I think it used to be more common. A few breeders still do it. I would never buy a dog with front dew claws removed. I am more ambivalent about rear dew claws in our breed. In our breed these are not as common (though they do crop up in certain lines) they serve no functional purpose, have no boney attachment, even when the do is an adult, and are more prone to injury. So if the breeder notices them early enough that they can be removed as a neonate, a certainly wouldn’t object. One person who KNOWS they are in her line checks each puppy at birth and does have rear dews removed routinely. But the couple of people I know who have had them crop up “out of the blue” haven’t noticed until it was too late to do it as a relatively painless neonate procedure. So they have left them. It jest means that the owner needs to be a bit more careful hiking in brush, and they have to remember to trim 5 nails on the back feet too!
