Tail docking for spaniels & HPR's to be re-introduced in Scotland

sikasako

Well-Known Member
[h=3]From Scottish Gamekeepers Website today:

SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT PERMITS TAIL SHORTENING FOR SPANIELS AND HPRS.[/h]
First sensible thing that the Scottish Government has done in living memory!
 
How about breeding a spaniel with a tail that is more substantial and doesn't get as badly damaged? Or at least has a chance to repair once damaged
 
At least i will get less funny looks from dog owners in the street when they see my docked GSP walking along the street.

Next door's vizla has the longest whippest tail i have seen and is it damaged on a very regular basis in the heather and bramble - and that is a pet.

The roll back it positive news for working breeds, well done to the SGA and others for successful lobbying.
 
How about breeding a spaniel with a tail that is more substantial and doesn't get as badly damaged? Or at least has a chance to repair once damaged
And how long is it likely to take to breed spaniels with such tails? I assume you do not approve of the ban being lifted?
 
Hi Seen this first thing today. Great result, I'll will be able to breed from my spaniel now. No more trips to England for a pup any more. Always said i would never take a litter if i could not dock tails.
 
And how long is it likely to take to breed spaniels with such tails? I assume you do not approve of the ban being lifted?

I think it could easily be done within say 100 generations, especially if you just breed those that avoid brambles or don't wag their tails. In the meantime the working dogs can suffer in silence - Springers are good at that.
It makes my blood boil to think the ban was ever introduced in the first place, even if it was 500 miles away.
 
How about breeding a spaniel with a tail that is more substantial and doesn't get as badly damaged? Or at least has a chance to repair once damaged

I've had more bother with my lab and he has a proper fat otter tail, even more than with my GWP and his is a right long skinny tail.

It almost came to the stage he was getting it amputed. Labs lok right queer with a docked tail.

Must admit i quite like the pointers with a long tail sometimes handier for seeing where they are
 
And how long is it likely to take to breed spaniels with such tails? I assume you do not approve of the ban being lifted?

Correect. I don't approve. Put off docking as a teenager in my first vets, no desire to do them. As to how long - no idea, but if you bred from parents with tails with no non healing injuries, who knows?
 
Correect. I don't approve. Put off docking as a teenager in my first vets, no desire to do them. As to how long - no idea, but if you bred from parents with tails with no non healing injuries, who knows?

But have u seen many long tailed spaniels coming into u to get there tail amputated as an adult? Surely thats a far worse op and far harder for the dog pyscologically
Dogs working cover will always get injured tails if left undocked.


Generally it takes about 7 generations for a dog to breed 'pure' (both russians breeding these tame foxes and the king who bred the Korthans griffon breed 1st seem to breed pure after 7 gens)
BUT to do it any pup born not up to standards was PTS and same with any older dog too that fell short of the desired standard.
 
Correect. I don't approve. Put off docking as a teenager in my first vets, no desire to do them. As to how long - no idea, but if you bred from parents with tails with no non healing injuries, who knows?
Well you are certainly in the minority and thankfully so. Quite a surprising opinion from a vet. Each to their own though.
 
I may be in the minority on this site, but not amongst vets. I've personally seen more tail injuries in the non-docked breeds than in the normally docked but left with tails.

Anyway, my post wasn't to go over old ground (I may as well suggest Blaser is best!). I was suggesting that if we'd bred our cover working dogs differently in the past, there might not be a need to dock. I advise farmers to avoid breeding from tups or bulls with crap feet.....food for thought that's all.
 
I may be in the minority on this site, but not amongst vets. I've personally seen more tail injuries in the non-docked breeds than in the normally docked but left with tails.

Anyway, my post wasn't to go over old ground (I may as well suggest Blaser is best!). I was suggesting that if we'd bred our cover working dogs differently in the past, there might not be a need to dock. I advise farmers to avoid breeding from tups or bulls with crap feet.....food for thought that's all.

It's certainly an interesting discussion, though selective breeding seems to have a lot to answer for when it comes to dogs - or show strains at least. One wonders if focusing for breeding on those dogs not prone to tail damage might lead to other problems instead?

Having had our last litter of cockers docked - all most definitely went to working homes - my admittedly untrained observation was that docking appeared to cause no more discomfort than chipping.

That said, if done for purely cosmetic reasons I can well understand the objections.
 
The problem u have is that u'd have to not dock any spaniels and for the next 30-50 years would probably have to deal with an awful lot of tail injuries until the better breeding took over. Thats a lot of tail injuries and amputations, wouldn't surprise me if someone would get done for cruelity working a dog with a bleeding tail, esp white springers it looks terrible

U'd also have the possibility of some of ur top trial lines no longer any good for breeding, so not only would u lose a lot of good hunting lines (lot of money for the big kennels/breeders, so KC would never go for it) but u'd also be restrcicting the gene pool, not a good thing esp in cockers (3 off the top cocker studs are running about 25-30% on the inbreeding coefficent, and there all releated to each other too)
But the fact is spaniels have always been docked so strongs tails has never ever been a consideration so there might not be any good ones anyway

Wot do the country vets north of the border think Buchan?
I'd imagine being in eng u won't of had to deal with the effect of the ban. Also that many people in scotland were either buying english dogs or had alsorts of bizzare schemes to get round it. Know of 1 lad used to drive all the way down to devon with his bitch and litter to get them done. Can't really be good for very young pups
 
Just slightly off at a tangent, I've seen pups' tails 'banded' at four days old using shirring elastic - in the same way that lambs are docked. Mostly the pups were unaware even of the initial action, and in a week or ten days the withered tail would drop off leaving a healed rounded stump. It seemed such a trauma-free procedure that I've never understood why it isn't more widely practised.
 
Trauma free im not so sure of that I was asked to look at a litter some **** had put elastic bands round their tails and of course the bitch and other pups licked and chewed at them and left one holy mess, in the end he had to take the pups to a vet to sort it out . I have docked the tails of pups for near on 30 years and never had a problem and one thing has always puzzled me is that you can remove the dew claws from a pup up here in Scotland but not the tails.
I think the real reason for stoping docking in the first place was because it involved shooting and guns and it was another route for the antis to get their way. I hope the new system kicks in quickly and we don't have to wait to long and that the vets don't charge huge fees for docking .[

Hoolit
QUOTE=thorneyglatt;1167431]Just slightly off at a tangent, I've seen pups' tails 'banded' at four days old using shirring elastic - in the same way that lambs are docked. Mostly the pups were unaware even of the initial action, and in a week or ten days the withered tail would drop off leaving a healed rounded stump. It seemed such a trauma-free procedure that I've never understood why it isn't more widely practised.[/QUOTE]
 
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