Discussing Tail Docking In Dogs

Recently the Alberta Veterinary Medical Association voted to stop performing what they consider "unnecessary" surgical procedures on dogs, including tail docking. Frankly, this is absolutely ridiculous and stupid.

The choice to dock (or not to dock) a dog's tail should rest firmly in the hands of the people breeding traditionally docked breeds. Yes, there are many breeds that should be docked, and with good reason! Tail injuries are a very real thing. This is especially true of hunting dogs who will be at risk of tail injury both while working in the field and at home.

I'm a dog groomer, and I witnessed firsthand a catastrophic tail injury in the salon I worked at. The dog was in for a de-shedding treatment and afterwards his beautiful white coat literally sparkled. As I was walking him to the front entrance so his owners could take him home, he whacked his happily-wagging tail on the leg of a grooming table.

And knocked off nearly two inches off the tip of his tail. Flesh, bone, and all.

It was horrifying. He just kept wagging his tail, his owners were trying to hold him still, and I was desperately trying to hold onto his tail to wrap it to stop the bleeding. Blood sprayed absolutely everywhere...fellow groomers grabbed dogs off their tables and ran to keep from getting splattered. Afterwards I had to wash the blood off the floors, the walls, the window, and the ceiling. I apologized profusely to his owners, but they reassured me it was okay. They told me this wasn't the first time he'd knocked a chunk off the end of his tail.

The absolute grossest part was after they left and I was cleaning up, and I had to pick up the bloody chunk of dog tail meat. Bone in it and everything. It was absolutely horrifying.

Worse yet, it kept happening. Every so often they'd cancel a grooming appointment because they were on their way to the veterinarian again, due to yet another tail injury.

Eventually that poor dog had a tail injury that got infected and was affecting his spine. The vet had to amputate the whole tail to save him, to the tune of several thousands of dollars. Since the whole tail had to be taken off right at the pelvis, he was also at risk of incontinence due to peri-anal muscular damage.

Every time people complain about tail docking I think of that poor dog. He endured years of pain, roughly a dozen emergency vet visits due to tail injuries, nearly died because of an infected tail injury, and then had to endure the pain of complete surgical amputation. All that pain, all those vet bills, all of that could have easily been saved if his breeder had just docked his tail as a puppy.

I grew up with bird dogs and our dogs were always docked. But I've seen other hunters have dogs injured in the field from so-called "natural" tails. Until you've experienced it, you can't imagine how awful it is.

Some breeds of dog have thick, muscular, well-attached tails. Some breeds have thin, delicate, whippy tails that are very easily damaged. You can't compare the tail of a German Shorthair to that of a Labrador...the German Shorthair's tail is very delicate while the Lab's tail is very solid, appropriately otter-like.

Tail docking on puppies is usually performed within the first week of life, and is performed by either ligature, or surgically cutting it with sterile scissors or a scalpel. When I raised concerns about it (yes, a while back I briefly bought into the idea it was a terrible thing to do to a puppy...hey propaganda can be very compelling!), I was invited to watch a breeder dock a whole litter of puppies...these pups happened to be working terriers. It wasn't the bloody nightmare I had imagined or been led to believe by the anti-docking crowd, in fact there was almost no blood at all, even though they were being docked with a scalpel. More importantly, about half the litter basically slept through the procedure. I was amazed. It must not have been painful since it didn't even rouse some of them from slumber! The puppies were three days old and not at all sedated, most gave one tiny yip when picked up (before the docking even happened) and the puppies were returned immediately to their mother to nurse. I've since also watched videos of ligature/banding of tails, and it is similarly pretty painless.

A quick, nearly painless procedure within days of birth, compared to the agony I've seen from severe tail injuries. And now Alberta veterinarians want to ban docking as "unnecessary?" Absolutely unacceptable.

Back in 2007, Scotland unilaterally banned tail docking. Well-meaning people thought it was unnecessary and cruel, and enough public support helped push it through even though most hunters opposed the ban. So, for nearly a decade, no hunting dogs were docked in Scotland. As a result, tail injuries skyrocketed, with some studies reporting more than 50% increase in injuries to tails of breeds that used to be docked as puppies. It became so common for working field dogs to have tail injuries (some very severe) that the ban was actually lifted in 2017, though only for dogs expected to be working/hunting dogs.

That is still pretty absurd, since tail injuries on thin, delicate tails can happen anywhere. The gruesome tail injury I experienced in the salon? Was on a dog of a hunting breed who should traditionally be docked, and it happened in the salon. That dog was a pet who never set one foot in the field. Plus you cannot look at a whole litter of puppies and know within the week of their birth which will have a career as a hunter, and which will have a life purely as a pet.

