amy dahl

Yesterday a boarding customer, who moved to this area from
overseas, brought her dog, with intact tail, the first I
have ever seen of this breed. I have to say, it was a
Godawful tail--curled tight (1 1/2 or even 1 3/4 loops) and
with straggly long hairs.

This led me to wonder. In breed clubs where docking is no
longer universal, what do people do about tails? Are
standards for tails incorporated into the breed standard?
Are they ignored and allowed to be whatever they will?
I'm curious.

Amy Dahl

suja

What breed? Curious because an undocked Rottie has become a fairly
recent regular at the dog park.

Suja

shelly & the boys

There's an undocked Rottie that goes herding where I used to go.
Lethal and long, that tail was.
Shelly & The Boys

harkon

For rottweilers the ADRK has already written a tail standard for the
FCI. The tail should be a natural extension of the topline and may be
carried slightly up when excited, or hanging. Kinked or ring tails
are eliminating faults.

Here are some drawings used by ADRK to demonstrate the correct tail:

http://www.rottweiler-fleige.de/RW-L...enhaltung.html

We left the tails on our most recent litter and will no longer be
docking. Here's one of them at five weeks with correct tail set:

http://www.ausbreitung.com/elitter/rickstan.jpg

Liz
Liz & the rottie riot squad
Brutus, Cecil, Case, Dizzy
and the grrrrls, Janni, Chrome, Elektra & Elfed
http://www.ausbreitung.com

amy dahl

Thanks Liz. This was a Rottie, in fact, and I wondered if many generations
of cropping (i.e. breeding without regard to tail) had led to a breed-wide
reversion to ugly tails. Sounds as though she would have been DQ'd...also
sounds like a tough deal for those whose lines are strong in other areas
but have tightly curled tails.

Amy Dahl

harkon

There have been a couple of otherwise nice dogs DQ'd for kinks
recently, however the curled tails don't seem to show up all that
often. Long bob tails are being DQ'd as well by some judges, i.e.
tails that are shorter than the average tail, not a full bob, but sort
of a 3/4 tail. IMO they should put the length in the standard if
they're going to DQ for length.

I know I was worried about my first tailed litter - having never seen
puppy tails grow I had no idea how they would turn out Now that
they're here I can't think why I ever cut them off in the first place
- watching the first tail wag was pretty neat.

And yes, rottie tails can be nasty whip like things if they catch you
wrong, but the puppies we kept seem to be pretty good about knowing
where their tails are and what they're hitting. We have two young
children and neither one has had a problem with the tails hitting
them. The pups don't sweep things off coffee tables either - it's a
hanging tail. Besides, if you leave stuff around on a coffee table in
front of a rottweiler, they're most apt to try and eat it first rather
than sweep it off with their tails <g>

Liz

Liz & the rottie riot squad
Brutus, Cecil, Case, Dizzy
and the grrrrls, Janni, Chrome, Elektra & Elfed
http://www.ausbreitung.com

diana

The UK kennel club wrote in new standards for all trad.. docked breeds....
check out any you like from here:
http://www.the-kennel-club.org.uk/discoverdogs

Diana

cin

Sorry to jump in on this conversation but i have a quick question to ask. Is
there any reason other then looks that they dock tails? We had a boxer when
i was little and i always wondered why they do it

Cin

harkon

There were certainly historic reasons for docking various breeds, but
many of those no longer apply. Docking is primarily cosmetic in this
day and age.

Liz
Liz & the rottie riot squad
Brutus, Cecil, Case, Dizzy
and the grrrrls, Janni, Chrome, Elektra & Elfed
http://www.ausbreitung.com

mudepoz

I would like to point you to this website. I have seen too many injuries like
this on hunting spaniels with long tails. And amputation is far worse than
docking at 1-2 days.

http://www.cdb.org/matty.htm