#ethics talk

[erato-and-pets]

Tumblr's biggest problem imo is that everything has to be black and white. It's like everyone on this site forgot there can be "ifs" and "buts" and conditions to an issue. It's either the biggest evil and you deserve to die horribly, or it's perfect orz

[erato-and-pets]

If you're not a breeder and there's even the slightest shadow of doubt that you'll be able to keep your animals from procreating, SPAY YOUR GODDAMNED DOG I don't care about any excuses you might have, they don't mean anything in the face of pet overpopulation If, however, you're willing to do what's necessary to keep your pet's genitals away from other animals' at all times, then please proceed to do whatever you deem best for you and your companion, I wish you best of luck <3

[erato-and-pets]

Remember the English Bulldog I said I walked yesterday? Today he tried to bite me, repeatedly. 

He’s not a vicious dog, in fact he’s quite friendly. But in his home everyone is afraid of him and he was never taught manners, so he’ll growl and show his teeth when things aren’t going his way. He didn’t mean any harm, but he was testing me and trying to see how far I’d let him go since a person who’s not afraid is a pretty new experience to him.

His problem was, his face literally doesn’t let him bite. He’d grab my forearm, but whenever he tried to squeeze it, it would pop out of his mouth. Have you ever tried grabbing a huge inflatable ball with one hand? Or that contest where you try to fish apples out of the water with your mouth? It was kind of like that. Because of how his mouth is built and how most of it is toothless, he had no way of grabbing onto me. Poor boy.

It’s a good natured, friendly dog with a big heart. His behavioral problems are numerous and huge, but they could be remedied relatively easily since he’s got good intentions and is incredibly motivated by affection. His health troubles, though... those are with him forever and make his life miserable, even if they did technically save my arm this one time. Just makes me so sad for him.

[erato-and-pets]

An introduction to dober-tails!

I was asked to talk in detail about the practice of tail docking. As that's not very complicated, I decided to combine it with showing you the various kinds of tails you can encounter in dobermans.

Much as with ear cropping, the practice of tail docking has some pros and some cons and I'm going to give you a full rundown so you can make your own decision. Fyi, my own doberdog has a docked tail and natural ears, and neither of these were my decision as I adopted him as an adult. My personal stance on these practices is that I do not plan to ever crop/dock any dogs I own.

Now that we've got that out of the way, let's get the actual post going. 

PROS:

your dog looks closer to the preconceived notion of what a doberman should look like

that's it that's the only pro.

CONS:

depending on how short the tail is docked, in may impair your dog's communication ability to some degree. A longer tail is typically still perfectly usable and other dogs can read its signals easily. The shorter the tail is, the more likely other dogs are to misinterpret it.

similarly, there is some risk of back problems further down the line with shorter docks

while tests to see how painful docking is have been mostly inconclusive (everyone has their own way of interpreting behavior of newborn puppies and nobody can be proven right because technically, these are not fully formed organisms), it's common sense that cutting a part of your spine can't possibly be pleasant.

ADDITIONAL INFO:

Docking is traditionally done very early on, within the first week of a puppy's life. It is not a full blown surgery. Instead, the skin on the puppy's tail is pulled back towards the butt, then the tail is cut in between the vertebrae, and the extra skin is pulled back down to cover the wound. Of course any civilized person will make sure to keep the wound clean and stop the bleeding, but essentially there's not really much to the whole procedure. Since the puppy is so small, many people argue that they don't feel anything. That is obviously not true as pups will yelp in pain as their tails are docked. However, we can't really say how it feels to them beyond that initial moment since their nervous systems won't be fully formed for another five weeks. Week old puppies don't really communicate so we have no way of telling, and by the time they're big enough to give a clear indication of how they're feeling the wound is long healed. One theory is that while it does hurt, they won't remember it. Make your own judgement based on that.

Since docking is done so early on, it's a decision that is typically made by the breeder, not by the owner. Maybe if you reserved a pup before they were born you could ask the breeder to either dock one pup if they don't do it normally, or to refrain from doing it if they do. Whether or not they agree isn't certain as they will want to be sure that they can sell the dog to someone else should you change your mind. Also, that kind of robs you of the possibility to pick a puppy from the litter as you'll be stuck with the one that has the tail you asked for. Basically what I'm saying is, whatever your views on docking, you'll have to pick a breeder that agrees with you.

Now, what about the adverse effects? I've had two short-tailed dogs and one long-tailed. First, Sonia, was born with a short tail. Axel had his docked before I adopted him, and Mariko is the only canine tail owner to ever have lived in my house. I have noticed no difference between the three at all, either in physical limitations or ability to communicate. Also, since I had Sonia all her life (up to 13 and a half) and Axel is almost 10, I can say that I have seen no significant hind end/legs degradation that could be attributed to the short tail.

