Docking of tail and Cropping of ears her first done for working reasons. From bear baiting to hog catching. Tails were docked so prey, such bears, hogs would not be able to grab or bite the tail. Ears were done for similar reasons, it was done mostly for pit figting. A dog can lose massive amounts of blood from a torn ear. I have heard some say it helps the dog to hear better. Now its matter of personal opinion if you want your dogs tail or ears done, there is nothing wrong with it, just like Athena said, have it done by a vet. We have to remember to try not to personafy dogs. What we would do not do ourselves may be just fine for dog. Lets not take the dogs out of context, they are dogs.