The Student Room Group

Docking dogs tails - your opinion!

Today on my work exp placement at my local vets i watched 4 very young puppies have the tips of their tails docked and their dew claws removed. Now i initially thought owwww that has got to hurt! However the puppies would yelp and then quickly get over it and go pack to sleep. I also listened to the reasons why they are removed and i thought 'yeah ok, fairplay'. But i still feel i dont know enough about it to have an oppinion.

Sooooooo i just wondered what everyone elses oppinions are on this subject?
i think that it is acceptable, as long as the dog is a working dog and so it will benefit it in the long run (as in will not cause pain due to damage during work). I think that anything done to an animal purely for cosmetic reasons is unacceptable as it is solely done for the owners asthetic reasons, and so puts the animal through unnessasery pain. After all, does the dog really care what it looks like?!
Reply 2
ok, i dont really know anything on this which is really shameful....what is actualy done, what are the dew claws and what are the reasons behind it?
northern_lass
i think that it is acceptable, as long as the dog is a working dog and so it will benefit it in the long run (as in will not cause pain due to damage during work). I think that anything done to an animal purely for cosmetic reasons is unacceptable as it is solely done for the owners asthetic reasons, and so puts the animal through unnessasery pain. After all, does the dog really care what it looks like?!


I agree - if it is going to benefit the dog in the long run then fair enough.. it's a similar type of thing to tail docking with piglets... but I am totally against it if it is purely for the owner wanting a certain "look" about their dogs. Plus I do think dogs look better with ther tails still on!
Hello all,

Working in a vet practice for 5 years and also dealing with dog in training and behaviour consults I fail to see why anyone finds it excusable to dock tails of pups. It causes so many more problems with dog to dog social interactions and in Europe now they have banned docked dogs from taking part in trials (Belgium ring sport, schutzhund, working trail equivalents). I hope that the UK follow suit.

Chirag Patel
www.domesticatedmanners.com
but what if it is for benefits of the dog? if its going to benefit, and ONLY if it will prevent harm during a dogs working life, then i think that it is justifiable. BUT ONLY IF A DOG IS IN WORK, and is likley to be in work for the majority of its life. if it is going to be in light work, ie once a month or such like, i dont think it is acceptable.

like hippychickforever said, piglets is the same, but on a sort of lesser scale, as tail docking piglets will benefit them.

Big controversial issue amongst my friends!!
Reply 6
Has tail docking not now been banned? Or is it part of the legislation that is going through at present?
As said above I agree that it is perfectly acceptable in dogs which are going to be used for hunting.
Otherwise it should be avoided as dogs with little/no tail find it harder to display submissive behaviour (ie tail between legs) and are therefore more likely to be involved in fights.
As far as i know a bill has passed just recently banning tail docking. previously it was illegal for anyone but a vet to dock a dog's tail, and the vet had the right to refuse to do so if they thought it was being done for the wrong reasons.
cazhorsey
ok, i dont really know anything on this which is really shameful....what is actualy done, what are the dew claws and what are the reasons behind it?


Tail docking involves cutting a pup's tail to leave just a stump.

the dew claws are the claws you find on the back of the dog's(or cats) wrist/carpus and ankle/tarsus. these are remnants of a 5th digit which is now vestigial. It is common to remove these as since the claw does not make contact with the ground and continually grows, they can dig into the skin of the animal unless the claw is regularly clipped.
Reply 9
oryt...thanks 4 explaining that!:smile:

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