While I am unashamedly pro-docking, I don't have a problem with a breeder who opposes docking and leaves their dogs with full length tails. I would never purchase from such a breeder, but nor would I judge them or look down on them. Every ethical breeder must choose for themselves what is right for the puppies they breed. I have a huge problem with that choice being taken away!

Before anyone chimes in about "natural tails," let me remind you that nothing about the domestic dog is natural. We have selectively bred these glorious creatures so far away from their wolf ancestors, that to claim that anything about them is natural is hilarious. Wearing collars or being micro-chipped is wholly unnatural, yet they are both responsible and undeniably beneficial to our canine companions. Trimming nails is unnatural, after all nobody goes around trimming wolf nails, and yet to neglect this most basic dog maintenance task is literally cruel, as long nails can harm a dog and deform the foot. There is no such thing as a natural tail in domestic dogs.

If docking is unnatural, what about naturally bob-tailed dogs, like some Pembroke Corgis or Australian Shepherds? What about dogs with curly tails, like the Pug? Or tails that curl over their back like a Siberian Husky? None of those tails are natural either. One could argue if it's cruel to dock a dog's tail, it's cruel to breed a Basenji who's tail curls in an unnatural shape. The fact is, it isn't cruel at all to dock a tail, if done properly.

While I'm on the subject of what isn't natural, let me point out that most anti-docking persons are totally fine with spaying and neutering, often supporting even pediatric alteration. Properly done, tail docking has no negative lasting effects on a dog, but ripping out hormone producing gonads through fairly invasive surgery sure does! The gonads of a dog affect the growth plates when the dog reaches sexual maturity, and dogs who've been spayed or neutered before this occurs are at a much higher risk of joint problems such as hip dysplasia. Here in North America we've been inundated with propaganda that pushes the notion that the only way to be a responsible dog owner is to have our dog's gonads chopped out as early as possible. The anti-docking people claim that shortening the tail is harmful, yet they are silent on the issue of pediatric spay/neuter, which is far more invasive, painful, and harmful over the course of a dog's life.

I've also read that some people believe that tail docking damages a dog's ability to communicate with other dogs. This is laughable at best! First off, I've always had docked tails on every dog I've ever owned except my Chihuahua mutt, and none of those docked dogs ever had an issue socializing with other dogs! Secondly, if someone opposes tail docking due to the myth that it harms their social communication, why aren't anti-docking people in favor of ear cropping? Droopy ears are, by that logic, just as likely to cause communication defects. Sounds absurd, right? The reality is that dogs aren't only communicating with their ears or tail, they use their whole body. Really, people need to give their dogs some credit! Dogs adapt socially all the time to different tail types. Furthermore, all research on the subject of docked dogs and communication deficits have been criticized for being inherently flawed and biased. There is zero real, peer-reviewed, empirical research to actually support this "docked-tail equals bad-communication" theory.

Others have theorized that the tail is necessary for balance, and that dogs without tails can't balance properly. This is just blatantly wrong. I feel like anyone who says this has never met a single Australian Shepherd in their life, which is a very agile, athletic breed! My own experiences as I've said are with docked-tailed bird dogs, and they are superbly agile and have excellent balance. To be perfectly honest I have many clumsy dog groom clients with full length tails; just last week I had a four year old Golden I was picking up from his home who couldn't figure out how to jump into the passenger side of my car without assistance. Poor thing is extremely clumsy and has terrible balance! He needs to be lifted onto the grooming table because he can't jump up on his own without losing his balance and toppling over. This isn't uncommon, either! Compare that to our docked Brittany, who can run at the vehicle at a full gallop and leap directly into his small travel crate situated five feet off the ground in the back of the truck without touching one foot to the truck itself! He can spin on a dime at top speed and leap over any obstacles in the field. I've never seen him lose his balance once! His docked tail hasn't affected his balance at all.

The reality is that people who oppose tail docking just aren't informed about the procedure, it's lack of long-term effects if done properly, or the risks of tail injury in some breeds who've been traditionally docked.

Some people claim it's all about aesthetics. I always ask them...so what? It's a pretty harmless procedure that has no long-term effects. So what if people who love docked tails appreciate the aesthetics as well as appreciating the benefits it can have? I love the look of a cute, nubby tail! I love how fast they wag, and I love the way a short tail looks when a docked dog is beautifully stacked. Why is it a bad thing to want my dogs to look their best, especially if it isn't harmful to them?

At the end of the day I support the right to choose. I believe it's unethical and unacceptable to take this choice away from breeders and dog owners.

As a post script, this is a pretty good read: Silvasheen Weimaraners