Are dobe's born with their ears naturally cropped?
Nope, they are manually cropped. My sister had a dobe for many years with uncropped ears. Look at a UKC website and you will see them without cropped ears, since the UK does not allow it. I wish the AKC would not allow it either.

I couldn't tell Max was a mix, but after being told, his face head on does remind me of a rotti's