Playground Bully
I know the US standard calls for it but do I feel guilty!!! I printed out a protocol from an OES breeder since I have met many who were incorrectly docked. My vet took one look at it and called it major surgery!!! (It required an epidural) He did modify his typical docking at least. Puppy was gassed (cried the whole time) and very carefully took the tail and then shortened it a bit more. My puppy still looks like he's going to have a little stump but my vet was afraid to cut anymore down as it looked like it was extremely close to his anus. He was afraid of causing incontinence issues. 
It took a great deal longer than a normal docking. Thank goodness Sid only had one this time! When it was all said and done I felt like I had witnessed a war atrocity. I am hoping his future owners appreciate his sacrifice. All this being said, perhaps I should breed in Europe instead of the US lol I don't know if I can get past that guilt! |
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| Uh...I don't want to concern you but docking an OES takes less than 30 seconds, is done in one clean snip and it's not major anything if the vet is familar with the procedure. I've seen my vet do an entire litter in less than ten minutes when the pups were less than an hour old, tails and dew claws, no epidurals or gas but a mild local of some sort, not a peep out of the pups and not a single case of incontinence for any reason, period. She's an OES breeder herself so put a lot of effort into learning to do them correctly. She inspects her handiwork for some time afterwords as follow up. I think she was still groping my youngest dogs' butts till they were well over a year old to make sure she was satisfied with the dock. But I can see that it would seem like a major undertaking if it was your vet's first time.
There are a lot of incorrect dockings out there, it's true. Reading what you just wrote I finally understand why. My foster has a big old stub. Evidently more vets are accostomed to docking sporting dogs because that's what she looks like. What you described does indeed sound quite horrible, for you, the puppy and the vet. I'm so sorry 
Honestly, there is nothing that says you couldn't have left the tail on if it upsets you that much. Kristine |
| Your vet sounds very inexperienced in docking. Normally a little local in the base and snip with usually a stich to complete the docking. Banding is better but that requires experience and better as you don't have to take the pups to the vet, usually done within 12 hours of birth.
That being said my last litter all tails as we have a ban in Australia now no choice. Docking done by someone that is experienced in it is no big deal. During the fight here an OES puppy was docked live on TV, did not even wake from its snooze. Sorry your little bloke went through this but personally I would say the vet is not at all familiar with a correct docking procedure. |
| I love my sheepies tail and my yorkies. The yorkies tail is really handy for when she disappears under a bush and you cant reach her. Summer spends many a happy 10 minutes trying to catch her tail! |
As I hopefully am anticipating a litter in January, I thought I'd get proper tail docking info for my vet ahead of time. Does anyone have a good protocol or even a video that I could show him? Also, if anyone has a vet willing to discuss the procedure with him, that would be splendid. Hopefully with your help I can turn the vet into a specialist! lol  |
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