Tail protection on dog

Stevegeraghty

My springers tail wasn't docked and he has been getting a bloody tail :mad:
Does anyone use tail protectors or what do you go with?

blackstairsboy

I remember this coming up before and I think the general consensus was that there was no real practical solution. There was a lot of suggestions and opinions but I think none were really successful. I stand to be corrected however.

I know it is no good to you but the first thing I look at when looking at a springer pup is to see the tail neatly docked. I would not go near a pup who was not docked or who was badly docked. It is just my pet hate to see a badly docked pup or one not docked at all.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=73332514

A thread that may be useful to you if you have not seen it.

deeksofdoom

I have the same problem with a springer that I have. Her tail was only a quarter docked. She is a really hard hunting dog and the tail gets destroyed. In fact last year at the end of the season I had to bring her home as she was getting weak from the amount of blood she lost. I should really get the damaged bit of the tail removed a vet will do it but I'ld need to keep her away from the other dogs and I don't have the room to do this at the moment. What I'm going to do this season is wrap the whole tail up with gaffer tape and cotton wool and try to hold her back a bit, but really the only answer is to get the damaged part amputated.

Stevegeraghty

Im going to try wrapping his tail in vet wrap and see how it goes, I'd say cotton wool and duck tape will just slip off in the first bit of gorse he goes through

Shoot2kill

Casting tape and vet wrap. I had to use it for awhile on a bitch I have, but I eventually had to get it docked by the vet, it was in bits.

Spunk84

Nothing worse than a dog that's tail bleeds,looks like it came through a war .

ronn

blackstairsboy wrote: »

I remember this coming up before and I think the general consensus was that there was no real practical solution. There was a lot of suggestions and opinions but I think none were really successful. I stand to be corrected however.

I know it is no good to you but the first thing I look at when looking at a springer pup is to see the tail neatly docked. I would not go near a pup who was not docked or who was badly docked. It is just my pet hate to see a badly docked pup or one not docked at all.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=73332514

A thread that may be useful to you if you have not seen it.

Can you tell me what to look out for when buying a dog thats been docked, thanks bsb

Stevegeraghty

Any on seen or used these? Can they be gotten on this fair isle?

http://www.gundogsupply.com/lewis-dog-tail-protector.html

blackstairsboy

ronn wrote: »

Can you tell me what to look out for when buying a dog thats been docked, thanks bsb

When I say neatly docked I mean that there is no sign of the bone showing in the end of the tail. When you are viewing a litter at 8 weeks if there is bone showing it suggests to me that they were docked very recently and long after they should of been. This could have left the pups more open to infection etc. I like to see that they are not left too short or too long. I personally would not like anything more than half and preferably I would like less than that again. This though is purely personal others like a longer tail.

I also like to see that the person doing the docking had a bit of sense. This is obvious in that he did not just dock all the tails the same legnth. For instance if a pup had a half black or liver tail which then went white the lad docking would have the sense to dock leaving a bare bit of white. This looks very well on a working dog and will improve his hunting style. Triallers like this as it will catch the judges eye and show off the dogs style.

Bear in mind that none of this will improve your dogs ability. Also the pups are not being docked for cosmetic reasons as our anti friends would like to suggest. It is a practical way around an obvious problem.