That being said, the situation changes if the tail is too short. The completely tiny, virtually non existent tail you'll see either naturally or as a result of extreme docking in breeds like corgies, rottweilers and boxers does contribute to back problems and impairs a dog's ability to communicate.

About the communication though, here's something to consider: A tailless dog is missing part of their body they would communicate with, that's true. But nearly all breeds have some sort of requirement regarding 'tail carriage', meaning that the dog is supposed to carry their tail in one way as opposed to moving it around to talk to others. As this kind of traits get selectively bred for, they can and sometimes do cause a different problem, making the dog constantly say a thing they most likely don't really mean. In some breeds it's harmless. For example, a GSD or collie is supposed to carry their tail fairly low and calm, which won't get them in trouble. It's also a natural thing for a tail to do so it's still functional and the dog can move it if they so please. Now look at a beagle. Their tails are long and straight, so also natural, but carried high up. Does this dog want to tell the whole world they're feeling confident? Not necessarily. A beagle can still do other things with their tail too, though. Last, let's look at breeds with their tails curled up on their backs. This is the real trouble. A curly tail is the result of a mutation that impairs the growth of its upper side. It's curly because it's underdeveloped and can't be uncurled. If it falls on the dog's back, that's where it's gonna be forever. Of course there are various degrees of this issue: some dogs are literally stuck like that, others can't uncurl the tail or move it all the way down, but they can do other things just fine.

Am I saying these dogs are better off docked? No. But I am pointing out the necessity of paying close attention to how breed standards impact dogs' communication skills. Too many people think that docking is the only bad thing that could possibly happen to a dog tail when it's obviously not true.

STYLES:

This was supposed to be about dobermans mostly, so I shall use them to present the different dock lengths out there:

the 'spot the tail', a.k.a. 'I should lose my job'. This is the shortest a tail will possibly go and goes against the breed standard that calls for a tail docked at either the 3rd or 4th vertebrae. It will be merely a bump on the dog's butt. It's entirely useless at communication and, especially if done incorrectly, may lead to back and hind leg problems later on in life. Don't do this.

the 'my hand slipped', a.k.a. acceptable but not preferred short dock. Axel has something like this. As I said before, I have not noticed any adverse effects but frankly I'm surprised. Also, Axel's tail has a skin bump on top of it, resulting probably from the person who did the docking pulling more skin back than was needed to cover the wound. I've seen it in many dogs, so it's probably to be expected at this length.

the 'look mom I can wag', a.k.a. the preferred dock. From my experience I can say this should be both safe and allow the dog to talk with their tail just fine. Of course as long as the person doing it didn't botch the job in some other way.

the 'living sausage', a.k.a. long dock. Aesthetically speaking, I absolutely ADORE this dock. Would I do it to a dog? As I said before, no. But the looks are stunning and the communication unobstructed. This is just my personal preference, by the way. In the showing world this is often considered a tail that is too long.

NATURAL:

Now, what about natural doberman tails? Well, since for decades docking was the normal thing to do in the breed, nobody really knew what genes we were passing down. That resulted in a big mess with almost no two dogs having identical tails and, sadly, lots of curling.

aaaaah, perfect! I want every doberman to have a tail like this <3

This one's really nice but see the slight curve? It may mean this dog is predisposed to having a curly tail and his babies could inherit it. 

Probably the most common tail from what I've seen. There's a curve to it, it's carried pretty high, but besides a bit of awkwardness it moves just fine.

This one's bizarre. Most of the tail is straight and the medium carriage tells me it should move like a normal tail, but the tip is curled very tightly? Reminds me of some sighthounds, honestly.

Also in the fairly common range, this tail is probably more awkward than the previous ones but still usable

Wow that's an impressive curl! This dog's tail is probably pretty much stuck in this position and only goes lower when he's afraid.

A full ring? Seriously? Please don't breed that. A tail curled this much implies that the mutation affects the back as well, which would lead to back problems. Of course this dog might be perfectly fine, but do we really want to risk its babies' health?

wow.

THE CONCLUSION:

I can't spread horror stories about tail docking in clear conscience because I've dealt with dogs who've been through it and they were fine. However, the practice is essentially cutting off a part of a helpless infant's spine because you like how it looks better that way. Does that seem like a thing you want to do? I thought so.

This pretty much concludes the thing! Hope I was able to spread some useful knowledge here, and as always, go ahead and send me an ask if you want to know anything! <3