I have a Yorkie with an undocked tail. When the litter was brought to me to dock she was 2 ounces and I said "take her to the vet and have him do it" He refused for the same reason I did,,too small. I have Biewers imported from Germany who are undocked. Dewclaws are intact-that is not good as they get caught in stuff. I have a standard color Yorkie whose tail was docked so short that when she has a BM the stool hangs in the hair. It is terrible. I have Remi, an AKC parti male-docked short--don't like it! AND I have a wonderful, beautiful litter of what I jokingly call Biewtis (Biewer/parti) whose tails are intact..My little standard color with the tail looks so funny when she is relaxed, the distal 1/3 of her tail hangs down. When she is excited it waves just like the shorter ones do.
If I dock a tail, I like to dock it long-at least try to judge the adult length. Supposedly, ONE of the reasons for docking the tail was to reduce the chance that a varmint might grab it. Also, it needed to be long enough to be
grabbed with the hand and pull out the dog if it got stuck. So,I try to figure how long it might be as an adult and I use the width on my palm as a sort of gauge. Does that make any sense?? |