The tail that wags the law

Countryside column  29 November

The tail that wags the law

Watching Myrtle’s tail wagging nineteen to the dozen as she runs round the fields, I’m always saddened to think of dogs who’ve been docked.  It seems so cruel to deprive them of this natural method of expression.  And the law agrees with me.

The Animal Welfare Act 2006 banned all tail docking for cosmetic reasons.  However there remains an exemption for working dogs, including gun dogs.  I was discussing this with a neighbour and fellow dog lover just the other day.   Unlike me she’s into shooting and has trained her Lab to pick up dying birds.  And she’s adamant that not only is docking desirable for working dogs but it can be cruel NOT to dock.  When you’ve seen as many tails mangled on brambles or gorse as I have, she argued, you’d change your mind.  Hmm. Possibly.

Amazingly there’s a pressure group, the Council of Docked Breeds, opposing the legislation.  Their website claims there could be 16,000 tail injuries a year. This is based on a 2010 survey of 52 vets who reported 281 injuries. (Though if those 52 vets were largely in rural or hunting areas, the extrapolation would be pretty meaningless.)

Anyway, let’s accept that SOME working dogs do injure their tails and so the docking exemptions may not be wholly unreasonable.  Which leads us to the safeguards.

The law insists docking must take place within 5 days of birth. The owner must certify the dog is likely to work and a Vet must have seen specific written evidence that the dog is genuinely likely to work. 

So how on earth can breeders be advertising docked puppies for sale in my local classified ads?  They couldn’t possibly have known whether the dog is likely to work or not. And it’s wholly fanciful to suggest they wouldn’t sell a puppy if they knew it wasn’t going work – assuming they even asked.

The RSPCA agrees. If there is no proof, then it’s an offence under the Act a spokesman told me.

Papers advertising dogs for sale often carry warnings about puppy farms. Surely they should refuse to carry classifieds for docked dogs.

So buyer beware. If you see a docked puppy advertised for sale, it can’t logically have been done legally, whatever the seller says. And Vets beware too.  If the puppy is subsequently offered for sale on the open market you will have connived at an unnecessary, cruel and illegal practice.