[alaskayorkie]

My understanding is tails are often docked, where legal, in working breeds to prevent tail injuries. Since Yorkies were bred to be ratters, the fear was their whiplike tails would be damaged in the small nooks and crannies of factories where they did their work. The reasoning at the time was tail injuries are difficult to treat, and it was thought to be more humane and safer to dock as puppies when their nerve endings aren't fully developed than to amputate broken tails as adults under anesthesia.

I have no idea if there are any statistics about tail amputations to back that up today. I love the look of tailed Yorkies!