Let Dogs Be -- Don't Chop and Crop!

Cleo models in profile her silky,
soft natural right ear.
(Her left one is natural, too)

An odd title isn't it?  But not so when you consider that some dogs, born with beautiful long, silky ears and happy, wagging tails, are subjected to surgical mutilation  all in the name of appearance and breed standards.  
Karin Brulliard's  September 27th Washington Post Health Section article titled, Dogs are born with ears and tails. They should get to keep them, cited a study that found people who were shown photos of Doberman Pinschers, both with natural ears and tails and with cut tails and ears, believed that some of the dogs were born tailless with pointy ears while others were not.  To read the entire article go to: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2016/09/08/what-many-americans-dont-understand-about-designer-dogs/
Seems to me that we need to do a better job of educating the public about the antiquated, cosmetic practice known as ear cropping and tail docking.