Well, being the latest person to FREAK out over this information, a natural reaction, if you ask me, for a person who doesn't understand why someone has cut off a puppy's tail, being now more educated, here's my take.
Docking doesn't really look that painful or horrifying on videos I've seen, and I could do it if I thought I should. We're all capable of 'doing the hard thing' as long as we feel it is REASONABLE and NECESSARY. I acknowledge those in breeding professions resistance to 'animal rights activist'-type concerns. But the foundation of breeding is to
evolve an animal to meet present needs, not to fossilize some replica of an old phonograph or something nobody needs. If you mean to breed
pampered companion animals, which appears to be the case, then I'm not sure why the definition cannot consider that companion animals are about happiness, and the standard symbol of
happiness is a dog wagging its tail.
Not much credible information to support the routine practice has been presented here, I'm glad most of the world has turned against it, and surprised by fierce opposition to the change. Someone might present evidence of fragility of yorkie tails, or start breeding stronger ones, because it otherwise doesn't really seem sensible to perpetuate extensive docking in creatures that do not require it and which it may disadvantage.
AKC says:
Quote:
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standards are set by the AKC parent clubs, recognized experts in a particular breed whose goal is to protect the health and welfare of the breed and preserve the function for which it was bred. The standards are set by these experts with the best interest of the dogs in mind, and not with solely aesthetic motivations.
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How is it in the best interest of the dogs for responsible breeders to perpetuate a weak tail and a creature that will never see the 'preserved function for which it
used to be bred'?
Quote:
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Yorkshire Terriers were used in the nineteenth century to catch rats in clothing mills. Surprisingly enough, in its beginnings, the Yorkie belonged to the working class... Eventually, the breed left the workforce and became a companion animal...
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American Kennel Club - Yorkshire Terrier Quote:
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Under AKC you have the full option of dismissing or of judging a dog with a natural tail and will be supported either way (AKC Judge Newsletter)...Tail is docked under AKC rules. However docked or undocked the carriage is more important.
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Oh, and anyone who disqualifies this thing here below from
being a pet because it doesn't meet their standards, just doesn't eat from the same bowl as I do.