Weimaraner

[BeautyAddict]

Hi there,

We are currently looking at Weimaraner puppies. I found a very good breeder but she doesn't dock or remove dew claws. I'm very concerned about split/broken tail and dew claws. We are planning agility and some field work with him. This is a question for Weimaraner owners. What are the chances my dog will damage his tail or dew claws? I just don't want my dog to suffer later on.

Personally I don't think there is any justification for chopping bits off your dog. Tail damage is a myth. They used to chop off horses tails because they said they would get caught in the traces when pulling carriages. Rubbish, and it was rightly made illegal. If your dog injures his dew claws or tail, deal with it when it happens, but I would have thought it was very unlikely.

I can understand why some working breeds would have this done. As most pet breeds don't I wouldn't be concerned.
Is there specific breed group or club? What do they say?
Is this a breed you have had before? What do you know about them? Why this breed?

It is illegal to dock unless they have a license to prove it is a working dog and then it is done by the vet and has the defra paperwork. People can't just dock as standard anymore. I have 2 dogs similar to weims. One docked one not. The undocked has never had any tail problems

Isn't tail docking illegal, bar a few exemptions? Not surprised the breeder isn't keen.

Sorry for x post.

I have a undocked Weimaraner bitch with her dew claws and a half docked and declawed Weimaraner x dog.

The bitch has injured her tail, quite close to her body but I think that is when she got hit by a car running off where she wasn't supposed to.

Both seem to hit their tails equally on things around the house. The dog wags frantically, as he only has half a tail but is the more agile. The bitch has never hurt her dew claws, but splits her pads from haring around.

I can see with this breed why you would consider it to prevent injury, but honestly, unless you are going to hunt with them I don't think it is justified.

We're going to hunt that's why I'm asking. For those who wonder, it's legal to dock working dogs. I'm not really interested in opinion on docking here. This is not the purpose of this thread. I'm merely trying to work out what are the chances/percentage of the injury. There's no complete study on working gundogs unfortunately. So I'm very interested in personal experiences. Thank you @weaselwords

I had two gundogs similar to weimeraners. Neither had dew claws so can't comment on that. Boy dog was older so docked but girl dog was not. She slightly damaged the end of her ( long, whippy) tail, probably tearing through the moors. It took a very long time to heal as would split again whenever she wagged it. We were constantly wiping blood off a tail-height line around the house. It healed eventually and this was only a very minor injury.

I think you will have to find a different breeder who can legally dock then. Docking later on for medical reason/tail injury is a horrible procedure for the dog to recover from with a high incidence of infection and poor healing. I know a couple of working vizlas who had it done. Tbh the tail wouldn't bother me that much re injury as my boy works with one just fine but the dew claws would be probably quite likely to rip off and rather unpleasant

veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/174/18/451

It's dew claws I am more squeamish about with working dogs. I'm really surprised mine hadn't ripped hers!

My dogs half tail seems to make it more likely to be injured, as he wags it twice as fast and it is so sturdy, it's like a police baton wagging round the house. It beats my legs up!

Hi - my current Weim has a long tail and dew claws. We don't hunt but we do live in the countryside where she can chase deer, rabbits etc to her heart's content across the fields. She has never had any problems with ripping her dew claws or breaking her tail (and believe me it's very long and whippy!).

I have a GSP - v similar to Weim. He was undocked. Note the past tense. When we got him, I didn't think docking was a good idea.

We don't work him, but he's from working lines, very active, crashes through cover. He managed to split his tail tip. Think CSI blood sprays up the walls.

We tried for about a month to get that tail tip to heal, but his tail was so long that no lampshade (which he kept crashing into doorjambs etc) could keep it away from his mouth. In the end, he had to have a general anaesthetic, and his tail amputated to a pointer dock. The skin flap didn't take, so that was another month of regular vet visits and pain and discomfort for the dog as the skin slowly granulated across the wound.

All in all an unhappy (and expensive) experience for everyone. When I next looked for GSP puppies, docking was an absolute requirement.

I have a Rough Haired Slovakian Pointer, v similar to a Weimaraner. She's undocked. We don't work her, but she loves bounding through the undergrowth chasing scents and has split the end of her tail, and broken the end of her tail too. The split took ages to mend, she wags her tail ferociously and was always knocking the scab off.
It eventually healed, but if it happened again we would just dock her. The pain and distress it caused her is not worth the risk. And like a PP said, if we were to get another similar breed pup, would only consider docked.

And having dew claws removed is essential in dogs like this.

Wow - I'd love to see a photo of your dog tattychicken - sounds absolutely gorgeous!

My gun dog had her dew claws removed and is docked. She's in training at the moment but I really do not see the point in risking her being degloved. Puppies tails are docked when they are so tiny they wouldn't remember it. But it's horrendous when they do catch their tails. My friend had a mongrel that partially ripped a dew claw off and that was horrible too. He wasn't even tearing through the under growth it was in the park!

If you are going to work your dog I would personally dock and declaw. My dog is a beast and I really do think she'd have hurt her self if she had either. But both are frowned upon in showing and are not allowed.

tattychicken my husband is not going to be happy with you. I want one!!!!

OMG I've just googled it - what beautiful dog!!

I'm with Glitter!!

Here she is! Hope it comes out, I've not done photos before.

She is utterly lovely!

You can wrap dew claws with VetWrap or similar to protect against injury while running; or you can buy neoprene stopper pad protectors which also cover the dew claws.

My dog isn't a normally docked breed but many pups have the dew claws removed. Mine didn't and has huge claws and 'thumbs' so wore protectors for sports and general lunacy.

I have two undocked Weimaraners, one with dew claws and one without.

They both split their tails fairly frequently, im on constant watch to stop them wagging in the house. When they do split it's like a scene from dexter and they take ages to heal. Next time the young one does it I think we will have to have her docked as she's such a ball of energy it's hard to stop her reopening it.

Dew claws seem so fragile yet no damage to them so will keep fingers crossed.

I've got two Weimaraners (and had another previously) and though I don't use them for working, they came from a breeder of working stock, so they've all been docked and had their dew claws removed legally. They're very active dogs and having seen tail and dew claw injuries on other dogs, I'd much rather not risk it for mine. I don't know what the odds are for injuries, but however small it might be, if it happens you (and the dog) can have a horrible time sorting it.

In my view, prevention is better than the cure and all that, and docking is done at such an early age that I don't think the puppies are aware of it at all.