Is it your belief that the 90% of vets against docking in the UK are incompetent?

If I choose to get a breed that some think should be docked I will get one but with their full undocked tail. My friend has a Boxer with a full tail he is gorgeous though looks stramge as we are used to seeing them with stumps. Lets hope in years to come the dogs with no tail will not conform to the norm!

Well Done Australia may the UK follow suit!

Can't open the link but have seen pups docked and they don't even notice, the most distressed in the whole operation is the dam but only because she is removed from the nest for a few moments. Must say I think that vets who are anti docking but are happy to castrate calves, remove the tails from sheep and dehorn, in some cases quite old animals without anaesthetic are nothing but hypocrites. The very same people speak of docking for convenience and fashion and then set about pushing people into have their animal neutered for just the same reasons.

I would prefer dogs to be left the way they are born but as long as it is done in the first 48 hours then I think it should be left to those who own docked breeds to be allowed to make their own minds up and therefore sit on the fence but will come down off the fence when it comes to this sort of professional hypocrisy.

I have cavaliers and they are not docked and i love their tails but i like my rottie with his little stump and i wouldnt have it any other way.
I dont care if i have to travel and pay more money i would always get a rottie who has been docked!
Its your choice to get a dog with a docked or non docked tail but that doesnt mean you have to be down on people cos they prefer docked tails!

The norm is for docked breeds to stay docked! as they have always been!
god even in the 1920 if not early you look at paintings of gundogs and they are all docked, look at rottweilers when they were the romans dogs and they were docked.


i have nothing against dogs with tails i love tails but i also like some of the breeds like rottweilers or cockers docked but that is my choice and i would say most rottweiler breeders also prefer this.

But i dont think its fair to start judging people cos they like something different to you.

this is so true.

If this was the norm they would have been born without a tail no-one would need to cut it off

I am not judging anyone! I am not against people who like seeing docked breeds I'm against them being docked full-stop as you say it's my opinion and i'm allowed it

good now lets get onto more fun things
what doggies do you have ?

That really is very sad and I would hope that the majority of vets against docking would also be against that.

Of course you are allowed your opinion It is just that the issue of docking tends to arouse hysteria when, as pointed out by others, some farming practices, which are far more stressful tend to be ignored. Look up 'mulesing' on the internet Also previously referred to are other animal welfare issues that are not addressed with the same enthusiasm.

Dogs tend to tug the heartstrings of the general public in the way that hens, sheep, cows, pigs, and other livestock do not. The RSPCA here have used this emotive reaction from the public to lobby MPs and to bring about legislation that may be detrimental to the welfare of dogs that have traditionally been docked for purposes of eliminating painful injury in adult life.

Re 90% of vets being incompetent I would suggest that, rather than lacking competence, they do not have the knowledge and skill of many excellent breeders. A vet is the equivalent of a General Practitioner - a good breeder is the equivalent of a specialist.

I have always had my puppies docked and i don,t hold them while the vet is docking. He asks me to bring an extra blanket and a hot water bottle to the surgery. The bottle is olaced on the table and the blanket over the top and then he places the pup on this. Then he docks, one of my last litter Barry didn,t even wake up when his tail was docked and i have never seen a drop of blood. Incidently how can a puppies tail be compared to a babies finger? A puppies tail is nothing more than segments of cartilage at this age and still very soft cartilage, a babies finger is solid bone, totally different