and love your dogs exactly as nature has provided.
Becky

I docked my litter and I intend to continue to dock legally and just show at ones that dont charge an entry fee if that means no more Crufts, I'm not too bothered I'm more interested in the welfare of the puppies I Sell. Of the last litter three went to working homes.

Just found this thread, all my pups went for £700 each the breed average for a Welshie up here, they were all sold as pets with no guarantees

Two of my last litter have gone to working homes,

unfortunatly my next liter wont be docked so I'll having a contract drawn up to say the pups I sell wont be worked as I cant bear the thought that a dog I breed might end up with a tail injury

tails were also docked for tax reasons, I believe years ago dogs were taxed unless they were working dogs, hence all working dogs were docked, the above is also correct but not sure which came first, sure someone will know,

I'm not going to say much more on this thread as i think it's been done to death.
Suffice to say, if the prodockers are holding out hope that the ban will be overturned, I think they are being somewhat overoptimistic. There is no chance.Time to move on I feel.

From DEFRA, Information on dog tail docking provided for the Animal Welfare Division, section 5.4.2.

"Docking of tails on farmers’ or drovers’ dogs used for herding and driving cattle and sheep originated in early Georgian times in England as it exempted the owner from a tax levied upon working dogs with tails. Many other types or breeds of dogs were also similarly docked to avoid this tax"

Thats a new one on me :smt043

The earliest origins [ documented, research in print by Roger Tabor ], was Romans who believed eating a puppy tail cured worms, also a connection to a belief that it prevented rabies.

In hunting terms, it was done to avoid taxes levied on people with working dogs.

To Nero, guns invented in the 1400`s [ hundreds of years ago ], were extremely innacurate not to mention expensive. Shepherds in that era and for the next several hundred years would never have been able to afford one, as shepherds were not land owners, they were employees. Those employing a shepherd would not provide one for shepherds, a gun would hve been worth more to a shepherd to sell than he would likely earn over a long period of time.
Even if by some miracle a shepherd could afford one in earlier times, he would be more likely to kill off his own flock, the aim of the guns being so lousy, or killing himself as they were far from reliable when fired.

Guns associated with shooting wolves [ in terms of any accuracy of shot ], were in use almost exclusively in Italy and Sicily, [ called a Lupara Shotgun ], but that was not until the late 1800`s [ so just over a hundred years ago ], and early 1900`s but was more connected to being used by the Mafia and Costra Nostra.
I can find no connection at this time to docking with regard to the few shepherds who would have had access to one.

However, lets assume for moment that its not urban myth - it would back up the claim that docking was not done to protect dogs tails from damage of undergrowth etc so thats another reason to dismiss docking as a historical `kindly` tail damage preventative measure, [ which it certainly was`nt in relation to shepherding dogs anyway ], so cheers for that input :smt023

( it,s off thread i know, but after the carnage on european battlefields with weapons lying around, perhaps a shepherd or two picked some up off the dead, and passed them round, just a theory !!)

by the way patch , we're into nit picking here, i'm sure readers don't want to read about firearms history, the posts are obout docking, someone asked earlier today the origins of docking , & i explained it to them