late docking

[Aga]

One of the puppies from my I litter (1 year old now) - Ivanhoe - had to have his tail docked when he was 8 or 9 months because of injuries. The owner told me there were no problems with healing or in general with his health after the docking.

[Irena]

Jun 4, 2009 1:29:26 GMT 1 Lois said:

I don't have a problem with long tails but they need to be well covered with hair and substantial. The fine whippy tails seem to be the ones that get damaged from my experience.

Oh, mine are very substantial! They're extremely strong and vigorous, and not fine like on a sighthound.

The tail on one of my pups also looks like a withered branch, it is half-bald due to the tape which was used to try and cover the wound at the tip.

Jun 4, 2009 7:36:05 GMT 1 @marjolein said:

I've been working as a vet tech (in 3 practices) for 16 years now and we haven't had more than 10 tail injuries over these years.

I'm envious - I've seen 3 in the course of 1 year, and I'm not even a vet tech. They're not grave injuries per se, just the very tip being cut open against a door or a wall, but can cause a lot of trouble.

Maybe I'm doing something wrong though - I do make sure to yell at my puppies for getting happy and excited to see me , I keep them in a constant "down stay" when inside, I don't let them come to my bed to greet me in the morning (because behind them is a bookshelf on which they've already damaged the tip of the tail), and I generally avoid looking at them when at home so they wouldn't get excited and risk an injury yet again. Oh and in the winter I discovered that it's better not to ask them to sit before letting them off leash, because in doing the sit and hitting the tail excitedly against the hard icey snow it can get damaged too. What other precautions are there?

Thanks a lot for the comments, so I understand it's a matter of luck with late docking, but that would hopefully end the problems for good, so it might just be worth it.