Yes its nasty and very painful.

All my terriers have their dewclaws Ailsa, and this sounds silly but they are stuck on their legs! Dobe, Weis, some Boxers are really weird they dont seem to have the thick bit that attaches it to the leg, the claw just grows out, sort of! That makes them very vulnerable. My terriers work and they have never had a problem with their dew claws.
Dawn.

Hi all.
I am one of those that think the ban is silly, I have many friends who have gun dogs and i have seen what happens to a tail when it go through the brambles, blood every where. And If I am correct you will be able to take your dogs to Scotland to have it done>
We are going to end up at shows were very well trained dogs are going to win field trials and they have never been worked.
Very sad
Gaz

My dogs obviously arn't docked breeds...My boy has a tail that reaches the ground and is very full furred...He also has extra little freak toes off his dew claws at the back Never had a problem...all of our walks are in the forest and even though they arn't gun dogs or terriers, they chase through bramble and undergrowth etc etc just as much as they are obessed with rabbits. They too are 'all over the place and run around at full pelt. I don't understand how one type of breed is more suseptable to tail injuries than another?

I don't see that a pet dog of any breed that is usually docked will be any more at risk than undocked breeds so I don't see the problem leaving the tails.

Not sure about 'working' dogs if they are still at high risk to injury even with the fur well clipped back I suppose I can then see the point...couldn't they just be wrapped like someone else mentioned. I run my dogs along side my bike for miles and one dog gets quite sore pads after 7 or 8 miles so if we go out that long she would have to wear boots! a bit of a pain but helps stop injury.

Dobies and Rotts and any other very short coated breed arn't at any more risk to tail injury than undocked breeds are they?

I know docking tails is an emotive subject and I don't claim to be an expert.

I have two dogs - one (Skye) is a deerhound/Old English sheepdog cross and the other (Fingal) a Springer Spaniel.

Skye doesn't have his tail docked. I was going to add (obviously) but that would have made a mockery of the post.

Fingal (the Springer) has a 3/4 dock - and came that way.

Skye split the end of his tail about two months ago - blood al over the house. Every other day I thought it had healed -then I'd come home to happy waggy tails and splat - off we go again.

Skye is just a pet.


To be honest Fingal (or my last Spaniel that had a full dock) didn't struggle without it and have had no problems expressing themselves.

Somebody said something earlier in the thread that dew claws could become obsolete through evolution.

Weak tails - are also inherent (through evolution) in breeds with a long history of docking - so a full tail on certain breeds can (due to generations of prior docking) be more vunerable.

Wraps do not work, the whipping action of the tail easily removes the wrap on thick cover no matter how tightly applied. A Springers tail action will differ grately from a Northern breed. A working dog (when beating) will have to enter very thick cover time and time again over the course of many hours. Not something a pet dog will do on a day to day basis.

With regards to clipping the tail - can you see how this will effect my dogs with a view to showing and working them? I'm guessing she wouldn't get far with her tail hair clipped back in the ring!

I do agree that for cosmetic reasons, tail docking is unecessary. But then who cares if my dogs are mutilated through working? As long as their are more waggy tails out there, that's all that counts!

That was in no way aimed at you Mys, but I'm sure you know that!

Thanks dinners...I hadn't thought of weak tails.

Mine whack the furnature with there's and are fine I guess where as others can obviously suffer a bad injury.

myschievous - did I not see your (very wolflike) dogs on the photo comp thread - loved them

Don't mind if it is...I'm not one to get all worked up on forums

What is the difference of a springers 'tail action' and a different breed? (that isn't the start of a rubbish joke btw)

Keena's boots don't work very well either as they keep coming off so I just have to run her less distance in one go unless I wanna go hunting for lost boots.

**off topic...but,

they are all over here someplace or another so it's quite likely you did see them Thank for the nice comment :smt002

Springers were bred really for beating ie flushing game from thick cover. You can use them to pick up, but you can't really beat a Retriever for that on shoots, as Retrievers have waterproof coats etc. A Springer has a whip like action to it's tail, this coupled with thick cover equals severe injury to the undocked tail. HPRs are bred for just that - hunt, point and then retrieve the game. No beating. Retrievers are self explanatory. HPR's tails may whip but they don't generally enter cover like Springers (just to point out I've never seen HPRs work so I may be wrong on this?). Retrievers don't whip! At least mine doesn't!

This is something that isn't really possible when working as you can't go hunting for the bit of ripped tail and velcro it back on!