Scottish Executive bans Tail Docking

[DeputyMacDawg]

Here

Good.

Message withdrawn

Actually oops docking is NOT banned in the rest of the UK - the new Animal Welfare Bill does not come into force until 6th April 2007 - that's why nobody is enforcing it .

I also do not, in theory, agree with tail docking in pet dogs, however I do not believe that the banning of tail docking is as easy as the Act makes out - the number of tail injuries in traditionally docked breeds will increase dramatically once docking is banned. Many breeds of terriers and spanials have been docked for 100 years or more - the breeders of these dogs do not breed them with the aim of producing strength in the whole tail, the ends are generally very weak and easily damaged..... unlike retrievers and water dogs that are bred for strong tails. Now that the tails will not be docked we will see many problems of split and damaged tails that will require amputation (amputation is a far more serious and complex operation than docking) - it will take many generations of good breeding practice to rectify these problems and unfortunately, in the meantime, certain breeds will suffer. As I said, I do not necessarily agree with docking in pet dogs, but do know that the banning of tail docking, without proper planning, is not a suitable solution.

Can dogs actually be bred with tail weaknesses planned? I findthat very strange that anyonewould do that, particularly inbreeds that are going to be docked anyway.

think it's great to ban it. Docking, imo, is a vaniy of the human race not a consideration ofthe dog's welfare.

Sorry Mt3G, I'll try to put that better... the weakness wasn't planned - but as the tails were going to be docked there was no need to breed for strong tails, as you would in other breeds that use their tails to work. In terriers, only the handle of the tail was required to be strong, so these dogs would only be bred to maintain strength at the base - the rest of the tail didn't matter as it was going to be docked. Therefore breeders did not breed from dogs with strong tails throughout, and after generations of this type of trait selective breeding we are left with the situation we have now, many dog breeds with weak tails at the end.

I agree to a certain extent than docking could be seen as vanity lead - however, in the past and in current working dogs it is and was most certainly done for the advantage of the dog ie. to avoid damage or trapping or the tail - in pet dogs however it is a different story. And herein lies the problem with the Act, who is to say what dogs will be worked - breeders who want to dock will just say that they breed their dogs to work and will dock them.

Message withdrawn

Message withdrawn