Man's Best Friend

[KynaMavies]

Hey! I love dogs so much i think they really are a mans best friend! Take a look at this video, it's got so much information on dogs and some really good footage! http://youtu.be/8lIfTqgXQL4

[Catherine]

Beautiful Video. Thank-you for posting it. I might watch that again tomorrow. I loved seeing the dogs.
They have been with us for a long time haven't they.

[Tobi]

Thank you Kyna, for another interesting video.

I don't agree with docking dogs' tails. But from watching this, I understood for the first time, why it has been done. But I still hold with the idea that dogs should not have their tails removed!

[Catherine]

Lately I have been seeing breeds that traditionally had their tails docked, walking around with a full tail. They look beautiful. Poodle tails are great. Corgi tails really do look right on the corgi. Mother nature knows best.
I have also being seeing dogs with uncropped ears. I think they look better than the human adjusted version.

I can understand clipping fur/hair. Sometimes it is just too hot for a dog. I clip my guinea pig in the summer. I don't even mind some of the more cosmetic grooming. We all like a good hair cut now and then.

Docking a tail is actually amputating part of the spine. Do we really know how that affects a dog. Maybe we cause them pain they cannot tell us about.

[Tobi]

Yes exactly! A wee little puppy a few days old may not be able to communicate its pain from having its tail 'banded'. It is said that done at this time it causes no pain. How do Humans know??
But it still may feel something negative.

I happen to like tails. They are Dogs' Smiles! And communication mechanisms.

I agree with cutting hair in hot weather. Why not? Dogs can easily over heat.

[Catherine]

The times when I have seen tails docked, the vet just used scissors and cut it off. Because the puppies were just a few days old they couldn't make much noise. That doesn't mean they didn't have pain.

I have always wondered how it affected them later. Did they have phantom pain or did they remember the pain in their dreams.

Dog tails are beautiful. You are right, they communicate with their tails. Who are we to take that away from them.

[LPC]

I totally agree with both of you. There is absolutely no need to remove a dog's tail.

Digressing, sheep often have their tails shortened to avoid terrible blowfly strike. The tail is normally shortened by putting on a special rubber ring when the lamb is very young (3 to 5 days old). This cuts off the blood flow and the end of the tail drops off a while later as the result of necrosis. However, this is for medical reasons, to prevent the sheep from suffering from blowfly attack later. A long dirty tail (I leave it to your imagination as to why the tail gets dirty!) attracts hoards of flies in summer.

However, cutting off the tail of a dog with scissors....the mind boggles! Surely this must cause pain. Perhaps that is why docking is now illegal in many countries. In France, it is apparently still legal, but almost all vets now refuse to do docking except on medical grounds.

As for ear cropping, apparently this is illegal in the UK now (good!). I found this article on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Docking_%28dog%29

There is an informative list of countries and their bans (or lack of them) at the end.

[Catherine]

I am glad that some places are starting to ban ear cropping. It seems to be a silly thing. What possible purpose could it serve.

I looked at the list of countries that have banned it. There seems to be no pattern to who has banned and who has not. It seems very random.

[Tobi]

Ear cropping is frequently done for dog-fighting (another horrendous human invention!)
Under normal circumstances -and when not done for a medical reason -I can not even begin to imagine why anyone would have their dog's ears cropped!!

I was interested to discover that Aussie Shepherd dogs originate -not In Australia (as I always thought) but in California!

[Catherine]

Quote:I was interested to discover that Aussie Shepherd dogs originate -not In Australia (as I always thought) but in California!

Really? I would never have guessed. So why are they called Aussie Shepherd dogs?