Sunshine & Pogo's Labradoodles Have Arrived!

We are dog trainers as well as breeders and we found that dogs are somewhat handicapped by a docked tail.  It is like removing a communication device.  Our job as their handler is to be able to read their body language.  The tail does speak volumes to the handler. 

Both the American Veterinary Medical Association and the American Animal Hospital Association acknowledge that tail-docking (amputation) causes dogs pain and distress, as well as posing the risk of such medical complications as hemorrhaging and infection. The legal community is taking notice of the cruelty of such conduct as well. Just last year, several appellate justices on the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, stated that mutilating dogs by docking their tails is not justified simply for cosmetic show purposes.

Compassionate veterinarians object to the arbitrary removal of body parts used for communication, balance, and expression. Dogs "talk" to their human companions and other dogs using their tails (e.g. thumping to indicate submission or pleasure, held between legs when afraid, various forms of wagging for happiness, greetings, and warnings, etc.)

Cutting the tails off pups was once done to prevent their tails from being damaged. However, that was during the time when dogs worked for a living. Now, most dogs sit at home as companions for their human families and might at the most go to work as show dogs.