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Originally Posted by Wylie's Mom  Interesting you brought this up bc we just had a thorough discussion about tail docking here: http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/gen...l-docking.html (great read!) Personally, I'd like to see the US go in the direction of not docking...for the many reasons I've already stated in the above thread. My Wylie and Marcel both have docked tails; but my Pfeiffer is undocked and her tail is BEAUTIFUL! And never once (knock on wood) has her tail ever seemed to be an especially vulnerable part of her body, any more so than any other part of her body.
It'd be great, anecdotally, if you could always keep track of your undocked litter as to whether or not their tales are ever injured.
My bach degree is in nursing too, and I 100% agree on the pain issue. I've always wondered why, if it's so painless, breeders don't post a video of the docking here if for nothing else, to put people's minds at ease.
Circumcision is also purported by many to be painless. Having seen many circumcisions in nursing school, I'd bet my life that it most certainly is NOT. I'll never forget the screaming of those poor little newborns  . |
100% agree with you Ann!
Congratulations OP for the new litter and on not amputating their tails ♥
The tail consists of 6-23 vertebra enclosed in muscles, 4-7 pairs of nerves and supporting tendons and cartilage. Some breeds have a small portion of the tail removed whilst others such as the Rottweiler, Boxer or Doberman may be left with 1-2 vertebrae. This procedure involves the cutting through of skin, muscle, bones and cartilage and all without any form of pain relief
Ref:
Dog Tail Docking: Issues and Health Implications of Docking, whether on a Boxer or a Puppy
Tail "docking", ear "cropping" and "dew claw removal" are all
amputations of body parts and I hope we as a country can get these practices outlawed.
I don't buy the "might injure it" argument.
They might injure their paws, should they be removed? They might injure their claws, should we remove them? Or their nose, or... or .. you get the picture
As someone who has had four dogs (two dearly departed rip babies ♥), with full tails and AprilLove being the only one without a tail, and with barely a nub at that I can tell you that it does affect their movement by amputating them. Also no injuries of the long tails in 16 years. AprilLove can not run like my two with full tails and walks differently too. I see it as a disadvantage having the parts of their body that they were born with amputated.
I am going to provide a few links at the end of my loooooong reply
for some interesting reading on both sides of the issues of dew claw and tail removals (AMPUTATIONS)
About the dew claw removal. I never really knew that they were removed on purpose on my first two dogs, I just really thought they were born with them or without them, until a friend had their cats' claws removed, I really didn't get that they were being amputated. After reading and studying more on the issue, and living with Nappy who has his, I now understand they are an integral part of their function. Similar to our thumbs.
http://caninesports.com/DewClawExplanation.pdf
and a very interesting video for example:
Nappy can run unlike any of the other 4 dogs I have had, and I now understand it after viewing him in slow mo and watching and understanding how the dew claws are like our thumbs. He can turn on a dime, Rozi and April cannot. He has the smoothest, almost fox like runnig motion that any of my dogs ever had. It is because he utilizes his dew claws.
The comparison of the dew claw and canine foot to our hand and thumb makes total sense to me. I recently amputated part of my thumb and had surgery on it. (a procedure called the "Moberg Flap") The hand surgeon informed me that our thumbs are 80 % of our hand function... I learned this verrrry quickly, being unable to use the hand for almost three months after the repair.
Anyway, my point in all this is that if in fact our dogs dew claws are even close to being 80% of their foot/paw function, then why on earth do we remove them? Food for thought I hope.
Nappy has never had an issue with his, I clip them when I clip the other ones. Removing a body part because "it might get injured" is a very very weak excuse for amputation, imho. If that were the case, If I would have had my thumb removed when I was 3 to 5 days old, I would never have injured it!!!
HEre are the links I mentioned before, just some other viewpoints on both sides and some referenced studies, on these issues.
Kandu's Breeding Philosophy Cropping and Docking: A Discussion of the Controversy and the Role of Law in Preventing Unnecessary Cosmetic Surgery on Dogs http://caninesports.com/DewClawExplanation.pdf Dog Tail Docking: Issues and Health Implications of Docking, whether on a Boxer or a Puppy - WSAVA Tail Docking Position Statement