Originally Posted by Dogs Trust Website

Tail docking began hundreds of years ago when people had a very different attitude to dogs and ’animal welfare’ was unheard of. Docking is thought to have been (mostly mistakenly) used for the following reasons; to increase a dog’s speed, prevention of damage in dog fights, prevention of back injury, rabies prevention and even tax evasion!
These days, the main reasons given for keeping docking are:

To avoid tail damage
Reasons of hygiene
To maintain breed standards

Those were the main reasons for keeping docking, however, the pro-dockers don’t tell you the negative aspects of docking:

Docking removes a very valuable tool for communication. We dogs use our tails to tell each other how we’re feeling. We use different positions and movement to let others know if we’re happy, excited, scared, not sure, a bit grumpy or that we may attack. If we meet a docked dog in the park and we can’t tell what they’re going to do, some of us may well launch an attack just to be on the safe side! That’s not very fair on a perfectly friendly docked dog, who must be awfully confused as to why others keep beating him up and may even lead to him becoming aggressive on meeting other dogs or people as a way to defend himself.
Docking is associated with perineal hernias. Dogs without tails may have weaker muscles around the anus and are therefore more likely to develop hernias. These hernias can lead to constipation, straining and difficulty in passing poop, which of course can be very uncomfortable and distressing. Sometimes the bladder becomes trapped in the hernia, causing severe problems which may become life-threatening.

Docking is associated with urinary incontinence in bitches. The muscles that help control urination in female dogs, attach to the tail base. These may become weakened or damaged in docked dogs, leading to an increased likelihood of urinary incontinence. Although most dogs don’t realise they are doing it and don’t become distressed, it can lead to unhappy, fed-up owners deciding to rehome or even destroy their otherwise happy and healthy dogs.

Tails are docked either by ‘banding’ where a ligature is placed over the end of the tail which ‘comes away’ after 3 days, or by cutting off with surgical scissors. Where tails are cut off, stitches may be needed for larger breeds.

The procedure is usually performed without any anaesthetic (which would be too dangerous) at between three to five days of age. Complications in docking can lead to the death of the puppy and the tail stump may be painful in later life due to the formation of scar tissue.

Originally Posted by Mommy of Brandi (Post 1121494)

Originally Posted by Mardelin (Post 1121831)

Banning tail docking in European countries as created another problem. An increase of yorkies with broken tails.

Originally Posted by lisatodd (Post 1122039)

i have read an article that hound dogs, bird dogs, hunting dogs will be next to have their tails docked. they are very prone to injuries to their tails do to the nature of their breed (being in woods). since there is little blood going through their tails to heal the wound quickly, infection sets in.

another thing to consider, when you take docking away (usa), there will be many people docking themselves, who have NO experience, which will lead to infections and some death.

although some may consider it wrong, i personally love the docked tails. i do not like the look w the tails (sorry you gals who have tails) this is just what i perfer.

Originally Posted by Mardelin (Post 1121831)

Banning tail docking in European countries as created another problem. An increase of yorkies with broken tails.