I don't mind people expressing opinion, even if it's on a pointless topic as the law doesn't allow docking. I just find it hard to understand why it's bad to want to protect your dogs while their working or to want to prevent pain and discomfort. And yes, some people DO get appendeges removed when they cause too much discomfort. If people had tails, we'd dock them at birth as standard due to the fact they'd get in our way and become damaged and painful in day to day life.

Two of my dogs damaged their tails just by knocking them into something and those two dogs had painful tails as a result of that. The fractures weren't bad enough for an amputation, they were bad enough to cause the dogs discomfort for years. Tia favoured her tail until the day she died. My own experiences showed me the pros to docking and I'm going to assume Gnasher's own experiences are what form her opinion. Maybe I'm selfish, I'd do a lot of things to prevent my dogs pain.

I'd be a mess if I ever had to hear Kay scream over a fractured bone! As it is she's got a baseball bat tail and I don't think much can damage it. I really miss having a multidog household!

I bred a litter of German Shorthaired Pointers in the late '70's. The vet came round to check on Mum and the pups and said that they must be docked. She asked me to lock Lizzie in the stable whilst she did it - there were 12 puppies and despite only being a few days old, their screams will haunt me for ever. No anaesthetic, just a snip with a pair of scissors and then dip the stump in some stuff that looked like iron filings. Lizzie was going beserk in the stable, and like the wet drip that I was then I allowed that horrible woman to do all 12. She should have been struck off in my opinion.

Just some more recent photos of the dopey lass.

Still as gorgeous as ever ...WITH her tail!!

My best bud