Hung by your own petard as they say.

Actually I have two dogs but no seals. How many seals do you have and where do you buy your herring and sardines?

Here is the little one making friends

https://www.flickr.com/photos/136279...ream/lightbox/

And here he is on a deer hunt

https://www.flickr.com/photos/136279...ream/lightbox/

Where do you keep your seals?

O yes, deadly serious ... assuming you CAN read?

Still waiting to hear about your boat ...

and drawn and quartered I would say as well!

O so the beautiful GSP is your dog? Shame about the docked tail - is that still legal over in the States?

18 footer, deep V hull, 75hp Yamaha, top speed 56kph top speed

For pet dogs their may be no reason, but I have spent a half hour removing thorns from my female


When your pups are 3 days old it is time to attend to the docking of tails and dew claws. German Shorthaired Pointers have thick tales that before it was common to dock tales would constantly be emaciated on the end whipping around in the woods. While it is possible for a dog to tear its dew claw off on a hunt it is unlikely – coon dogs regularly live their life with dew claws without befalling injury. But the fact is that leaving dew claws on a dog makes them more of a problem to live with because dews claws are made to rip and tear at whatever the dog has its paws on – including us, our children, guests, the neighbors and the furniture. Dew claws are a great thing for a wild dog to have.

When it comes to the question of: How long do I leave my German Shorthaired Pointer Puppy’s tail? The old standard called for leaving 40% of the tail on the pup but recent trends are to leave more and more tail. A dog uses its tail for balance on land and as a rudder while swimming which is why the Germans regularly leave 66% of the tail on their dogs today. Personally we feel that’s just a tad too much. To our eye a German Shorthair looks balanced when the length of the underside of their tail ends up being the same length as the top of their hock joint to the ground. To reach that balance we leave 60% of the tail on the pup.

While animal rights types think it cruel to dock tails we can assure you that it is not that painful. In fact it is not unusual for pups to fall asleep in the middle of the procedure if you know how to handle them. It amounts to a moments worth of pain exchanged for a lifetime of less pain. It’s while docking tails that you can get the first good gauge of the relative amount of bone a pup will have as an adult. If a pup has a very thick tail we will dock it a joint or two shorter and if it has a very thin tail we will dock it a joint or two longer. Not much but those slight differences will look better on the dog as an adult.

My darling girl, you could not go out into the middle of the Atlantic ocean in an 18 foot motor boat. Have you any idea how massive the swell is in the Atlantic even in calm weather?

You live in Cloud Cuckoo land.

Is tail docking still legal in the States?

That is an absolute crock of s**t that docking tails does not hurt! I used to own a German Shorthaired Pointer called Lizzie - she was a Wittekind GSP and I bred 2 pedigree litters from her. To my deepest regret I allowed the vet to persuade me to dock the puppies - they screamed blue murder. Clearly, it is extremely painful - as anyone with half a brain would know without having to be told. If I chopped off your little finger with sharp scissors it would dang well hurt and you would yell the place down, as would I.

Is tail docking still legal in the States?

I have been 32 or so km offshore, get a grip kid, I check NOAA before heading out http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/marine/marine_map.htm

So yes I know.

LOL R U A Landlubber

Yes tail docking prevents injury, as does dewclaw removal