It has been asked in another thread why it is that the presence of dew claws is a pretty good indication in the United States that a dog did not come from a responsible breeder. There is a very high correlation to whether or not a breeder does health testing, uses contracts, takes back puppies and whether they remove dew claws. What makes a responsible breeder is not any 1 thing but the big picture but when there is no background information available, like when someone finds a stray, that if the dog has its dew claws it most likely did not come from a responsible breeder.
I posted the reasons I found that most responsible breeders do remove dew claws. The difference is IMO much greater than major surgery to remove an appendix of an infant as a preventative measure to major surgery later in life versus a non-surgical procedure to remove dew claws as a preventative instead of major surgery later in life.
Here is my original paragraph on the topic.
Before breeding my first litter, I talked with many breeders about breeding practices including the removal of dew claws. The ones I spoke with have been breeding a long time and had experience with dogs that had them and those that had them removed and their overwhelming response was that they felt it was the responsible thing to remove them after having seen the damage done when one is ripped out if caught on something. Most of the situations given were run of the mill, out in the backyard, normal play type situations so it is not just for dogs that are active in performance. But everyone single one said it only took seeing one dog rip a dewclaw and have it hanging by a thread to convince them that it was absolutely the right thing to do to remove them at a couple of days old when it is not major surgery to remove.