In one cage at the pet store was a three-month old Welsh Corgi, nine pounds of energy and a tail that looked as if it belonged on a floppy-eared rabbit.
      In another cage was a four-month old Rottweiler, with bright brown eyes and a stump for a tail.
      The clerk didn't know why the tails were cut off. "That's the way they come," she said, tossing off the question while continuing to clean the cages of the 148 breeds recognized by the American Kennel Club (AKC), 42 have "breed standards" that require or strongly suggest tail docking; 13 have standards for cropping to force ears to stand up. The AKC claims standards are established by individual clubs--all of which deduct points for dogs that don't conform to their "standards" --and that the AKC has no restrictions to register or to show a dog. Nevertheless, the AKC recognizes that docking and cropping "are acceptable practices integral to defining and preserving breed character and/or enhancing good health," according to Noreen Baxter, vice-president of public education.
      Veterinarians and animal behaviorists recognize that the tail helps a dog to balance and, more importantly, to communicate with other dogs.
      Docking usually occurs between one and four days after birth by placing a ligature over the tail, cutting off the blood supply. The tail then falls off within three days. The tail canalso be cut off by using surgical scissors. The Council of Docked Breeds (CDB), an international association based in England, claims there is no pain.
      "It's a painful procedure," counters Dr. James Serpell, associate professor of humane ethics and animal welfare at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Veterinary Medicine. He points out, "pain blocking mechanisms available to older dogs may not be available" to puppies. The Australian Veterinarian Association emphasizes, "While young animals cannot express pain the same way as adult humans do, anatomical studies indicate that they are superbly capable of feeling pain, and biochemical studies show that they do suffer short- and long-term effects from surgery."
      There is significant pain when ears are cut, shaped, then bandaged for several months to assure they meet "breed standards." In veterinarians' clinics, the surgery is done under general anesthesia, usually when the dog is between 10 and 14 weeks old. The ears stay bandaged three to six weeks. Cropping "helps minimize ear infections," claims the AKC's Baxter. Dr. Serpell says there is "no excuse at all to crop ears." Most breeders "crop ears of breeds that don't even have a history of ear infection," says Dr. Holly Cheever, of the Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights.
      Because dogs are considered by state law to be property, individual owners may perform the procedures, often without a proper sterile environment or anesthesia.
       During the 1890s, England's breeders and veterinarians stopped cropping. The American Humane Association in 1913 asked the AKC to follow England's example. The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) in 1986 asked the AKC "to change breed and show standards."However, the AKC has ignored the recommendations, says Dr. Art Tennyson, AVMA assistant executive vice-president. In seventeenth and early eighteenth century America, paranoid Puritans believed dogs' tails were possessed by demons, and cut them off. In some countries, tails were docked because dogs "have to hunt game through heavy vegetation and thick brambles, where their fast tail action can easily lead to torn and bleeding tails which are painful and extremely difficult to treat," according to the CDB. However, few dogs sold today are used in hunting. The CDB claims that even non-working breeds "which have an enthusiastic tail action are also liable to damage their tails," even if they only "work" at home.
      "That's simply nonsense," says Dr. Cheever. In 20 years of practice, she says she has seen only two tails that could not be healed by proper veterinary assistance and had to be amputated. Dr. Serpell says the breeders' claims are nothing less than "a lame excuse to continue the practice."
      The CDB also claims "long haired, thick coated breeds . . . are docked to avoid the hair around the base of the tail becoming fouled by feces." But, most large-tailed dogs, including German Shepherds and Collies, have no difficulty figuring out how to avoid hygiene problems.
      Finally, the CDB, like thousands of breeders, claims that because certain breeds were bred with little attention to "tail length, shape or carriage," if the breeds were not docked, "it is unlikely that the best dogs would carry good tails . . . breeders would be left with a diminished number of suitable sires and dams [and] the genetic pool would be reduced, greatly increasing the risk of hereditary disease taking hold [and] some breeds could even disappear for ever." It is a twisted argument with little substance that disguises the fact most tail docking and almost all ear cropping are done solely for cosmetic reasons.
      There have "never been any reputable trials that could even remotely claim" such practices are beneficial to dogs, according to the Australian Veterinary Association. Canada's Veterinary Medical Association condemns docking and cropping "for purely cosmetic purposes." The Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights argues docking and cropping are unacceptable because "the suffering and disfigurement they cause the animal are not offset by any benefits."
      Four separate resolutions to ban or to significantly reduce the number of procedures will be presented to the AVMA national convention, July 8-12. The resolution of the American Animal Hospitals Association says docking and cropping "for cosmetic reasons are not medically indicated nor of benefit to the patient." The New Jersey Veterinary Medical Association argues that its resolution "is a reflection of growing sentiment among veterinarians who feel strongly that [such procedures] are unnecessary . . . when done for purely cosmetic reasons."
       The Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical Association (PVMA) has taken no position on the resolutions, says Dr. Amy Hinton, Chambersburg, PVMA president. "We can't regulate the entire constituency," she says, noting that individual veterinarians should be allowed to make their own decisions about performing the procedures.
       The Georgia legislature is considering a bill to ban docking and cropping.
       In the United Kingdom, only veterinarians are allowed to perform these procedures. However, few surgeries are done because the Council of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons has ruled these procedures are unethical and inhumane, except for medical reasons. The 39-member Council of Europe Convention opposes docking and cropping, and 14 countries ban these procedures as unjustified mutilation.
       If humans want to bob their noses, augment their breasts, or pierce their bodies, it's their decision. But, to subject a dog to butchery because of imperious "breed standards"is nothing less than cruelty, and must be condemned.

Copyright 2000 Walter M. Brasch