NATURAL TAILS AND DEWCLAWS
WE REALLY LOVE THE LOOK OF NATURAL, INTACT TAILS ON OUR COCKERS--as seen on a black and white Cocker boy that we bred here named SunCatcher's Blue Moon Jester--who is the dog pictured at the beach on the top of this webpage and in other numerous pictures on this page about intact tails and dewclaws.
And Jester belongs to Tammy Mehmed, who is a dog trainer in San Francisco, California, and we thank her for providing these wonderful pictures of Jester as he has grown up, especially as they are the best pictures that we have of a Cocker with a fully intact tail. And Jester also lives with Harleigh, a ten year old black and white Cocker girl. And you can roll your curser over any picture in the text of this webpage and an alternate text box will pop up and tell you what that particular picture is all about. And Jester is in training for both Rally and Agility trials, and won his first medal and ribbons in Rally before he was two years old.
And Tammy can be reached through her website called The Puppy Nanny.
We strongly feel that docking is no longer necessary for American Cockers, and especially those in pet homes. And we had hoped that when we stopped docking our Cockers' tails in the Spring of 2007 that we would be able to educate Cocker puppy buyers that docking tails and removing dewclaws is simply not necessary, so we wrote this short article about natural tails and dewclaws. But unfortunately too many Cocker buyers still prefer docked tails, so we have had to stop producing Cocker puppies. But we'll leave this article on our website as we think that it's still informative.
And in our lengthy research over the years about the Spaniel type of dog, we have found several old paintings and prints of Spaniels with tails, so docking has not always been practiced on Spaniels.The above picture is of a charcoal drawing, identified as being of a Spaniel, and probably from the early 1900's in England. And the picture just below is of a print, identified right on the bottom of the print as of a Spaniel, but we were not able to ascertain its date. But as you can see from these pictures, Spaniels look great with their natural tails!
And if you would like to see what a natural tail looks like on other modern adult American Cockers, you may go to this American Cocker website in Sweden, although we think that the Cocker tails in Europe look strange as they are completely clipped short, and we prefer a fully plumed tail. And we are currently raising several Cockers here with complete tails, and we have found that we actually now prefer the look of an American Cocker with its intact tail rather than the look of a docked tail.
And we've discovered this picture of a painting by the British painter George Stubbs, painted in 1784, of what appears to be a handsome chocolate seal and white marked Spaniel with the most gorgeous plume of a tail. Of course this is a larger dog than American Cockers, but the smaller Cocker Spaniels were not really developed until the mid 1800's, and American Cockers were not even an official breed until 1946.
And the above engraving done in 1880 shows that by that date the Cocker Spaniel, which was developed in England for hunting woodcocks, was a long, low, smaller dog marked somewhat like a Beagle, with a long snout and minimal coat length--but with what looks like an undocked tail. And since that time the American Cocker has come to look much more like the toy King Charles Spaniel--also shown above--than the Cockers' origin in a smaller hunting type dog capable of going after birds in brush.
But we finally decided to stop docking because in the past we have had some serious health problems with docking puppy tails and dewclaw removal--all done at our vet's office--including tail infections that healed very slowly and/or left bald spots on the tips of the tails. But it was the death of two four day old puppies from MRSA staph infections that entered their bodies through their docked tails, despite all of our efforts to save them, that finally made us realize that we were putting our puppies' lives at risk for a cosmetic reason only, as very few American Cockers are still used in hunting. And we have recently read an article that explains how stress experienced early in life can cause long-lasting changes in physiology and behavior -- via epigenetics.
And the reason given for docking Cocker tails is to avoid damage to the tail while hunting in the field. But lots of other gun dog breeds do not dock tails, so we have never understood that reasoning. And Tammy tells us that Jester has very "intact" hunting instincts and frequently has his nose to the ground, as if he is tracking an animal. But in the picture above, taken when Jester was five months ood, both his head and tail carriage are attractively erect.
And the picture above, taken at seven months old, shows off Jester's gorgeous black and white markings, which are called "Irish" marked.
And it is very difficult for any breeder to discuss inevitable puppy losses, much less losses caused by tail docking, which were totally avoidable. But we feel that we have to acknowledge our puppy deaths from staph getting into docking wounds in order to impress upon puppy buyers the seriousness of the consequences of tail docking and dew claw removal just for "looks"--and especially now that we have seen Cockers with intact tails and feel that they look better with their tails. And we require that puppy buyers promise in our contract not to dock the tail of any puppy that they buy from us, or remove the dewclaws--all only for cosmetic reasons. Of course an actual injury that requires surgery is something else again.
Before we ran into these serious health consequences with our docked puppies, we bought into all of the propaganda that tail docking and dew claw removal was just like having a human baby's ears pierced, and just as benign. But now we know better, as we learned the hard way. Plus we believe that docking and dewclaw removal is a stressor that sets back the surviving puppies' development substantially, as the litters that we have not docked--both purebred and cross bred pups--got off to a great start right from the beginning.
And tail docking is no longer legal in many parts of Europe, and docking has been banned in Scotland, England and Wales, and more recently in the whole Canadian province of New Brunswick. We are not generally for the socialisic, animal-rights, European way of raising dogs, but in this instance we believe that not docking is the better choice for raising happy, healthy dogs, and we would like for "not docking" to become a more viable choice for all dog breeders.
