| History of Tail Docking |
| History and Lore of Tail Docking There has been much written about why Rottweiler tails were originally docked. Most dogs with docked tails do work hunting, herding, droving or draft work. The hunting dogs (gundogs and working terriers) often had to work in dense vegetation and briars and the tail would get injured in the brush. Terriers went to ground after foxes, badgers or other game, and the docked tail facilitated working in a confined space. The other working and herding dogs, as well as the hunting dogs, were docked for hygiene reasons. Working and herding dogs worked livestock. Now, visualize imagine you are in a barnyard in the spring If you have ever had the pleasure of doing chores around a barn, you know that stockdogs' tails, if not docked, will become fouled with the feces of the stock. On our dog's ancestors, this build up of feces acted like a weight on the tail and caused the tail to bang the hocks and become sore and sometimes cut. The feces also harbored bacteria and attracted flies, so the injured tail would become infected, causing the dog to become sick and possibly die. Since the Rottweiler was developed for cattle droving and general utility work on the farm, his tail was docked to prevent injury, sickness and death. In my opinion, docking prevented cruelty to working dogs. Perhaps you have heard the lore of the "tail tax", which supposedly was a luxury tax imposed on owners of nonworking dogs. Since most working/herding/hunting dogs had docked tails, I suppose this makes sense and could be the reason the Rottweiler tail is docked closer to the body than many of the smaller breeds in these categories. |
| How Tail Docking is done |
Most Rottweiler owners have never seen a puppy's tail docked. I'll describe the process to help you understand what happens to puppies. Basically, there are 2 methods of docking, both performed at 2-4 days old. I prefer cutting the tail with surgical scissors, which is fast and does not seem to traumatize the puppy or the bitch. In this method, the tail is clamped and snipped off close to the body. Puppies have always seemed to object as much to the being held upside down as they do to the cut. The puppies quiet down immediately and go right back to sleep. If their bitch is there, they will nurse right away. Rottweiler mothers do not seem concerned that there's a tail missing, and will go about their business of cleaning and feeding the puppies. The second method of docking is banding. A band, usually an orthodontic rubber band, is placed very tightly around the tail, close to the body. The tail shrivels up and falls off in 3-7 days. Again, neither the puppies nor the bitch seem to be bothered by the procedure. Just as with tail docking, many Rottweiler owners have never seen puppies less than a week old. We have all seen TV movies of newborn horses or cows struggling to stand and walk. Puppies are not like foals or calves. When puppies are born, they cannot see, hear, regulate their body temperature or walk. Their eyes do not open until 10 - 14 days and their ears are sealed shut until their third week. They must be kept in a warm environment, since they will die of hypothermia if pushed away from the bitch and other puppies (if the breeder does not intervene and put a heat source in the whelping box). Young puppies cannot urinate nor defecate without the stimulus of the bitch licking them. They have activated sleep, which causes puppies to twitch. This jerking and twitching helps puppies develop muscle tone and motor control. In short, puppies less than a week old are not fully developed neurologically. For this reason, puppies are traumatized by tail docking at 2-4 days. It is important to note that the tails are docked at 2-4 days old. Tail docking performed on adult dogs is major surgery and can affect balance, since the dog has grown up with this big rudder on his rear, and he is fully developed neurologically. |
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