Dogsey

Regarding spaniels - I was always told you have to watch they don't damage their EYES if they go into brush - as some have quite prominent eyes.

I'd rather see a working dog docked to prevent injuries than see a working dog who has had to have a tail amputation in later life.

Having experienced Kibo splitting the end of his tail and just how long it took to heal as well as knowing adult Vizsla's who've had to have an amputation I'm in the pro docking camp as long as done by a vet and at the right age ( which I think is less than one week old? )

Only dog I had that was docked injured his tail badly twice, none of the undocked dogs had any problem. I know they were not workers but they did a fair bit of dashing into scrub over their lives.

Chopping off one of the most important parts of a dogs anatomy is unacceptable IMO. Dogs communicate a lot of info via their tails - I don't buy the injury theory one jot or iota.

Having docked springers I see full well even the difference to the number of injuries to the tails of those docked at trial length to working length, and the working length being shorter still gives the dogs long enough tails to signal to others but stops awful injuries, resulting in nightmare treatments which after many multiple occasions of pain and suffering my result in amputation, which is far worse than docking a small pup. Labradors are worked on different ground, do not sweep through the cover in the same way as spaniels and therefore the work they do it isnt necessary to dock their tails.

It isnt guaranteed that a docked dog will not injure its tail, but the movement of the tail not going beyond the width of the body helps enormously to reduce the likelihood. By nature of the allowance to be docked will show that their are strong working lines and instinct bred into the dog, as opposed to some undocked 'pet' working bred dogs, where their instinct is possibly reduced.

My dogs tail is shocked. She still wags it furiously. And lifts it and tucks it. It is shocked, not removed altogether. I wouldn't opt for it. She was docked by the breeder.

My dog might break his leg at some point. Can't imagine the pain/expense/trauma that would entail for him...and myself. Perhaps I should amputate it to help minimise that risk?

Sounds silly. But that's kind of how I see the "docking to prevent tail injuries" argument.

I think that comment is garbage, Luke. Sorry, but I do. Just another excuse for docking that really isn't valid at all. Like Julie said, they leave quite a bit of tail on the spaniels usually so what you said doesn't even really make any sense.

The people who makes bogus excuses to dock tails are the ones that show little understanding. Dogs need their tails for many reasons and docked tails still get injured frequently, so I mean it's whatever.

Removing a body part just so it doesn't possibly get injured is absolutely absurd IMO. If that were a real solution, we'd remove their legs, etc. as well!

I can say that sometimes docking is appropriate, but usually it isn't and despite what random "pro docker" people say, it's one for cosmetic reasons.

You haven't seen the clumsy Dobermans and wobbly Rotties that I have. They NEEDED their tails and cutting them off only served to throw of their balance and reduce their ability to communicate. Same as ear cropping, almost completely useless.

If having a short tail was so important I never understand why it wasn't bred into these breeds we breed for all sorts of characteristics so why not a short tail ? No need to chop it off then.

I will agree that the docking of Dobermanns as mentioned by Myra is done purely for looks but that's where my agreement ends. Having until very recently owned 3 Dobermanns 2 docked and one with a full tail, I have to say the 2 docked dogs managed to communicate extremely well, probably the best communicators out of all the dogs I've owned. If they needed their tails for balance it certainly didn't show, Rio could turn on a sixpence, was graceful and elegant in everything she did. Milan on the other hand has a full tail is not a good communicator and is as clumsy as can be. Personally having observed them for years I don't think it has anything to do with having or not having a tail and maybe all those Dobermanns and Rottweilers that Myra has seen have the same problems as Milan, not especially well bred and totally lacking in early socialisation.