And on November 20, 2008 the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) issued an official position on this subject as follows:
"AVMA policy Ear Cropping and Tail Docking (Oversight: AWC; HOD 07/1999, EB revised 11/2008)
The AVMA opposes ear cropping and tail docking of dogs when done solely for cosmetic purposes The AVMA encourages the elimination of ear cropping and tail docking from breed standards."
So hopefully this revised stance by the AVMA will help change the minds of the many other Cocker breeders that we have spoken to who just despise docking tails, but they all say that it is just too difficult to sell Cockers with tails, so they have to do it. But this will be too late for us, as unfortunately after over two years of trying to sell our Cocker puppies with intact tails, we finally had to give up breeding purebred Cockers with tails, as we faced the financial reality of the lack of demand for Cockers with undocked tails. So continuing breeding Cockers with intact tails is just not economically feasible for us at this point.
So we will continue to enjoy the Cockers that we have here with intact tails that we are breeding for our designer litters. But we now only breed designer mixes with very attractive intact, plumed tails that no one would ever dream of docking--and for which we have a demand. But perhaps one day we will see the day when Cocker tails are no longer docked, and there is an actual demand for purebred American Cockers with intact tails.
And our vet loves us for stopping docking ANY of our puppies, and she has told us that the front dewclaws are attached to the bone in Cockers, so there is certainly possible nerve damage involved with removing the front Cocker dewclaws, while the rear dewclaws are virtually absent, and should thus present no problems if left intact.
And we're not sure that having a tail helps Jester swim toward his ball--as shown above at Lake Tahoe, California. But many Cockers do like to swim and play in the water.
And although docking American Cocker tails is traditional here in the United States, and is absolutely required in the AKC show ring for American Cockers, we have never really liked docking, as we feel that it is entirely unnecessary for today's pet Cocker, which is no longer a hunting dog. Docking is also a "surgery" that is done without anesthesia, and like all surgeries it carries some risk to the dog--especially infections. And dogs also use their front dewclaws to help manipulate objects, and to help dig into the ground when making sharp turns--in order to give them more stability. And there are lots of nerves to these areas of the body that can be damaged by this surgery.
Historically Cocker tails have been docked in order to reduce tail injuries out in the field, where Cockers were once used to flush out game birds from heavy brush. One-half to two-thirds of the tail is removed, and we understand that a tail of at least four inches is required for a show Cocker in the ring. Breeders would use a sharp pair of shears for the task, but now veterinarians usually dock tails, before the pups are five days old, and dewclaws are also removed at the same time.
But tail docking does have effects, and the puppy is rarely anesthetized by local or general anesthetic due to the risks involved in a newborn. But the procedure is painful and causes stress to the animal. And there is always the risk of infection and possibly death from the procedure, as well as hemorrhage, meningitis, chronic pain and/or loss of sensation, as there is often damage to the nerves.
Tail docking also effects the dog's gait and balance, and we have read that the Cocker's spread stance is due to its needing to balance in some other way without much of a tail. And for more information about the effects of docking tails you may go to the the Anti Docking Alliance website.
And we can see with the Cockers that we have here now with intact tails that they certainly do use their tails for balance in movement. And you can see in the picture of Jester to the left, practicing for agility trials on the A-frame, that he is using his tail for balance in this exercise.
And psychologist and best selling author of many books about dogs, Stanley Coren states that dogs with docked tails are often victims of aggressive encounters with other dogs, as apparently dogs use their tails as part of their body language when communicating with each other. But dogs with docked tails unintentionally send out mixed signals to other dogs that may result in aggressive attacks.
We were also unable to find a vet who liked to perform docking and dewclaw removal, or who can even perform Cocker docking correctly, and our tails have traditionally been docked by various vets either way too short or way too long. And we feel that no part of an animal's body is truly vestigial, and that body parts are present for a purpose. And for more information about the consequences of dewclaw removal please see Another Look at Dewclaws by the noted German Shepherd breeder, judge and writer, Fred Lanting.
And Jester has already won his first medal in Rally, as seen above, posing with his ribbons and the stuffed animal that he won for being the youngest winner in the competition--all won before he was two years old.
And Jester has a wonderful stance and a plumed white tipped tail that looks beautiful when he is out running on the beach in San Francisco. And Jester is out of our seal-merle and white male named Zecchino and a small dark red and mostly white Cocker girl named SunCatcher's Dolcetto D'Alba--call name "Dolly"--who is now retired from breeding.
And we have many more pictures of Jester that Tammy has sent to us that we will one day feature on a webpage dedicated just to him. But this picture above, where he is framed in the golden glow of a sunset behind the Golden Gate Bridge, is currently our favorite picture of him--even though it does not feature his gorgeous fully intact tail. And these pictues of Jester taken in and around San Francisco are nostalgic for us because we did live in that beautiful city for over three years--but a long time ago.
CONTACT INFORMATION
WE ARE LOCATED IN THE RURAL GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA area, near Cross City, Florida, just a few miles from the Gulf of Mexico. We can be contacted by E-mail at:
jolie.chiens@gmail.com
"Money will buy you a pretty good dog, but it won't buy the wag of his tail."
Unknown Author
