Steve and Murphy why would it make a difference to you personally if your chosen breed was docked? Do you not think it would make absolutley no difference to your chosen breed if they had tail intact? Or do you think society has conditioned you to believe a breed should look a certain way?

I am not judging anyone! please all feel free to add your views

I do think that people expect certain breeds to look a particular way and these images are kinda imprinted into ones mind.Im my humble opinion,i prefer certain breeds to look the way the KC originally intended them to be even if this means being tail less.

When i was looking for a Rottweiler pupppy back in 1999,i delibretly avoided those which were un-docked because i just wanted it docked.Next year,i will have another,but this time-will be a rescue Rottie and wont be fussed if it has a tail or not.

I do tend to go dog walking in pretty rough countryside and seeing Vegas's tail getting cut while running through hedges does make me think about the benefits of being docked.He enjoys running about in this type of area so would be unfair of me to stop him.

Sorry if my opinion annoys anyone,but i was asked.

Sorry about the capitals i didnt realise i thought it made it easier.

This is one of the reasons that some breeders here have ceased breeding - they cannot find good homes for undocked puppies. People have a perception of what a Boxer, Rottie, etc. should look like and, rightly or wrongly, that is what they want. Of course, in time people will become accustomed to seeing the traditionally docked breeds with tails but possibly some valuable bloodlines could be lost or much diluted along the way.

In theory a Boxer, etc, is still a Boxer etc.: tailed or tailless it should not make any difference - but in practice it does at the moment.

Steve don't be sorry! please everyone attack me instead I have asked for opinions!!

I wonder if the KC would get behind the anti-docking brigade we would all think differently? The main argument for docking seems to be the dog can get his tail injured if this was really the case why are all dogs not docked? Food for thought maybe...........................................

ok ..bear with me here ..the gene pool for dobes is pretty small ( not as small as some I know but still quite small ) and for me temperament is paramount (Murph can be bolshy with males but it is a dobe trait but he is an absolute treasure with people ) sooooo if I were to say ''I'm only having undocked dobes '' then I'm making my search area smaller (does that make sense ?? ) and I know someone is gonna come along and say ....''so and so's undocked dobes are great but its still an even smaller pool , and to a certain degree I agree with Steve in that its what we are acustamed to seeing ..I saw a lovely Weim today with a full tail I did a double take but he was a beauty( but not just cos of his tail )
I don't think the main argument for docking is injury..I do think alot of it is custom and tradition and Kc standards ..and I'm not saying custom and tradition is always right but its not always wrong either .......so basically I've got me knickers snagged on the fence as I said earlier I'm pro choice

The KC is, or should be, there for breeders and is more likely to support those who dock.

Not all breeds have tails that are as susceptible to injury as others. Much depends on the thickness, set, hair covering, etc. of the tail

It is very very interesting to read all the views. I believe as humans we all get caught up and conditioned into thinking "this looks right, that looks wrong" and the big organisations (Take KC as one example) are not immune to this.

Even though some of you wont agree with me I hope in years to come all this changes.

Shadowboxer I posted at the same time as you but as allways you have a good point.

The Kennel Club in the UK Dibley cannot discriminate any owner when showing who has chosen not to dock their desired breed.

As for tail injuries-Vegas does genuinly suffer from this (not severly though as he's short haired),but this is due to me walking in the countryside and i welcome anyone to try and persuade him not to go steaming through hedges chasing rabbits!

The chances of a dog injuring its tail living in a city is likely to be remote,but i live in Hicksville...