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Tail Docking

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Comments

  • #62
    peasant
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,819 ✭✭✭✭peasant


    whitser wrote: »
    thats what they've been bred to do. try and stop a springer,terrier,hound,lurcher etc.. working..you cant. ok sometimes they'll hurt themselves but you'll never see a happier,fitter dog then one doing what comes totally naturally to him.

    I know what you mean. We have a (rescued, past unknown) terrier at home who may be from a working line (she's docked, anyway) and she is very determined when it comes to doing her (imaginary) job.

    But even she has learned that there are certain bushes in our "garden" that aren't worth digging under because they hurt and she now avoids them ...and even she can be recalled from a potential hazard, as she has learned from past experience to guage her size before diving off into very thick bush anywhere and hesitates for a moment ...that's when you can either encourage her to go on or call her off.

    I don't know enough about hunting, but would it not be possible to keep hunting dogs out of the worst of bushes and briars ...or are the dogs too far ahead to be controlled?


  • #63
    whitser
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,038 ✭✭✭whitser


    MsFifers wrote: »
    The problem is - as you've acknowledged yourself - not all "working" dogs actually "work".

    So it is a big problem trying to figure out how to discourage people from unnecessarily docking tails, when there is such a widely held belief that it is no big deal.

    I do find it strange that animals are so poorly designed for what is supposed to be their natural work ie that they are so commonly injuring themselves by simply wagging their tails as you say happened to your friend's dogs. You wouldn't normally find such a design flaw the animal kingdom. Strange - thats all.
    i cant answer why it happens but it does. dogs were docked way back before there was ever a dog show mentioned. and they were docked for reason. the tip of the tail is like a persons ear the slightest nick and it can bleed for ages. i wouldnt say they are so poorly designed,its just a little fault,we all have them.not an animal on the planet thats perfectly made..except me:D


  • #64
    whitser
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,038 ✭✭✭whitser


    peasant wrote: »
    I know what you mean. We have a (rescued, past unknown) terrier at home who may be from a working line (she's docked, anyway) and she is very determined when it comes to doing her (imaginary) job.

    But even she has learned that there are certain bushes in our "garden" that aren't worth digging under because they hurt and she now avoids them ...and even she can be recalled from a potential hazard, as she has learned from past experience to guage her size before diving off into very thick bush anywhere and hesitates for a moment ...that's when you can either encourage her to go on or call her off.

    I don't know enough about hunting, but would it not be possible to keep hunting dogs out of the worst of bushes and briars ...or are the dogs too far ahead to be controlled?
    she'll avoid them when theres no reason to enter it,you put a rat or rabbit in there and she'll go through that bush like a steam roller.
    dogs follow the quarry,if its goes into thick cover so do the dogs. its nature and they wouldnt have it any other way,they love it,its hundreds of years of breedind/evolution/instinct all rolled into a furry little ball.


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