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Originally Posted by Britster  What I don't get about this mindset is... if tails were such a HUGE problem in general, why don't we cut ALL dogs tails off? It just doesn't make sense. Golden Retrievers have long fluffy tails that often get poop/debris/etc stuck in them, so let's just start cutting off their tails...
Legs and toes can be broken off too. But you don't see people cutting a dogs leg off because he keeps hurting it. |
Ever felt a Golden/Lab's tail? It's huge, thick, muscular with limited hair-length growth length unlike the Yorkie's thin little tail whose hair keeps growing as human hair does. Yorkie's in long coats often have tail hair that hangs down near to to the floor, Golden's don't.
Wonder how many tail injuries go unreported, untreated in this world? We can't even get YT owners to take their syncopal or dogs having bloody diarrhea to the vet always - so I imagine a bent tail, some bleeding from it wouldn't worry some owners all that much until the wound became septic and the dog goes down as they don't limp with it. That's what totally hits some of us in the gut - a long, frail tail cut/broken/bitten and getting infected and the dog just left to fend for itself - or even with good care, he's hurting when he could have been spared with 60 second procedure when he was too young to feel real pain.
Tails on dogs are appendages that aren't necessary for most toy, domesticated dogs, can give them real, prolonged grief when injured or matter-filled/unattended and don't inhibit free ambulation or the enjoyment of life whereas amputating the legs or toes would significantly alter the gait.
Most pups I've seen docked cry just as loudly, pitifully and for almost the entire time when they are merely picked up and held up in one hand as they do during the actual procedures.