Should we review our objections to tail docking.?

FYI, tail docking is done under three days of age and before the nervous system is fully functional. Neonatal puppies continue to develop their neurological functions after birth, which is also why eyes and ears don't open for another 14 days.

At three days of age, there is very little pain and the puppies object more to being held firmly during the process than they do to the actual docking or banding. Within minutes of the procedure, the pups are back with the mother and nursing strongly with little to no vocalization at all.

There is more pain and trauma associated with a spay surgery than tail docking in neonates!

I would also remind people that dogs are not the only species docked and docking has never been done for cosmetic purposes. Sheep and cattle are also docked for health reasons (reduce the occurance of parasite invasion like screw worm, hygiene, etc...)

As the owner of a docked breed, I can assure everyone that they have no problems with canine communication. They convey happiness with the wagging of a nub and their entire hind end, they have no issues with balance as proven by the unrefuted success the breed achieves in agility, SAR work and in the agile moves shown with herding stock. Watch an Aussie slide under a steer hoof as it goes in to grip that hock and tell me they have issues with balance.

The original breeder of Dobermann wanted to create an intelligent, alert and physically capable guard/personal protection dog. Traditionally the tail was docked & the ears cropped to prevent injury, improve hearing & to make the breed appear more striking & intimidating.

If the Dobermanns were to be bred, raised & trained to work, then yes, the pups should be docked & this would fall within the working dog exemption in the current UK legislation. However if someone wanted to show & work their dogs, the breeder would not be able to determine at a few days old which pups to dock.

If a pup is professionally docked a few days after it’s whelped, it would not suffer any long terms effects from the procedure & would quickly recover when placed back with its dam & litter mates. It is the amateurs that do not know what they are doing & botch the procedure that have given the practice of docking a bad name & attracted adverse publicity.

The current docking legislation does need to be reviewed & amended where breeds would suffer injury from not being docked.

In the past I've always preferred Spaniels with a docked tail, I though it looked better and was more practically for the dog. When it came to getting my springer my mum was determined that the dog would have a tail and so I had no say in this, however I found it quite hard to find a litter of undocked springer's despite the fact it was after the docking law, because it was a working spaniel I was looking for, not show, and the majority are still docked in order to be worked. I did manage to find a puppy in the end and my little springer is almost one and so far had no problems with her tail.

She is a HIGH energy, working stock, springer who is always wagging her tail. The only bad thing about her tail, is that because she is so clumsy she often wags it in the fire, luckily she hasn't burnt it, but we have to watch her now around the fire! Closing doors is sometimes a problem and occasionally it gets stepped on, other than that I have grown used to the tail. I actually really like it and some dogs look odd to me without them!

When the puppy is passed a certain age, normally about 5 days, the bones have already began to form properly from the tail to the spine and so properly docking a dog past this age, can easily caise damage to the dogs spine.

I believe that the only reason a dog should be docked is for working purposes. I think that if my spaniel was being worked in the fields her tail would probably of been injured by now. The likes of Jack Russel's benefit in being docked because the dog needs to be pulled out of rabbit holes by the top of the tail, and so the dog is docked to prevent the tail being pulled from the bottom, resulting in spinal injuries. However dogs should not be docked for looks and all breeds that once would of been docked, look much better with tails. They look very elegant. I have to say I prefer undocked dogs now. I wouldn't mind owning a docked springer, as my aunties springer was docked and it would of been a disaster if it wasn't, yet the next dog I would like to own, I have decided will be an Airedale Terrier and that, for sure, will be undocked.

The consequences of not docking a working dog-http://www.aegisdobes.com.au/images/cdb2.jpg

Some undocked dogs, that I believe look much better-

http://retrieverman.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/un...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67...

http://www.anti-dockingalliance.co.uk/springerwels...

http://image02.webshots.com/2/7/92/69/80579269Zzmy...

http://www.anti-dockingalliance.co.uk/BTerrierS-cW...

