People tend to have strange habits cutting or harming their bodies because of some traditions. Israeli Jews keep hitting their head till blood with the Western Wall every year while it is taken for granted that men go though the circumcision – few Europeans would approve of. However there are cases when pets are also harmed for some reason and today we would like to discuss such thing as cropping a dog’s tail.
Tail docking for dogs is common with many dog owners. It is one of the practices you would wish to know the benefits or downsides – if any as many people do not see any downside to cutting the tail of a dog. There are however disadvantages and risks. Let us see them first before we ask ourselves why would some dog owners jeopardize their beloved pets and go ahead to crop the tail.
Downside to cutting the tail of your dog
- You risk loosing your dog to excessive bleeding especially if the docking is done improperly and to a fully grown dog, risk of infections from the wound before it heals, wound splitting and rectal prolapse. Safe docking (for any good reason) should be done to puppies of under 10 days.
- The dog needs its tail for the for the following purposes:
Balance when in motion; swimming control as rudders, to keep off insects; air condition and heat regulator when it wags its tail around its body and most important communication with other dogs.
These are some of the natural reflexes you deprive your beloved dog when you dock its tail.
Some owners are however ignorant of this info while some are aware but are simply brutal. They claim that the pet is their own property and can do whatever they want with it. This is outrightly wrong as pets too have feelings. Most give the following reasons for docking their dogs:
- Increase its viciousness: Dogs with cropped tails generally appear dangerous. It has however not been proved but they base their reasoning on some observations like; when a dog is showing submission, it tugs its tail between its hind legs as a sign of cowardice. Cropping this tail according to them leaves the dog with no choice other than to fight on.
- Increase its speed: It is a general belief among some dog owners that a dog with a cropped tail can ran fast than a dog with a tail. However, the confusion comes from the speed with most breeds of dogs that are born without tails like Boxers breed. These are breeds of dogs that are naturally fast not for the reason of being tailless but are naturally fast. The truth is that the tail is so important in propulsion and hence speed of the dog.
- To enhance beauty: Tailless dogs generally appear attractive especially from the fact that a dog gets fatter when docked tail. This is generally true. It is a fact that a tailless dog appears more healthy than when it had its tail.
- For health reasons: They argue that tailed dogs are at high risk of injuries to the tails when fighting or rattling. Apparently, tailless dogs are at reduced chance of getting tail bites and bruises that generally leads to infections and eventually health problems. Also historically, docking was thought to prevent rabbies in dogs and some of the present dog owners still hold on to this belief. It has however never been confirmed whether it is true.