[pstinard]

Originally Posted by yorkietalkjilly

Here's a link to an abstact on a study I found a while back. Speaks to the fact that most pups settle fairly quickly after the procedure when tail docking was done on a very young pup.

Elsevier

Here is the rebuttal to that article from Bennett and Pereni 2008:

In their discussion of tail docking in dogs, Noonan et al noted that breeders often use the fact that pups either suckle or fall asleep immediately following docking to support their view that the pups do not experience significant pain. However, while such behaviour may indicate that the pain felt during docking is minimal, there is no empirical evidence to support an association between lack of pain and these behaviours. On the contrary, other studies, in which young animals or humans show increased feeding or what is known as a ‘sleeping fit’ following a painful or stressful experience, have concluded that this may be either a displacement activity or an adaptive mechanism which ensures that the baby animal has sufficient nourishment and rest to survive under adverse circumstances. In addition, as discussed in Noonan et al, suckling behaviour may provide analgesia by stimulating the release of endogenous opioids, with oral administration of carbohydrate-laden solutions being commonly used to reduce pain responses in human infants. It is possible, therefore, that pups suckle following docking to reduce docking-associated pain, rather than because the pain they feel is minimal. This issue could be investigated empirically by subjecting puppies to various experiences believed likely to cause pain and noting their responses, particularly whether their sleeping or suckling responses increase or decrease with the magnitude of pain believed to be inflicted, but it would be ethically difficult to justify such a study.