When tails are docked properly, at 2-3 days old, the puppies feel little to no pain because the nerve endings are not developed. It's really more painful to remove dewclaws, but I've yet to see anyone objecting to that. There is the argument also that since good tails have not been selected for, there may be defects that have cropped up over time which would make the dog look odd or silly and the same can be said for ears which are normally cropped.

ADD: Christina S, I accidentally gave you a td, sorry! Meant to hit the other button.

Have you actually witness a tail dock on a newborn pup? The pain is minimal if felt at all. I've seen several pups docked either by the vet or a very experienced breeder using hemostats, guess how many pups slept right through the procedure? Most. If there was any squealing it was at the faint sensation of pressure, NOT pain. the fact they were away from the warmth and smell of their mother, or being handled.

The nervous system of a 2-3 day old pup is not fully formed. Watch a puppy when it sleeps, all that twitching is from the connections actually fully forming.

I am all for docking as long it is done in a safe and knowledgeable manner.

"However I suspect that other breeds were having their tails docked unnecessarily" Ever seen a herding dog that's been injured by a ticked off mother animal? That tail is a liability since it gives the animal something else to bite and/or stomp on.

In the doberman the tail was docked to prevent people from having something large enough to pull on to prevent dog from doing its job, guarding, and causing sever harm.

i have 2 yorkies, but the breeder i had purchased them from came to me already with docked tails, i personally think aesthetically looks better (this is my personal opinion and preference) but getting it docked after they are like 8 months old, i personally wouldn't, it seems like it might be too painful, something that should have been done as a young puppy.imagine a grown boy getting circumcised at age 10 or 11, seems kinda cruel.

Docking of working dogs is still legal - and rightly so. The only undocked dog i have ever witnessed on a shoot nearly died after catching it on barbed wire - as a dog grows there is a large artery which develops in the tail so it lost a lot of blood.

Docking on certain workers is a necessity but personally i see no need for it on pets.

It is still legal to dock the tails of working gundogs in the UK. #

Jennifer: Herding dogs do not need their tails docked ! Border Collies atre the ultimate herding dog and never have theirs docked, why would they? When a Border Collie is herding, the tail is held low and still, there is nothing that would injure it.

Spaniels, when hunting, rotate their tails wildly like helicoptor blades and often get them damaged in brambles and thorns with the thrashing. If they do this regularly, the tail never properly heals.

Patient Paws: Sorry love, but I have had working Border Collies for 35 years and never seen one with a damaged tail as you describe and am LMAO at the thought of a "nippy sheep" ROFL!

EXTRA: Poppy - for goodness sake I am from the UK where the Border Collies originated from ! Have you ever watched a true working sheepdog ? ANd I do not mean a dog shifting animals around in a small arena, I mean WORKING on rough ground in all weathers. It matters not what the terrain is, Scottish Highlands, to English lowlands, to Welsh Hills, if the dog is allowing the sheep to step on it or get behind it's butt it is either untrained or no good at its job !

The true working sheepdog never flies it's tail over it's back and "wagging" a tail in a working sheepdog would indicate poor temperament and unsuitability as a working stock dog.

The low carried tail is absolutely not going to get caught in long grasses or brambles I can assure you.

The same applies to dogs that work cattle. They do sometimes get kicked and injured in the head or get broken legs, but they do not get "tails ripped off by the herd" LOL

I have NEVER EVER seen a sheep or cow bite a dog. Sheep use their heads to butt if they get half a chance when protecting lambs, or a ram will try it on with a weak dog.

For anyone who has not noticed, sheep are OMNIVORES, their mouth is not developed for gripping and biting, only grazing.

The breeders and shepherds in the ISDS would be AGHAST at the thought of anyone suggesting that Border Collie tails should be docked !

Please see the link below, there are also video clips on there.

Notice the position and lack of movement in the tail in the 2nd link on Google vids.

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