[nlb1947]

Originally Posted by Teresa Ford

My heart goes out to you. One of my foster Yorkies had a long skinny tail that had been broken. It drove her crazy she chased it chewed on it and it was long healed. Our Vet thought she would benefit from amputation above the area where it was broken. I was skeptical that that would help her. I really am against tail docking for cosmetic reasons. Many of you know I am active in trying to get the AKC to allow Yorkies with natural tails to be shown. After surgery her tail about 2 1/4 inches long. It took about 4 weeks for the tail stub to heal. She was like new dog, no more tail chewing and chasing. She never carried the tail up, it hung down unless it was wagging. I hope you little beauty has excellent results.

Thank you, Teresa. This is exactly what I was hoping to find - somebody who understands! I, too, am against docking for cosmetic reasons (and when I was younger helped my Dad many times docking the tails of his German Shorthair pups). I fully planned on leaving her tail intact - she isn't a show dog, she is my baby! From the beginning, her tail has been "different" from her sisters, and both my groomer and I thought that she had an issue with it. She truly HATES her tail!!! I am not new with "little dogs" and have had them for many years, I have had a Yorkie previously - my Molly, who now is at Rainbow Bridge - and I have worked with YTNR for a lot of years, including fostering and designing their Christmas card one year, but I had to stop when my husband was dying of cancer.
My vet is very qualified to do this surgery, and if I merely wanted it done due to the Yorkie standard, she would not do it any more than she would declaw a cat or debark a dog. She has known Jilly since she was six weeks old, and she agrees that there is something about that tail that is troublesome to my baby. We discussed it at the time she was spayed, but she felt that one thing at a time was kinder to Jilly. While I hate the thought of her having surgery and being in pain, I also hate watching her wish that she could rip her tail off. It clearly bothers her somehow, and she would like to remove it herself - and always has! When I decided to leave it, I knew that I would have to deal with it being covered with poop all the time and have made the best of it. That said, now that she is almost a year old, it is obvious that there is something wrong, and to make HER comfortable, the surgery has to be done. It isn't like we haven't tried or hoped that she would outgrow her aversion to it; instead it has become more and more a thorn in her side as she has grown. I asked here to make sure that I got the right advice as to the length - at the request of my vet, as she has her idea where the docking should be done but wants to do what I want regarding that. Thinking about it has made me draw a blank - including about how long Molly's was - and I just wanted some help with the decision so that she will have the "right" tail when the surgery is done. And by right, I mean right for her, because if it was not bothering her so much, there is no way that I would put her through this.
Thank you all again, please be assured that this isn't being done on a whim, and thank you again, Teresa, for understanding the issue and sharing with me.
Nancy
Sara, Manny, and Jilly