Patricia
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Article Our Dogs" Boxer injured tail"Has anyone read the excellent article by Polly King in this week's Our Dogs?
If so, you will have noted the vast implications of that poor lady whose Boxer's tail will not heal. Having been on 3 months antibiotics, the tail refuses to recover and is becoming" slough and black".
The vet recommends amputation. Now this is a show Boxer, so DEFRA will not allow that dog to be shown even with a vet certificate.
The lady also goes to Agility and YKC. And if the public pays, then you know what that means.
Also this lady has a dog business and goes round the shows taking her dogs with her as she can be away for days. It also means she may not be able to take the amputated Boxer at shows even " not for competition"if the ...public pays????
The law is simply mad,and as poorly designed as DDA.
This article has upset me and I posted it on the French Forum.
I have had several people asking to scan the bit of paper including Quebec- where they want to follow every idiotic law the UK comes up with  apparently..and the Guadeloupe.
Good on " Our Dogs" for making page 2 of their paper. with a nice photo of the dreaded tail. 
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eddieh
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I have to agree Patricia. I see this as being quite separate to the pro/anti docking debate I am completely confused with regard to the thinking behind some of the law. Are the "general public" more offended by the lack of tails just because they've paid to get into a show. Are they equally unoffended by a dog docked two days before the ban and one born tailless two days after the ban, yet find the docking of the tailless dog's litter-mate to be disgusting.How would they know anyway. Also, I would hazard a guess that there is no law in this country which would prohibit the showing of a dog whose leg injury necessitated amputation. Why is it different for a tail? Actually, I think I know the answer to that but sometimes you just have to trust that the vast majority of people are honest.
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doganjo
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I remember seeing a letter from Defra from about 2005 or 6 saying that they intended preventing docked dogs from being shown - reasoning being that over time the general public would not be seeing dogs with short or no tails so would stop requesting them. Demand would therefore fall for short/no tailed dogs and presumably the practice would then also fall away for working ones too. - Honest, that's what they told me! Will see if I still have a copy somewhere, can't remember if it was on a forum or a letter to myself.
edited - EUREKA  It's a useful habit not deleting anything!
Click to download file
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eddieh
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I still think an exception in the case of medically justifiable amputation should be made.
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Lin Dyke
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Don't get me started on this one   I fell out big time with the Dogs Trust over this issue. The law is a total ass Have you seen what they are saying in the latest welfare (or whatever they call it) thing. This is roughly the gist of one part... "leave your dog in peace when it is feeding. Do not interfere or try to remove what it is eating..." I have always sat with my dogs at feed time and gently taken food away from them, to the point of putting my fingers into their mouths) I believe this to be very important as they may at some time be eating something harmful to them which needs to be taken away for the welfare of the dog I can sometimes get them to "spit it out" using that as a command followed by a spitting noise, not very ladylike but who cares 
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doganjo
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Yes, me too. All of mine will happily leave their food dish on command - a quick extra mouthful first, but when it's a dead mouse going down you haven't a hope in hades
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eddieh
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| Lin Dyke wrote: | | I have always sat with my dogs at feed time and gently taken food away from them, to the point of putting my fingers into their mouths) |
There are times when I've wished I hadn't and that there was somewhere nearby that I could wash my hands 
I am worried that somebody should be giving that kind of advice though. I know I'm not a very experienced dog owner but surely you should have control over what your dog eats for the sake of safety and avoiding aggressive behavior when feeding. I must admit that Remi isn't quite as ready to stop eating on command as Tegen is but I'm working on it.
I wonder if the people who give that advice are the same ones who make life miserable for others by letting their children "express themselves"
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Patricia
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Again, in the dog paper( somewhere  ) I read we should be asking our vets advice on pedigree dogs, how to choose a healthy dog, what to look out for etc...What a joke!
I have really great vets. Sadly mine is leaving as she has 3 children and horses. Also having been the boss ( the practice being under a franchise) she no longer is free to do as she wants!
She has 3 Whippet, one of which she is thinking of breeding but had no idea of where to look or what to look for, matching pedigrees etc...
Yet, she is a specialist in orthoepedics and a vet in a million.
The other has a Beardie and was looking for another one. Again she did not know where to go to and I looked on the KC web site for her and found her a suitable puppy- which I groom!-
One of the vet nurses bought herself a Border Collie pup- which I also groom!- and now as an adult...had to have an op for dysplasia. No more agility for that one. Did not check parents's hips! 
Then the receptionist at the vet's purchased a Lab- he is the size of a Dane- and eats stones on a regular basis!
All in all, and when I am at the vet's, the receptionist will often ask me how often should baby puppies be wormed, what they should be weaned on etc....! on the phone to a customer.
I think I will offer my services to the vets for advice on the do's and don't of breeding! ie a person wanted to breed a Springer with a hernia and really young
Some vets are great on internal organs but not so great with the mechanics of breeding!!!
On asking the lady vet who owns the Bearded Collies whether she will dock too? She answered YES; She had to amputate injured tails and could see the logic for working dogs. 
I love my vets 
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