by Jolanta Benal

Last week, I described the arguments and claims in favor of tail docking and concluded that they don’t hold water. But maybe even if docking doesn’t do any good, it also doesn’t do any harm. This week, I’ll discuss the 3 main arguments against docking.

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Argument #1: Docking Hurts

In the U.S., docking is usually done by the puppy’s breeder. There are two methods. The puppy’s tail may be amputated surgically, or the breeder may fit a tight elastic band around the tail to cut off circulation. The tail dies and drops off.

Docking advocates assert that “long experience indicates that when carried out correctly, the procedure causes no pain or discomfort.” Supposedly the puppies are too physically immature to feel pain, so anesthesia isn’t used. By the way, the same rationale used to be applied to human infants; until the early or mid-1980s, they underwent even major surgery minus any anesthesia or postsurgical pain relief.

It’s also argued that because puppies often suckle immediately after docking, they must not be in pain. This claim is countered by studies showing that young animals and babies may eat more or have so-called “sleeping fits” after known painful experiences. In these circumstances, eating and sleeping may be “displacement behaviors,” normal behaviors that show up at unexpected times, as a response to stress. Or they may directly reflect a survival mechanism, since rest and nourishment both help animals recover after injury.

What about puppies specifically? A study recording the behavior of 50 puppies found that they “shrieked” an average of 24 times and “whimpered” an average of 18 times during surgical amputation of their tails. The puppies did settle down a maximum of 15 minutes later, so the pain may be short-lived. Still, 24 shrieks and 18 whimpers are a lot of puppy ow.

I couldn’t find studies of pain related to the rubber-band method of docking puppies. Studies of lambs, who are routinely docked this way, suggest it’s less painful than surgical amputation, at least at certain ages. But the American Veterinary Medical Association’s Farm Animal Welfare Council nevertheless recommends that farmers avoid docking lambs when possible, and that when docking’s necessary, a local anesthetic should be used.

Score one for the anti-docking side: However you remove a puppy’s tail, if you don’t supply pain relief, the procedure hurts.

Argument #2: Docking Can Cause Health Problems in Later Life

As many as 1/2 to ¾ of human amputees experience phantom limb pain, and maybe a tenth have long-term, severe pain. Many people also have pain in their stumps. Even people who lost limbs early or were born without them can have phantom pain. The worst suffering seems to occur when the amputated limb was painful before the amputation and when there are problems with the skin or circulation in the stump itself. As you might expect, there’s also an emotional component to phantom limb pain – a difficulty we probably wouldn’t expect in dogs.

Neuromas are tangled masses of nerve fibers that usually show up when nerves are severed. Usually, but not always, they go away, and humans perceive their nerve activity as pain. One tiny study describes six docked dogs with a history of “severe self-trauma” to their stumps – all had neuromas at the amputation site.

I couldn’t find a controlled study of persistent neuromas in dock-tailed dogs, nor is there any research into whether dogs experience phantom pain. There are some plausible anecdotal reports, but it seems that if you ask two vets you get two different opinions. The fact that many or most docked dogs don’t show obvious signs of pain at the stump site proves nothing. It’s well accepted that dogs, like other animals, tend to hide pain.

One more point. There’s evidence from humans that pain in very early life can have long-term neurological effects, including increased sensitivity to pain. There are no similar studies in dogs. Nor are there studies comparing the incidence of behavior problems among docked and undocked dogs.

So does docking cause pain and other health problems in later life? We don’t know for sure. I would have to say that what little evidence we have points that way, and so does evidence about the long-term effects of untreated pain in babies.

Argument #3: Docking Makes It Harder for Dogs to Communicate

This seems plausible – tails are crucial to canine body language. Once again, though, we don’t have any careful studies of exactly this issue to go on. We do have the famous “robo-dog” study, which found that large dogs changed their behavior in response to the tail movements of a robot dog with a long tail. Their behavior didn’t change in response to the tail movements of a short-tailed robot dog. So it seems the movements of a full-length tail conveyed more information.

(The robo-dog looked about like a Black Lab. Smaller dogs were less likely than bigger dogs to interact with it, or even to approach – this seems like appropriate caution by a small dog, and the researchers suggest it explains why their behavior was the same regardless of the robo-dog’s tail length.)

Once again, the anti-docking claim isn’t proven, but the little evidence we have is in its favor.

What Do Vets Have to Say?

To make a long story short, vets say no. The American Veterinary Medical Association, the World Small Animal Veterinary Association, and the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association all oppose routine docking. The UK is a patchwork but routine docking is flatly illegal in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Veterinarians have generally concluded that routine docking doesn’t benefit dogs. If not done with anesthetic, it causes unnecessary pain. And though the case isn’t proven, there’s evidence that docking can do long-term damage to dogs’ health and social behavior. Having spent a couple of weeks reading through all the evidence I could find on both sides, I’m with the vets. If you’re planning on a puppy of a traditionally docked breed, insist that that the breeder keep your puppy’s tail intact. Better yet, choose a breeder who has already set aside the practice. Let your dog grow up to wag her healthy, full-length tail.

You can follow The Dog Trainer on Twitter, where I’m Dogalini. I’m The Dog Trainer on Facebook, and you can also write to me at dogtrainer@quickanddirtytips.com. I welcome your comments and suggestions, and I may use them as the basis for future articles. Thank you for reading!

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