[yorkietalkjilly]

My Tibbe sounded like that when I first tried to brush him or clip his toenails. He was almost feral when I first got him and had apparently only had very few things done to him in his lifetime so he yelped and yelped at everything I tried to do in the way of grooming. Only with a lot of love, patience and persistence did Tibbe learn that grooming was not scary or painful and he fairly quickly quit crying out and yelping during grooming sessions and of course now, snoozes through his brushing.

Most dogs are very stoic with severe pain issues and you will see them mostly suffer serious, prolonged pain in total silence; but sudden or sharp pain, anything that pulls a dog's hair, restrains them for long(especially puppies) or scares them will almost always elicit repetitive yelping.

There is no doubt tail docking/dew claw removal elicits some pain but without sophisticated nervous system development as newborns, their ability to perceive continued pain is absent. I would rather my Tibbe have his tail docked as a newborn than take the chance of a serious injury as an older dog when he really will suffer for a prolonged period of time.

What I worry about more than newborns getting tails docked are older dogs with fully developed nervous systems that have injuries or have surgery with sutures/staples in place sent home with no pain medication and because they are not yelping as the puppies in that video, it is just assumed by one and all that they are not in pain and they must suffer their entire recuperation in pain and silence!!!