Rottweiler why dock tail

It is important to note though that the study only focused on working-type dog breeds. For example, guard dogs may be vulnerable to having their tails grabbed to stop its attack. Meanwhile, hunting dogs may injure their tails while in the under bush. However, these largely remain unproven by research and should be taken with a grain of salt. Of course, there are breeders who want to follow breeding standards.

The American Kennel Club still includes a docked tail in their official description of the Rottweiler breed. However, this is frowned upon by critics as this reason ends up being for cosmetic purposes alone. Perhaps the best argument against tail docking non-working Rottweilers is that having a full tail does not make much of a difference in their behavior or physical abilities at all.

Thus, subjecting them to the tail docking procedure may just be for nothing. We have noticed no difference at all between Rottweilers with docked or natural tails when it comes to running, working, daily and even showing. Such claims are just misconceptions that some breeders might have propagated in order to sell a puppy with a natural tail over one with a docked tail and vice versa.

For example, some people believe that a good deal of Rottweiler attacks is just a result of miscommunication between a tailless dog and another person. Keeping natural tails may also be a way for breeders to save on some money. It may even easily cost more depending on the veterinarian that will do the procedure. Having read all these arguments favoring one tail over the other, we would like to reiterate that the final decision is still up to you.

Just be sure to follow these conditions:. These dogs were used by the Romans as cattle dogs, also used to guard camps, such as their namesake Rottweil in Germany. Rottweilers are territorial and highly protective, which requires a high degree of training on the part of an owner. Rottweilers are a medium-large breed, with great strength, agility and power. Typically, Rottweilers have their tails docked at birth, which means that the tail is cut very short. This was historically done in working dogs to prevent injury to the tail.

There is a movement against docking, suggesting in modern times this practice is no longer necessary. In fact, some countries such as England and Germany have made docking illegal. Take your puppies to the vet if this is your first litter. Do not try to dock puppy tails on your own if you have never done this before. Alternatively, seek out the assistance of an experienced, reputable breeder who is recommended by the American Rottweiler Club. Today some Rottweilers are still working dogs and their tails are docked to lower the risk of injury.

Mostly though, a docked tail is cosmetic these days, and it is the look we have come to expect on a Rottweiler. So much so that the AKC considers a docked tail the breed standard for Rottweilers. Tail-docking is properly done through a surgical procedure. Ideally, the dog is anesthetized, although it is very common to skip anesthesia, reasoning that the dog is too young at the age of the procedure days old to remember the pain.

The tail is snipped off with surgical scissors or the circulation is interrupted by placing a rubber band around the tail. Dogs are not the only animals that commonly have their tail docked. Whether or not tail docking is legal depends on where you live. In the United States, 21 states have regulations in place governing elective surgery on animals like tail docking.

Even show dogs in the United Kingdom are undocked unless their tail was docked before the law came into effect in In Scotland docking tails of any breed dog is illegal. The map just below shows a worldwide view of the legal status for tail-docking for dogs.

Furthermore, tail docking may prevent dogs from being able to communicate appropriately with other dogs or people and may inhibit their agility or mobility. In some cases, there can be side effects from tail cropping that can result in more problems for a Rottweiler. It is likely that ongoing research into the effects of docking versus not docking will help us to determine whether this practice is cruel or helpful, and which dogs do better with docked tails versus those that suffer from the practice.

You may notice that many other types of dogs that have docked tails, such as the Dogo Argentino or Pitbull, also have cropped ears. Why is this? Cropped ears have never been in the breed standard for Rottweilers.

It may be that the drop ears were more functional in helping Rottweilers to smell and follow livestock. Communication with livestock and with people has always been very important in the jobs that Rottweilers have held, so keeping ears to allow for greater expression was important.

This is especially true since Rottweiler tails are so often cropped, reducing their ability to express themselves in that way. Rottweilers were not historically used to fight with other dogs or against large animals in rings as much as many other bully type dogs were.

Dogs like Pitbulls and American Bulldogs had cropped ears in order to avoid having their ears shredded by other dogs in a fight. Both the ears and tail were considered a weak spot that were best removed to avoid having them injured in the ring. Since Rottweilers have not typically been used to fight in this way, there would have been no motivation to crop the ears. People who have used their Rottweilers for fighting very likely would crop the ears.

Rottweilers typically have their hind dew claws removed at the same time that the tail is docked. Like removing the tip of the tail, removing dewclaws can be painful. Most veterinarians agree that hind dewclaws should be removed. Hind dewclaws are usually insecurely attached and very likely to get caught up on things and cause problems. Many breeders believe that front dewclaws have the same problem and should therefore be removed.

Typically dewclaws on the front are removed by most Rottweiler breeders. However, there is a strong argument to not remove the dewclaws on the front, especially if you intend for your Rottweiler to be a working dog. Dewclaws can help your Rottweiler to grip terrain, assailants, or cattle. If you intend to show your Rottweiler with the AKC, dewclaw removal is necessary, but it may not be essential if you are showing with other breed organizations. The Rottweiler is one of the oldest breeds of dogs, and people have been docking their tails for a very long time.

By the time the Rottweiler breed standard was originally drawn up in Germany around , tail docking was well established in the breed. When the AKC breed standard was formalized in the s, docking remained in the AKC breed standard and is still there today.

However, in other parts of the world, the Rottweiler had a different experience with tail docking. Around the s, bans on docking began to be put into place in Europe and throughout the world. Currently, the majority of Rottweilers born and showed in the USA at AKC shows have docked tails, while the majority of Rottweilers born and showed overseas may have undocked tails.