Here are a couple of shots from today's Dane Specialty. The first is the sister to the Dobe I shot yesterday. This one is being sold as a "pet" and she introduced herself to me by nipping my right nostril . I immediately fell in love. Confident and sweet this girl will make somebody a wonderful pet.



Right after I shot the Dobe puppy, I noticed an even cuter pup to my right. So I went over and asked the owners if I could take a few shots of her. They said "yes".



These small Specialties are not money-makers for me but I shoot them every year because the folks are loyal to me and because I truly enjoy being with both the people and the dogs. Perfect weather. Gorgeous dogs. Wonderful people. It doesn't get any better than that for this show photographer.

Jim

Jim - lovely shot of the Dobie baby. Any shots of the Danes??

Hey Jim,

Absolutely beautiful. As always, your work is excellent. LOL, I did not realize you photographed children. :P What a great smile on her face. On another note, and I do not mean to start a controversy, but it always upsets me when I see a dog's ears or tail docked. I realize these are AKC breed standards.

James

James,
how do you feel about human male circumcision?

The Rottweiler Standard calls for docked tails for some practical reasons. In a fight with a wolf, the tail was a disadvantage; when pulling a cart, it got in the way. Over the years, the outline of the Rottweiler -- the view you have that determines breed type -- always had it with a docked tail.

Several years ago, the Animal Activists convinced the breeders in Germany to abandon docking for "humane" reasons. The breeders agreed because it's cheaper to turn out a litter if you don't have to have your vet dock the tails. And so Germany -- the home of the Rottweiler Standard -- essentially abandoned it.

Here in the US, we tend to be more cynical about Animal Rights Groups because we know that ultimately they would like all dogs freed as pets to run the streets and meet their maker by getting hit by cars. As breeders, we also like to maintain the physical appearance of the dog as it was originally intended. So in AKC showing, docking is still strongly preferred.

Docking isn't cropping but it's the same purpose. We've bred 25 puppies in 10 years and every one has been docked. And none of them had any long-term psychological issues as a result of it. We do it at 3 days of age and by 5 days, they are healed and not in any pain at all. There's more trauma the first time I clip the nails .

A Rottweiler with a tail is a very nice dog. But it isn't the vision of this breed that I prefer. I have a tailed dog, my Golden. I don't need 6 other tails swishing stuff off the coffee table, thank you . Like I said, I breed to the Standard and docking is still in the standard. I support that. There are others that don't. We probably disagree on several more important issues as well. So be it.

Jim

Hey Jim,

LOL, you beat me to this before I edited it!!!! I was going to pull out that statement and just comment on the adorable girls face. My gripe with cropping/docking is not really so much a 'rights' issue but a 'practicality' issue. I think that the dog loses a significant ability to communicate because so much dog to dog communication occurs through ear and tail placement. ..heck, much of my understanding of how my dog is doing is based on this very communication method as she cannot talk (LOL, I don't know if anyone elses can).

Anyway, I apologize for bringing this up. It has been done several times before and I don't think it needed to come up again. It was late, and sometimes I get the better of myself. :P

Cheers
James

James, I don't think it hinders their communication but I do think it is painful. My friend who breeds danes only crops the show prospects, or really the ones that are sold to show homes. The ones sold to pet homes go uncropped.

Asthetically, I like it much more to see cropped breeds cropped. I think they look more attractive. I would think Rotties with long tails would look, well, not like a good rottie.

I can see both sides on the issue. Tail docking isn't near the ordeal that ear cropping is.

Dogs communicate with more than ears and tails, they communicate with body language. How they are holding their mouths, the breathing, the posture, the eyes. It is all pretty easy to see what they are saying.

There are animal RIGHTS activists and animal WELFARE people. The rights people want to take your right to own an animal at all away. The welfare people are the ones who will take them in and rehome them.

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.