It will be tomorrows chip wrapping in a few year (errr - you know what I mean), and like the rest of Europe - people will get over it.

I for one think it is a good step forward, and can't wait to see more waggling tails when I walk down the street. And living in an area with a high population of gun dogs, that will be quite a few more I should expect

I've heard all the arguement in favor of docking - now the proof will be in the pudding eh?

Good stuff I say

My next Weimy will have a tail, I feel that aside from the obvious injury aspect, docked dogs are not generally bred for good tails (if you are showing them) so our best stock may go downhill for a while, while we have to reintroduce tails.

e.g. Our best breeding stock now might produce stock with rubbish tails, and we will have to (most likely) totally outcross.

I also feel bad that I won't be able to work AND show, there will be a total divide which is really dissapointing, show dogs will drift even more from their working counterparts, have you seen the difference between a working springer and a show springer? And this is before the ban. JMHO.

Hmmm, whoever drew up the final rules on this didn't think about dual purpose dogs it seems like!

No doubt they will have to rush back to their meetings and draw up a ruling to cover it.

I honestly think dew claws are a total fault of nature. They are obviously not needed and are evolving away from the foot, in a few hundred thousand years they will have completely dissapeared through evolution I bet

Charlie ripped his out a while ago, I am totally for the removal of them, ESPECIALLY for working dogs. Charlie is only pet and he still managed it, and for those dogs unlucky enough to have rear ones, they are even worse!

I have to say though, every one's experiences are going to be different and in all the dogs I have known (and none have had their dew claws removed) they have never injured them. Just my experience. Infact I don't know of any dogs that have injured them to be honest, but that's my personal experience and I do understand everyone's will be different.

I see your point totally Random, about the breeding issue, but again, just my opinion, won't it be worth it to see those lovely tails?

I think this is what bothers me most, I was hoping to work towards owning (and breeding) dual purpose Springers,as Isla's breeders have done for 10 years now. With this ban I'll either have to stop or show and work with tails. I really hope that the anti dockers are right and that a full tailed working Springer can work with a tail without severe iunjury otherwise you'll have a fair few posts on how my dogs tails have been ripped to pieces and then amputated.

So many currently dual purpose Gundog breeds are going to suffer from this ban. What really bothers me is the sheer lack of knowledge these people must've had to not think of this? Have they even ever met a working dog I wonder? In fact how many anti dockers out there have been on shoots regularly and seen them working?

Well I'm glad the ban is coming, can't wait to see all dogs with wagging tails.

This is the thing that annoys me too. I can see why they would ban cosmetic docking and I'm all for it, but it seems so badly thought out!

Its as if the whole thing in the law about working dogs was added as an afterthought, and as Luke (I think) said earlier, how will you know at 5 days old whether the undocked puppy you have will be a good worker. Do you get them docked (with a vet letter or whatever) and hope for the best; or keep them undocked and hope they don't get injured?

Only time will tell I guess.

It's a lot to sacrifice in my opinion just to see a lovely tail. If you want to see a lovely tail, get a lab. IMO Maddy has a lovely tail, she wags it when she is happy, tucks it when she is afraid, e.t.c....

And if any of my dogs tails are hurt in the working environment, I hope the government will pay my vet bills

No? Thought not.

Exactly, I can understand banning docking for cosmetic reasons. I do prefer boxers, dobies and rotties e.t.c without tails, but it is cosmetic. However when it is done for a reason, it just gets my goat up.

Not such a pretty tail when you have witnessed it being split time and time again, on numerous dogs, and then amputated.

And this is also my point too, as is Luke's, you can't possibly tell a good working dog at 3 days old. Impossible.

Yet the REAL problems in the dog world are still rife!