Yes its illegal here, unless you have a dog with Laryngeal Paralysis!
Dawn.

Now try that one after a couple of glasses of vino!

I know pitbulls are illegal in the uk but dont they have cropped ears?

Only if the breeder has them done, same as any traditionally cropped breed.
Dawn.

Not naturally!

Theres a cropped eared dog nearby which i presume was imported into the UK and is something called an American Stafford which i've never heard of.

Well I think cropped ears look awful
I dont think ive ever seen a dog with cropped ears. For what reason is it done?

It was done to guard dogs such as dobermanns to prevent an attacker from being able to grab the ears. Cropping them makes them far more difficult to get a hold of.

I assume the same goes for fighting dogs, so that the other dogs had a harder time grabbing at the dog's ears.

It's disgusting and I can't believe people are still doing it.

Ewwwww that's awful.

Really ?! (Re: De-barking) I thought the general view on it was that it was ok, obviously not I didnt know it was illegal, well you learn something new every day.

Debarking dosnt always work either, some dogs after being debarked can still make a very irritating noise, so I have been told, also I just read on another forum about a small dog being debarked in america which has caused the owner(who rescued it with the surgery already done I might add) and its has cost her a fortune trying to help the dog, as scar tissue has built up and the dog was having very bad trouble trying to breath, consequently they have had to give the dog a permanant trach I think cropping of ears and debarking is barbaric.

Mo