Oh dear

Question-have you seen the sustained injuries by a gundog with an undocked tail?
I'm sure Het could share her story of her poor old Jake-thats enough to put anyone off!
Sorry-but it just isn't that black and white!
The nerves aren't developed when it's done, therefore they feel very little pain, i have held terrier pups and cockers through the years whilst being docked-not a squirm.
How is a gundog meant to perform the job with an undocked tail? How is a terrier meant to go working down holes with a full tail? It just makes me laugh!!
This law is a law like many others, full of loopholes. E.G They banned hunting with dogs-it still goes on in other forms.

In my chosen breed of Springers-i will owned docked dogs, i will seek out litter no matter how far or wide that have been docked! Same as certain terriers too!

Or it could be that people will favour hunting

I'm not a supporter of recreational hunting, nor of docking anything other than working dogs but I do see that making the show/work divide greater than it already is, is going to narrow the available gene pool for some breeds, which could lead to increased health problems.

No more docked breeds for me, would even consider owning a breed that shouldbe docked and wasnt! Typically, this country and its people being DICTATED too, what a crap society we live in.
Dawn.

Luke, I`m a long time member of the ADA and have heard [ and seen ] it all before. You seem unaware of the facts of pain, if you have not read the Wansborough report, I suggest that you do - and don`t just dismiss the cold hard facts because they don`t suit [ that goes to all who don`t realise whats really involved ].
I have seen far more dogs suffering - yes suffering, and needing life long vet treatment - as a result of being docked than of injuries sustained by `traditionally` docked *and* undocked breeds combined.
I guarantee you my Lurchers tail is at far more day to day risk than any Spaniels when its working, [ a working Spaniel I mean not my Lurcher, he does`nt do that sort of thing ].

There are very easy ways to prevent injury - clip the tail feathers so they don`t get caught in brambles etc [ though none of my dogs with far easier to get caught tails ever have done...], or wrap tails for protection before taking them out, just those two options would make a huge difference for genuine working dogs.
The other option of course is not to work dogs in such alledgedly potentially dangerous situations.

The fact is, humans have had this choice for far too long, finally the choice is where it belongs - with the dogs. If they don`t want their tails, no doubt they will chew them off and if they don`t, then *their choice* is pretty clear

I think there is already a loophole here -

"there has been produced
to the veterinary surgeon such evidence as the appropriate national authority
may by regulations require for the purpose of showing that the dog is likely to
be used for work"

It only has to be likely that it will be used for work so probably whole litters or working bred dogs will continue to be docked. The tragedy is that none of these would then be showable.

I was thinking of this earlier..
Simple-field type springer spaniels for me then!

You may be a member of the ADA-fine. Have you seen dogs suffering from injuries sustained to full tails when they should be docked?
An aunt of mines weimy severely injured her tail last year (if i recall) resulting in extensive surery, my old JRT bitch was frequentlly injuring her tail, various friends of mine who have full tailed springer's are constantly at the vets with injuries to the tail-it's ridiculous!
I would never own a docked breed, undocked-my choice.
Minimal-if any-pain is felt when being docked. If there is a small amount of pain, it is 'worth it' (so to speak) in the long run-the amount of injuries sustained is unthinkable!!!
That last statement is ridiculous, chew them off themselves Sorry but i hardly find this a time to make inapropriate jokes!

I`ve answered that I think [ though I dispute that `should` be docked is appropriate ]


You won`t draw me in Luke, been there, done that. One of my dogs is a tripod btw, having been mowed down [ while on lead ] by a drunk driver. His injuries were horrendous and he had to have the leg amputated. Every dog everywhere is at risk of limb injury be it from traffic or just stumbling when chasing a ball. But you won`t hear me saying all dogs should have their legs chopped off at birth.
I have a disabled arm from an accident - if only my mother had the foresight to have had that removed when I was born ` just in case`.
Sorry but there are so many things which can happen to any animal and any human, its called life. Docking a dogs tail based on breed alone is spurious at best.

You are sadly mistaken about the pain at the time, and the lifelong pain and recurring problems caused to many because of docking [ and deaths from it ]. We can all cite examples on one side or the other.
In one European country, pro-dockers were up in arms saying dogs would be injured left right and centre yet in the veterinary study taken for the first year after the ban, seven dogs were treated for tail injuries, none were classified serious and less than half were of previously docked breed. I`ll try to refind the details on that [ I lost all my bookmarks when my PC died the last time ]

It was`nt a joke Luke, I was being absolutely serious.

i used to be completly againt tail docking untill i saw an article about it that dicused our views on which parts of our pets we can remove and which we cant for example dog owners are encouraged to have there pets neutered, which is esentially to make life easier for ourselves,
now im not saying that neutering is a bad thing ATALL but after reading the article it did make me take a step back and consider that the docked breeds were docked for a reason and the reason was not our convienience, it was to prevent injury to certain breeds of working dogs who still work today, hmm i think what im trying to say is that its easy to have the initial shock horror reation to tail docking when its not your dogs tail getting damaged but there are lots of ways of altering our pets and most of us are guilty.