A Career in Ears for a Different Breed of Dog Veterinarian

Dr. Robert LaBounty has an ear for his calling.

LaBounty, a Studio City veterinarian, has built a practice out of performing ear croppings on about 20 varieties of dogs such as schnauzers, pit bulls and Great Danes.

Some of L.A.'s most notable canine owners, from the current Mrs. Hugh Hefner (Doberman pinscher) to Cuba Gooding Jr. (Great Danes) to Carrol O'Connor (miniature schnauzers) have hired him to sculpt and tend the ears of their pets.

A vet for 35 years, LaBounty has remained undaunted by common protests that clipping a dog's ears is a cruel procedure with only a cosmetic benefit.

He argues that all modern breeds of dogs are essentially cosmetic creations, produced by centuries of breeding for function and, eventually, for aesthetics. He and many other vets say that dogs without floppy ears are less vulnerable to infections.

LaBounty, 62, chose his specialty to avoid the stress of a full-fledged veterinary practice.

"I don't like going through the emotions of seeing dogs dying," he says. "This way, I basically deal with healthy dogs all the time."

He started out as a breeder of miniature schnauzers, doing his own ear clipping, then headed for veterinary school at Washington State University.

Graduating in 1962, he moved to Los Angeles to become the partner of the aging Dr. Homer Tully, who

was well-established as an ear cropper. Tully had gained attention by being the first to remove the "button," or tragus bone, at the base of the ear, creating a cosmetic effect that dog show judges and breeders liked. Together, the two vets would often perform up to 14 ear croppings a day, reaching 256 procedures in one month, LaBounty said.

Since Tully retired in 1987, LaBounty has practiced alone in his hospital on a commercial strip of Ventura Boulevard, enjoying a strong reputation among Southern California breeders as the ear clipping specialist of choice. He has had puppies flown to him from as far away as Alaska.

He also has witnessed the changes in dog popularity from Dobies, boxers and Danes to the now trendy pit bulls, miniature pinschers and Cane Corsos.

(Just what is that last creature, you ask? It's one of the new "in" breeds, an Italian-bred mastiff. Among the newly popular pets, it is rivaled by the Presa Canary, a dog from the Canary Islands that looks like a 100-pound pit bull. Foreign language lessons wouldn't hurt a '90s dog buyer.)