To Dock or Not to Dock

8/8/2019 To Dock or Not to Dock

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To Dock or Not To Dock

Tail docking has become a controversial issue, with many countries such as Australia,

Great Britain, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden,Denmark and others now banning it. I believe this surge in banning has, in some cases,been done in haste and possibly without the dogs best interest in mind. In particular, Ibelieve that the proponents of this change may not have looked thoroughly into thehistory of, and reasons for, docking the Hungarian Vizlsa. I have learned first hand thereasons for docking and why the option of docking should continue today.

Numerous working breeds have their tails docked, but tail docking of the HungarianVizsla goes back furthest in history, perhaps as far back as the 10th century. To this day,the docking of a Vizslas tail is done for the practical reason of avoiding tail damage andunnecessary pain and injury. The thin nature of the end of the Vizsla's tail makes it very

susceptible to damage while hunting or roughhousing. Docking the tail is essentiallypreventive medicine.

Traditionally one third of the Hungarian Vizsla tail is docked at the recommended ageof two to five days old. This is because the tail bone of a puppy at this very young ageis muscle-less, has undeveloped nerves and is still soft. At just a few days old the puphas not developed feeling in the tip of his tail yet, and docking at this age causes onlymomentary discomfort that is almost instantly forgotten.

For the many countries who now outlaw docking, the main reason cited is that taildocking is a form of painful abuse and that it is cosmetic mutilation. Those against taildocking also say that tails are needed so that a dog maintains balance and to help itswim properly.

Supporters of tail docking of certain breeds, like the Vizsla, disagree. As mentionedabove, if the procedure is conducted on a puppy that is 2 to 5 days old, it has not yetdeveloped the feeling in the tip of its tail. The need of the tail for balance and swimminghas no real supporting evidence. It is also now known that since the various countrybans of tail docking, a high number of injuries have occurred to undocked Vizslas andother breeds. Some countries are reportedly even considering reversing the ban.

Again, the whole point of the docking of a hunting dogs tail, such as the Vizsla, is toavoid injury and potentially far greater problems down the road.

Three years ago I imported a puppy from Australia. When my little bundle of joy arrivedhe was twelve weeks old and had an undocked tail. I had never seen a Vizsla with anundocked tail before and thought it to be quite novel. Little Ozzie sprung out of the


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travel crate, all happy and wiggly, and wagging a tail that was just about equal in lengthto the rest of his little body.

That tail just grew and grew. By the time Ozzie was full grown, his tail reached 15inches. The end was very thin and tapered. Notwithstanding, Ozzie quickly earned his

CKC show championship here in Ontario, always the only Vizsla in the ring with anatural tail. I was never sure what kind of reception he would receive in the show ring.Interestingly, although the docking of the tail is described in our breed standard here inCanada, the lack of it is not a disqualification. Ozzie also speedily earned his CKCJunior Hunter title. In the field that long tail sure made it easy to spot him in tall grass!Despite his novelty, he impressed enough judges as a whole to easily earn his showchampionship and first hunting title. For me, however, the novelty quickly wore off. Thefact of the matter is, I had nothing but trouble with that darned tail.

In the field, Ozzie is exuberant. He literally flies in and through all obstacles. Imagine

the obvious potential for tail damage here. As a typical Vizsla, he holds his tailhorizontal to the ground, wags forcefully and charges through rough scrub andundergrowth. The last third of his undocked tail was very thin and whip-like making itvery susceptible to injury. And it was injured often, always becoming a bloody mess.Every time Ozzie charged through some brush I prepared myself.

I suggest to you that the dangers of damage inside a home with its hard woodencabinets, furniture, and walls with corners is potentially more damaging than the field. Idont know about your Vizsla, but this boy of mine never stops wagging his tail. He isone mighty happy dog. Practically every time Ozzies tail wagged on a wall, corner oranything remotely hard, the skin on the tip of his tail would split and bleed.

With each splitting of the skin, the new skin became thinner and thinner and easier tosplit again. Picture a paint brush dipped in red paint and then wildly, randomly flicked allover. See where it lands? Everywhere, and often 8 feet up the wall! Can you count thedots? Looked like billions to me! Some days I would have to scrub the walls andcabinets 3 or 4 times. The couches and drapery all had new red dot patterns too.

The whole point of docking is to avoid this tail damage and to keep the tail from splittingand bleeding. Once damaged, the tail is extremely difficult to heal, causing unduestress and pain. Poor Ozzie. It felt like his first year of life was with a near permanentbandage on the end of his tail.

By the age of 3 years, Ozzies tail looked a wreck. It was scarred and scabby andbleeding...still! And after 3 years of humming and hawing, scrubbing and bandaging Ihad had enough too. This was not ever going to get better. It was only going to getworse.


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Off we went to the vet. As a full grown dog, this was no longer going to be a simpledocking procedure. That window of opportunity was long gone. Because this tail wasfully grown with developed nerves and tendons, this was now considered anamputation. General anaesthesia was needed to induce unconsciousness and to gaincomplete control of pain and muscle relaxation. The major risks were those of general

anesthesia, bleeding, postoperative infection and wound breakdown over the incision.The operation normally takes approximately 30 minutes, barring any complications. InOzzies case, exactly 5 inches was removed, one third of his 15 inch long tail. Theoperation wasnt easy. The skin was very, very tight. The vet wasnt sure if the stitcheswould even hold. And the next challenge was to keep it clean and dry while living on anisland surrounded by, of course, water. Even more torture for my dear Ozzie. Hisabsolute favourite place to be is in the water. All this and to make it worse we wereenduring the wettest summer on record in years.

The recovery was very difficult and extremely challenging. Our life revolved around

that tail. Unfortunately our worst fears came true when the tail became infected.Strangely with an anaerobic bacteria, one that lives without oxygen. Go figure! So nomore bandages, and now an enormous problem keeping it dry. Instead of 7 to 10 daysof healing, we couldnt remove the sutures until 21 days and the healing still continuedfor another 2 weeks.

Despite the challenges and setbacks, our efforts were completely worth it. Ozzies taileventually healed perfectly. And it is wonderful. Somehow it miraculously JUST missesevery tree, corner, table, or hard object by a millimetre. Whoever came up with thismagic measurement was a genius. And I have had absolutely no trouble with it since.Ozzie doesnt miss it either. I now understand what tail damage means and howimportant it is to avoid. But if you dont dock those tails at 2 to 5 days, you are lookingat a much more complicated situation.

The experiment of many countries who have banned tail docking has actually provendisastrous for many working dogs such as the Vizsla, the Weimaraner and the GermanShort Haired Pointer. I have read that some countries who have banned tail dockingare currently considering reversing the law, allowing docking of hunting breeds forhumanitarian reasons. In Sweden there has been a substantial increase in tail injuriesreported among working dogs since the ban. In Denmark the anti-docking lawspecifically excludes five hunting breeds, the Hungarian Vizsla being one of those five.

Germany also excludes gun dogs from their docking ban.

In conclusion the thought that I am left with is....dont paint every dog with the samebrush. Sure, in some breeds, docking and cropping may be cosmetic. In my opinion,maybe even barbaric. But there are very good reasons for the procedure to be usedwith other breeds, such as the Vizsla. Blanket banning in my view is irresponsible.


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Each breed should be considered carefully before taking such potentially drasticmeasures.

Lynn SimpsonVizsla owner for 18 years

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To Dock or Not to Dock