The buying of a docked pup

[EcoMouse]

Would you? Does it matter to you?

Example: ESS x JRT, intended as a family pet, not a working dog but legally docked by breeders (with the assumption it would/could work due to breed and parents currently working in their respective fields).

"...what problems exactly do you expect an 8 week old pup to have from rescue that a privately bred pup won't have?"

I don't!

Our local rescues have blanket rules regarding young children and rarely have pups in, it would be my first option if possible.

Have you tried the local pounds? They get loads of whole litters handed in, especially at the moment, and might as well be selling a plant pot for all they care... Not something I would suggest to everyone for a dog, but a puppy is different.

Or maybe put a post up for Valhalla? She may know of a rescue near enough to you that might be able to help? Puppies are often first out of rescue (easy to find homes for) so unless you checked very frequently by phone or in person, you would probably miss out.

Thank you, good points, I will badger the pound (and Valhalla ).

Vallhala will bend over backwards to help you if she can.

The following may be of interest to anyone wanting to know more about the legality of tail docking.
www.rcvs.org.uk/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=92660&int2ndParentNodeID=89738&int1stParentNodeID=8964 2

My friend had a litter of terriers her bitch had, docked. The reason she had this done was because she didnt want anyone doing it to the puppy at too late an age ,you know the scenario ,some bloke in the pub swears hes been doing it for years . She had to drive 60 miles with the entire litter and bitch and pay to have them all microchipped at the same time ,but she felt it was worth while to stop one of them possibly being butchered at a later date . My rescue came docked ,but i wouldnt have bothered if he had had a tail

Totally illegal up here in scotland, but I still see docked pups , and not working ones.

Even the logic behind the docking of working dogs is a bit bizarre- why is an ESS's tail more likely to get injured than a working lurcher's? Or a working labrador? I've treated a few split tails over the years, but mostly labs/ greyhounds.

We have a lot of working dogs in my area (also Scotland) and we have seen a fair few more tail injuries (spaniels in particular, probably due to their relative numbers rather than anything else) since the ban. Not always working dogs either, pets or any kennelled dogs are as likely to injure their tails as those working. A lot of gamekeepers I know have travelled to England to buy their dogs to avoid this problem.

We also have a lot of pointers and labs who work, and they do seem much less prone to tail injuries than the spaniels.

It is very hard to comment objectively about the breeds involved, because there are no big studies on injuries relative to breed and lifestyle. We have huge numbers of spaniels and Labs in the practice and the spaniels do seem much more likely to be injured than the Labs - partly due to their conformation (Labs have better padding I think!) and partly due to the sort of cover they are working in.

Either way, I wholeheartedly disapprove of the docking of non-working animals. I've never docked dogs, as before the law changed the guidelines for vets were a bit vague, but I have nothing against the docking of genuine workers (or dogs likely to be kennelled) in principle.

Re the OP, the dog shouldn't have been docked full stop IMO. It wouldn't stop me taking the dog but I would be dubious about the background.

What about dewclaw removal in puppies?

A torn dewclaw is really awful but a lot of vets refuse to remove them from puppies.

On the issue of different breeds needing docking. Having seen both Labradors and Springers working in the field I would say the Springer's tail action is really vigorous and swings much more widely on either side of the dog than a Labrador which carries its tail much more still or only wagging slowly. Also a Springer is much more likley to be working in close cover flushing game whereas a Labrador will mainly work as a retriever. These are quite a noticeable behavioural difference between the breeds and was what drove the original reason why Springers were docked but Labradors were not.

I looked for a puppy for months, and then our local shelter had a springer spaniel collie cross in (the two breeds I grew up with). So I went off, very excited and thinking this might be the one. When I got there it was a sweet little puppy, and then it turned around and I saw it's tail was docked. I felt really upset and had to leave, it just felt like such a mutilation. When we got our pup a month or two later I discovered that pups usually go within hours, so that pup almost certainly was spoken for by the time I visited, but I was really surprised how strongly I felt (I live in Canada where sadly docking is legal) especially s our family Springer had a stump.