and it is a procedure that is over and done with very quickly. Cropping, on the other hand, requires a general anaesthetic, a lengthy healing period, and weeks/months of taping and posting which must be very uncomfortable for the pup.

I don't think it does much for the dog aesthetically even when expertly done - and I have seen some horrible looking crops on Boxers.

Interestingly, I have a Boxer who is three-quarters American. His ears seem rather large and I am guessing that the US breeders breed for this feature to enable the long, tapering, show crop.

Cropping is illegal in Australia and the UK.

Oops...I just saw the other thread. Please disregard this one. Thank you for your input Shadowboxer. I will post/read the existing thread.

Maybe I need glasses LOL...