Rise in illegal dog ear cropping

Trend in removing dogs' ears grows - 7th February 2022

Networks of dog breeders are offering to chop off puppies' ears to follow a social media trend, a newspaper investigation has found. 'Cropping' a dog's ears requires the removal of part of the ear for cosmetic purposes.

Ear cropping is thought to make the adult dogs appear more intimidating. Although the procedure is illegal in the UK, breeders are offering forged pet passports to claim it was done abroad.

A number of breeders who posted images of cropped-eared dogs online were tracked in the investigation. One breeder told a journalist working undercover that it was "a shame" the procedure was illegal.

They claimed it gave breeds like the American Bully a "striking look". The individual offered to sell the reporter a puppy for £13,000, saying the fee would include a pet passport and a microchip.

Vanessa Waddon, from the dog rescue charity Hope, has been caring for pups whose ears have been cropped. She fears demand has been driven by social media influencers posting images of such dogs. She explained the puppies were worth £1,500 more after their ears had been modified.

"Whenever celebrities post things online, people inevitably think 'oh that dog looks nice, maybe I'll get one like that,'" she explained. "While [the celebrities] may have imported the dogs legally, there are people cropping illegally in the UK to meet demand."

Paula Boyden, from Dogs Trust, emphasised that the practice could not be justified in any way, stating the dogs could be left with health and behavioural issues. "Some animals then go on to develop infections or don't like people touching their ears," she commented.

"We've also seen behaviour issues because dogs communicate with their ears, and without them they may have difficulty in doing that with their owners or other dogs."