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IrelandWhy Dobermans have cropped ears: Zack D. Films traces it to guard duty
The 30-second animation explains the old reasoning behind cropping and docking, then argues it no longer fits a dog that lives on the sofa.
Zack D. Films
Story of No. 5 on the daily chartNo. 1 on the Outdoors chart
Why this story? One of the most watched videos since yesterday, with 17,392,577 views.
Why Dobermans Have Cropped Ears 😞
Dobermans are born with floppy ears. The pointed, upright pair many people picture comes from a cut, and the animation opens on exactly that: gloved hands trimming a puppy's ears to a point and taping them to a stick "so they heal upright," as the narrator puts it.
The reasoning goes back to the breed's working past. Dobermans were bred as guard dogs, the narrator explains, and handlers worried that an attacker could grab long ears in a fight. Tails had their own justification: a wagging tail might strike a wall and break.
Then the Short changes direction. Cropping and docking hurt, the narrator says, and the wounds take weeks to heal. The final scene shows a Doberman playing indoors with a boy, with no attacker anywhere in sight: "We're sort of just hurting these dogs for no reason."
Roughly 17 million people watched it in a day, and likes came in at more than twice the channel's usual first-day pace. In the comments, owners describe adopted Dobermans that kept their natural ears. Others dispute the tail explanation, arguing that guard dogs were docked so an attacker had nothing to grab. Several viewers draw a line between cosmetic procedures and docking done for medical reasons.
Published on Trari
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What viewers say
When I adopted my doberman, he was about 6 months old with his tail cut off, we never got his ears clipped, now he is 8 years old, healthy and strong, living happily
@koolduck_249See it on YouTubeLowkey I respect Zack and his team for covering this topic
@goofycheese_99See it on YouTubejust wait until dogs do this to us bro✌️😭
@beediegamingSee it on YouTube
6 more comments
Don’t even start about how Humanity destroyed Pugs 😭
@RSExplorer-d7cSee it on YouTubeThe tail reason is wrong. Since they were meant to be guard dogs people cut the tails to prevent the attacker from grabbing its tail. Also if there was a risk of the tail breaking, wouldn’t that mean you could do it to any other dog? If you think about it, it could really happen to any dog (the risk of breaking a bone in their tail).
@ashleyvalencia7713See it on YouTubeMy step-mother-in-law has a dog whose ears have been cut. Not by them. The dog came to them after it was given away by the previous owners. The dog is extremely anxious, gets stressed out very easily and doesn't like new people. He is very obedient, kind and well-trained hunting dog, but his behavior really conveys some sort of trauma.
@eliyawaters9075See it on YouTubeWhat is bro feeding those animators
@ImBatman-y2rSee it on YouTubeThose poor guardians
@noone-x8y4tSee it on YouTubeThats kinda sad isn’t it?
@brittanilopez2456See it on YouTube
Public comments from the video's page on YouTube
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- Channel
- Zack D. Films
- Subscribers
- 29,500,000 ▲ 100,000 this week
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 638,744,264
- Channel views, pace per day
- 66,102,565 (on a normal day: 117,875,686)
- Video published
- October 30, 2026
- Video views so far
- 22,268,198 (2 days online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 17,403,288 (on a normal day: 12,107,093)
The numbers
A short, serious-minded animation, and one of the channel's busiest starts for likes.
💡 Test your knowledge
In the animation, what is a puppy's cropped ear taped to so it heals upright?
The narrator says the cut ears are "taped to a stick so they heal upright."