GRCA Position on Ear Cropping, Tail Docking, and Dewclaw Removal

• Breed Specific
• Breeding Restrictions
• Debarking
• Ear Cropping, Tail Docking, Dewclaw Removal
• Guardianship
• Lemon Laws
• Limit Laws

The Golden Retriever Club of America (GRCA) supports our fellow AKC parent breed clubs in their decisions to write and maintain their breed standards. Although we do not crop ears or dock tails on Golden Retrievers, we believe that decisions about veterinary care and the subject procedures must remain the purview of owners and their veterinarians. It is vital that veterinary schools continue to produce practitioners skilled in these procedures.

GRCA believes that ear cropping, tail docking, and dewclaw removal, as described in certain breed standards, are acceptable practices integral to enhancing good health and/or defining and preserving breed character. We support the right of dog breeders and owners to choose these procedures, using appropriate veterinary care. Furthermore, we oppose attempts to ban these procedures because those proposed bans:

• Are based on false and misleading information

• Legitimize activist campaigns to unnecessarily restrict the rights of animal owners

• Inject politics into practices that should remain the right and responsibility of animal owners and the medical professionals they consult.

Breeders and owners who prefer natural ears and tails and retained dewclaws have the option to forego these procedures. Those who prefer cropped ears, docked tails, and/or removal of dewclaws, and believe these procedures have benefits, should have the right to choose.

March 2010