Tail Docking, Part 1
Why are some dogs’ tails cut? Should they be? The Dog Trainer discusses (and debunks) 6 arguments in favor of tail docking.
Docking is the practice of amputating part or all of an animal’s tail. The practice is controversial and several countries have banned it. Some dogs have been bred for bobbed tails and don’t undergo amputation. But in the U.S., Boxers, Doberman Pinschers, Cocker Spaniels, Boston Terriers, and several other breeds usually have docked tails. This week, I’ll discuss 6 arguments made by docking advocates. Next week, I’ll examine the case against docking.
Argument #1: Gundogs With Undocked Tails May Be Injured in the Field
True, you can’t injure a tail that isn’t there, but we have to ask whether injuries are prevalent enough in certain breeds to justify amputating the tail of every puppy belonging to that breed. A survey of German Shorthaired Pointers in Sweden, carried out after that country banned docking, found “a fair amount of injuries.”
On the other hand, the study was conducted under the auspices of an organization that advocates docking. And a peer-reviewed study of a random sample of veterinary practices in Great Britain, where most docking is banned, found a total of 281 tail injuries among 138,212 dogs over a two-year stretch. The authors concluded that about 500 puppies would have to be docked in order to prevent just one tail injury. But of course, docking is itself an injury. And even if gundogs were better off docked, which this study makes pretty doubtful, your pet Boxer doesn’t hunt through heavy brush for a living.
And one more thing about those German Shorthaired Pointers in Sweden: German Longhaired Pointers, who also work as gundogs, don’t normally have their tails cropped. Hmm.
Argument #2: Terriers in Tight Spaces Underground Need Short Tails
Although I have seen this assertion made, I’ve never found the reasoning spelled out, so I don’t know what bad consequence a long tail is supposed to have. This makes it hard to assess whether the claim makes sense. Is the problem that the dog’s tail might stick out of the rat hole? If so, why is that a problem? Is the tail vulnerable to attack? But presumably the rat or other prey is further down the hole or den, at the dog’s front.
With no clear explanation of why a long tail is disadvantageous to a working terrier, I’m going to call this argument weak. Also, like the claim about injured gundogs, it has nothing to do with the lives of pets.
Argument #3: Hard Wagging Can Injure a Dog’s Tail
I haven’t found any studies or even case reports discussing how often vets see tail-wagging injuries. One vet I talked to said they were uncommon and largely found in dogs who live in kennels, where a wagged tail bangs against metal fencing. That was the case with the one dog I knew whose tail was amputated in adulthood: he had been kept closely confined in a small kennel for nearly a year. We can’t justify across-the-board docking of puppies on the ground that in later life a few of them may wag their tails hard enough to do damage.
Argument #4: Dogs May Accumulate Feces Under Their Undocked Tails
That brings us to the hygiene argument. Should very furry dogs be docked to keep their butts clean? Docking apparently helps protect lambs from blowflies, which are attracted to feces, so that sounds like evidence in favor. But many breeds of dogs with long and thick coats aren’t routinely docked and, barring health problems, don’t seem to accumulate feces around their anuses. So it seems as if we’re amputating the tail of every puppy of a given breed just in case some of those puppies might have dirty butts later on.
If an individual dog has this problem, perhaps her coat could be clipped short near her anus. Maybe her diet needs changing, so that she can produce firmer stool. Finally, just as the possibility of injuries to hunting dogs has nothing to say about pets, even a valid argument in favor of docking thick-coated dogs doesn’t apply to dogs with short hair.
Argument #5: If We Stop Docking Tails, Hereditary Disease Will Increase
Docking advocates point out that because some breeds have had docked tails for generations, breeders haven’t selected for handsome tails. As a consequence, they claim, those dogs would have homely tails. Selecting for handsome tails would shrink the gene pool and make hereditary disease more common in those dogs.
This argument boggles my mind, because it admits that the gene pools of pedigreed dogs are dangerously small – a problem about which dog breeders are generally in denial. Adding genetic variability by outcrossing would make the breed “impure,” so breed clubs oppose it; performing cosmetic surgery on healthy puppies, lest they have ugly tails, is seen as a better option.
As for the looks of undocked dogs, you can make up your own minds. Follow the links to photos of an undocked Doberman Pinscheropens IMAGE file , a Boxer (scroll about halfway down), a Weimaraner, and a Cocker Spaniel. I have to admit, I find this undocked Rottweileropens IMAGE file especially handsome. If you’re curious about how any breed of dog might look with its tail intact, you can find photos easily by searching on the breed’s name plus the word “undocked.”
Argument #6: Tails Hinder Guard Dogs
It’s sometimes asserted that guarding dogs could be thwarted in their work if the person they were guarding against could grab their tails. If you’ve ever had a large dog lunging at you, try to imagine how you’d go about getting hold of the dog’s tail. I don’t think this claim needs to be taken seriously.
Does Docking Harm Dogs?
You can probably tell I’m not persuaded that tail docking does dogs any good. But does it harm them? People opposed to tail docking argue, first and foremost, that the procedure hurts. They also argue that the surgery may cause health problems in later life and that dogs’ ability to communicate is impeded when they don’t have tails. Finally, they say that we shouldn’t amputate a dog’s body part when there’s no clear benefit to the dog.
Next week, I’ll go into detail about these arguments and about what veterinarians’ professional associations have to say. Docking is a hot-button issue in many parts of the dog world. If you’re buying a puppy of a traditionally docked breed, you’ll want to make informed decisions about his welfare. That’s what I’m here for.
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About the Author
Jolanta holds professional certifications in both training and behavior counseling and belongs to the Association of Professional Dog Trainers and the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants. She also volunteered with Pet Help Partners, a program of the Humane Society of the United States that works to prevent pet relinquishment. Her approach is generally behaviorist (Pavlovian, Skinnerian and post-Skinnerian learning theory) with a big helping of ethology (animal behavior as observed in non-experimental settings).
