what is the earliest tail docking can be done?

[kelkiss5]

Here in Ireland the docking of tails is against the law, (althought I do love a docked tail) also I have never heard of anybody removing the dew claws.. Id would love someone to tell me why this is done, I have heard the terms loads of times and still dont really no what it is for..
Sorry OP I guess I have been no help, but you have just made me want to find a few answers to lol

[Raymond's Mom]

Originally Posted by florencelisa

common age is 3 days,
can it be done any earlier?
dew claws can be removed right after birth right?

I remove tails and dewclaws for many breeders of toy breeds and we never do either before day 5 or 6. Your little babies are just trying to get a good start in life, why put them through that right away. It makes no difference in the pain level if you wait. And if you use the hemostat method of doing tails it's much hard to remove the tail if you do it on a young puppy.

Also, NEVER let the vet cauterize the tail or dews to stop bleeding and don't let a vet put a stitch in the paws. Totally unnecessary and cauterizing is terribly cruel.

[yorkielady06]

Dewclaws are removed due to safety issues. The dewclaws grow toward the dogs leg and if left unnoticed especially long haired breeds the dewclaw grows into the leg and causes infection. Also, the declaws catch on things and get pulled out, bent backward, or split when that happens and then they must be removed when they are bone instead of cartilage.

[kelkiss5]

Thank you very much for that, I thought i was never gona get an answer lol.
1 of my yorkie girls toe nails grows inwards towards her paws and I need to clip them every few weeks. it wasnt untill she i had her a while that i noticed this and was in shock when I seen it..Do you think that maybe that was because she never got her dew paws removed or maybe it was just a natural thing?..

[kelkiss5]

Originally Posted by yorkielady06

Dewclaws are removed due to safety issues. The dewclaws grow toward the dogs leg and if left unnoticed especially long haired breeds the dewclaw grows into the leg and causes infection. Also, the declaws catch on things and get pulled out, bent backward, or split when that happens and then they must be removed when they are bone instead of cartilage.

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Thank you very much for that, I thought i was never gona get an answer lol.
1 of my yorkie girls toe nails grows inwards towards her paws and I need to clip them every few weeks. it wasnt untill i had her a while that i noticed this and was in shock when I seen it..Do you think that maybe that was because she never got her dew claws removed or maybe it was just a natural thing

[YorkieRose]

I used to groom many Yorkies with dew claws...some never had a problem, but others had a claw that grew curved...I used to have to cut these nails out of the skin..I hated to see it and those Yorkies had to come every 4 weeks without fail.

[kjcmsw]

Originally Posted by YorkieRose

Tail docking at birth sure is a hit or miss IMO...I need a few days to determine where I want to dock..not all can be docked in the same place and look correct to me..but I very fussy...

Good point. I think mine are probably on the short side, despite me asking for a bit longer than mama's. Might have been able to have been "perfect" in waiting an extra day or two. I'm really torn between the short and mid tail (as I call them). I think a well conformed Yorkie that holds its tail high looks pretty good with the slightly longer version. However, I've seen a few Yorkies that obviously had been docked trying to hit that slightly longer (mid) length and ended up looking like they simply got the tip of their tail caught in a sliding door. It all ends up being what it is I guess.
Also, with one of ours the vet couldn't find the rear dew claws and assumed there were none, by day five, the back dew claws showed up (became visible) on one. That's probably unusual but I know now that happens. Thus one of the litter has rear dew claws. Again, it is what it is, but had we had waited that wouldn't have happened. Live and Learn.