to judge people whose dogs'

[Fabulousfreaks]

tails have been docked? Is there ever a justifiable reason for this?

I'm a country girl and all fur hunting/shooting, but I don't get the reason for docking either. Cut the tail hair short if necessary. Nobody shaves the underneath of their field spaniels, that doesn't seem to cause a problem! My extremely hairy cocker was always running through brush and brambles. She never once even scratched her tail.
It's just another excuse. The hunting shooting set are incredibly traditionalist. Gun dogs are docked, end of.

I have a number of gundogs, only one is docked and i have to put up with people saying you shouldnt dock cocker spaniels!! I then have to explain that my dogs are setters ( not a traditionally docked breed) and if people had seen his tail when it was damaged they would have winced. My dogs work and show and whilst i dont support docking , i think people need to know their fact people they condem others ;)

since the docking of dogs other than exempted breeds only becan illegal in 2007 there are still dogs around with them ......... but isnt it lovely to see increasing numbers of boxers, rotties, poodles etc with their glorious tails

so atm I would not judge the person with the dog as one does not know where the person got it, how much choice they had ( ie when they chose the pup) if got it from a breeder and how old the dog is now.

most "serious" breeders of pedigree dogs wont do it now if they are for showing cos they cant show them docked and they dont know which ones will be of good standard at v young age

In about 10- 20 years perhaps one can then be fairly sure that any dog other than certain working dogs will have a tail ... but one can never be sure it has not been amputated after injury for example.

I would "judge" only if I knew for sure it have been done unecessarily ...........

I don't think there are any nerves in an umbilical cord. Any breeder wanting a litter docked should be made to hold the puppies as they squirm and cry. It's a painful mutilation and why should gun dogs be mutilated so their sick owners can kill birds for fun?

Saggy, I've seen first hand the damage that can be caused to an undocked Springer. They are happy waggy dogs. When they work their tails wag constantly, a sharp gust of wind and I reckon they could take off! The constant smashing of the tail against tree limbs and trunks eventually breaks it. A broken tail is incredibly painful, and if it is split at the same time the dog could die of blood loss before he gets anywhere near a vet .

It's all well and good saying that it's never happened to your dog, but how often do you work/walk your dog for 6 hours a day? During hunting season the average dog will work 6-8 hours sat and sun. That's a long time repeatedly injuring your tail

If you have a working spaniel, not a pet, it's more cruel not to dock them.

Any breeder wanting a litter docked should be made to hold the puppies as they squirm and cry

If done by ligature, they don't.

I quite like docked tails. But then I was brought up when it was completely the norm. Long tails on breeds like poodles just look odd to me. My aunt was a breeder and I used to hold the pups when she did the tails. They didn't seem to be in pain to me, this was under 5 days.

very tiny puppies do not show much response to pain stimuli.

my dog has a shortened tail - done by the breeder no doubt whilst she was very small indeed. she is eleven though, and most of her breed will not now be docked.

if a breed looks odd undocked, that can cause people to start breeding out the ones with odd looking tails. I think docking will vanish into history.