Thank you, Jim and Julie for your very reasoned response to the cropping/docking issue. I have bred Great Danes for almost 20 years, and in my house, at least, there will never be an uncropped Dane. In my last two litters, however, I placed several uncropped companions. And in this last litter, I only cropped the show prospects.

I just checked my 4 kids, and although cropped, they still appeared to have ears (VBG) and use them extensively to communicate. They also use their heads, eyes, tails and feet, etc. to communicate and when in the midst of a particular happy moment, I have been favored with a full body slam which quite effectively communicated their happiness.

As with Rottweilers, in the long past, cropping had a distinct purpose. Danes were used to hunt boar and the hunters did not want the boar taking down the Dane by grabbing big, floppy ears. Back in the beginning, the Dane crop was significantly different from the long, elegant show crop that Danes sport now. Dane puppies are cropped at 8 weeks and by the time you have them back home, they are running and playing and in a couple of days act as if nothing had changed.