How Old should my Boxer be to get his Ears Cropped?

Q: How old should my boxer be before I get his ears cropped?
My boxer is 5- 1/2 months old. How long should I wait to get his ears cropped? Or have I waited too late?

A boxer dog with floppy ears
Photo Credit: doublej11/Flickr CC

Answers and Views:

Answer by friends with everyone
Your way too late. Puppies usually get their ears and tails done when they're as young as two or three days old. Your dog will still look cute as with adult floppy ears.

Answer by Juan Garcia
My vet will not crop the ears until they are 12 weeks old. He is very successful at producing a long-standing crop. No professional will perform a crop on a dog that is not under anesthetic. By the way, tails are docked and dewclaws removed at 3 days old. At 3-5 days the blood is in a similar state to the conditions optimal for circumcisions (which arguably is just as inhumane and is performed on human babies). – Juan Garcia, West Texas Boxers

Answer by LaLa9
Your dog should have had its ears cropped between 7 -11 weeks…much earlier. It is too late to do it now because the dog's cartilage has already formed in the ears.

Cropped ears are typically only done on a show quality dog (and even now, the AKC is starting to recognize uncropped). Unless you're planning on showing your boxer or breeding him to produce more show quality boxers (which I assume he's not breeding quality or you'd be showing him and would have a plethora of knowledge on the breed, the health testing involved, and the process of producing a boxer to preserve the lineage of the breed) there is really no reason to crop. It's purely cosmetic. My boxer has floppy ears and she's so adorable!

Answer by *miss blue*
Is there a medical reason to get his ears cropped? Or fashion!?

Answer by Jordan
I cropped my boxer puppy at 13 weeks 1 day. He did fantastically! It is not an easy thing to do. I really hated to ask him to deal with the mild pain of it……But I felt it was one thing he could do for me. I have spent about 2,000 on him. The only real question of right and wrong is putting him under for the surgery. Buy a 6.00 cone collar they scratch the stitches and can destroy their ears. Call an emergency vet hospital and take your pup with you. They will fit him with the right size collar right at the front desk no charge. Wrapping a towel around their neck DOES NOT WORK like people say they do. You don’t want to worry all day when you are at work did he slip out of that towel and destroy his ears for life?

Answer by Sawyer L
Not only are you too late, but I see getting a dog's ears cropped for fashionable reasons is just plain animal cruelty. It is NOT cute to mutilate your animal!
I can understand–barely–declawing a cat so that it does not rip up your furniture. But if you are cropping your dog's ears, basically for the heck of it, you are not a nice person, in my opinion.

Answer by Tyron H
Bulls*it declawing your cat is way more cruel than doing a dog's ears that they don't use for catching birds running or climbing. if you had big dumbo ears I'd guarantee you'd kill to have your ears docked. Get over yourself, you hippy.

Answer by noneya
Actually, puppies are between 10-14 weeks old before they get their ears cropped or tails docked…but nonetheless, yes, unfortunately, you're too late. A 2-3 day old puppy going under full anesthesia for an ear cropping surgery? I think not….
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