538 THE AMERICAN BOOK OF THE DOG. 



correct by Mr. Ziebert. Sandor is young and not fully 

 developed yet. 



The ears of the German Dogge are generally cropped, 

 because it gives the head a bolder and livelier expression 

 and appearance. In England, however, a strong opposition 

 prevails against the cropping of the ears of any breed, and 

 the wish of the Queen of England, as well as the exertions 

 made by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Ani- 

 mals to put a stop to this so-called cruelty, may be of no 

 little consequence. 



The Queen of Wurtemberg, who visited the exhibition 

 at Cannstadt, in 1889, expressed also a wish, when admiring 

 the class of beautiful German Dogges, that the ears might 

 be left to them just as God created them. The French, 

 on the contrary, do not want a Dogge with uncropped ears; 

 and a German sporting paper, the Hunde- Sport, remarked 

 not long ago: 



There is danger that America will follow the example of England. We 

 in Germany do not crop the ears of our Hatzriide since the day before yester- 

 day; our ancestors did so centuries ago, and if it will be admissible to draw a 

 general conclusion from a Greek coin, the cropping of ears was customary two 

 thousand years ago, and neither England nor America will alter it. 



The same paper had in its issue of January 22, 1890, 

 the following: 



We have been informed that in two cases owners of young Dogges were 

 indicted by societies and fined for cropping the ears of dogs. Should any one 

 of our readers be fined on that account, he is requested to enter protest against 

 ft, and to ask us to name him two experts who are ready to declare under oath 

 that the non-cropping of ea's was the cause of continual suffering in the ears, 

 so that the cropping had to be performed in advanced age. Not the cropping 

 of the ears is tormenting, but their remaining uncropped. We are convinced 

 that on such evidence the parties indicted will be acquitted. 



On the other hand, experts spoke and wrote against the 

 fashion of cropping ears. Professor Weiss, of the Veter- 

 inary College at Stuttgart, says in his book, " The Dog, 

 His Qualities, Breeding, and Treatment in Healthy and 

 Sick Condition:" 



The operation of cropping ears consists in a tormenting for the sake of 

 satisfying a nonsensical taste; besides, according to the opinion of the greatest 

 dog-fanciers, the dog looks, in his natural condition, much better than after 



