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Originally Posted by AlicetheYorkie  Not to scare the OP or anything, but I worked as a vet tech for a few different vets and have assisted with many tail dockings (yorkies, rottis, boxers etc. ) and trust me - they do more than just a little "yip" and I can't possibly imagine one sleeping through it. If they are asleep when you pick them up, that wakes them up! NO offence what so ever to any breeder who docks, but any vet that tells you it's painless is lieing - BUT I had my son circumsized the day after he was born and I'm sure that wasn't 100% painless either and the puppies DO seem to calm down and forget all about it after a few minutes. My parti has a tail and I think it's adorable! At the same time, if you want them docked, do it - even if it causes them pain for a few seconds, they are fine very soon after and don't at all remember since it's so soon after they're born and their little eyes aren't even open so they have no clue what's going on. If you really don't want to do it and you're just selling them as pets, I'm sure that won't be a problem either  Go with your gut either way - it's totally fine to do, but just MHO only because I've held puppies while the vet was doing it, if you're just selling them as pets and it bothers you to think about, then don't. Like I said - NO OFFENCE to anyone, just sharing my experiences |
I was
right there when they docked two litters of my yorkies. They did the actual docking in the next room but the door was open & I wasn't more than 6 feet from them. I could have taken 2 steps & watched but preferred to stay with the litter as they took them one by one for docking. Some whimpered a little as I took them away from momma but they were
no worse when they got their little tails snipped off. Not a one of them cried or continued to yip after they handed them back to me. Some made that little whiny noise that says, "where's momma?" They did root around immediately as I cuddled them to my neck, looking for something to suckle. We laughed about how they were more interested in finding momma than they were worried about losing their tails. One did look for all the world, like he was still sleeping when they handed him back to me. I can definately say he was IN NO DISTRESS WHATSOEVER! This IS what happened with mine and since it happened with two litters, I am pretty sure that is the norm for this vet.
You may well have had a different experience with the dockings you have seen. But that WAS my experience and I don't appreciate you trying to insinuate I lied! For what earthly purpose???? I get no commission on docking! Perhaps it has more to do with HOW the tails are docked? I do have a very gentle vet. He manages to give vaccines without making them yip or cry at all too! I always have ours done at 3 days and the vet tech told me that the smaller the dog, the easier the docking seems to go for them. If your vet is seeing that much pain with his dockings,
maybe he needs to re-evaluate what he is doing or sharpen his scalpel or something.
Only a very closed and arrogant mind immediately denies someone's experience happened just because it is different from their own experience. BTW I never said the vet said it would be painless. I equated it to more like ear piercing. It might hurt them a bit for a few seconds, but it certainly did not appear they were in ANY pain as they handed them right back to me.
Just so you don't have to continue saying my experience did not happen, here is some medical references to show that puppies still have some cell divisions in their brains and some of the nervous threads are not fully developed a few days after birth. This contributes to how little pain they actually feel when tails are docked.
-- In 1941, Volkhov determined that animals, at this period of life,
had very little feeling of pain.
The conscious feeling of pain is still not very likely at that age.
--Schmidker wrote in his doctorate in 1951 about the feeling of pain in new-born puppies: "Incomplete development of the nervous system at the time of birth and the very high chronaxie value in connection with the fact that the animal is not able to react effectively to pain, gives us every reason to believe that the
actual feeling of pain is very low in the new-born of this group of mammals (dogs). In other words, at this age and biological condition, it would have no absolute meaning to talk about pain".
--You therefore do not have to worry or fear that the dog will be made to suffer pain or psychological pain, if the tail has been docked or the dew claws removed, in the first few days after birth. "
Tail Docking - The Fritsch Report