Study Finds Tail Docking Creates Aggressive Dogs
Posted By Ryan O'Meara Date: 25/03 Posted Under: Animal Welfare, Dog NewsDogs with docked tails are more likely to be involved in aggressive exchanges with other dogs according to new research.
Scientists at the University of Victoria in Vancouver, Canada studied a robotic dog with a mechanical back-end and detachable tail and studied how 492 dogs reacted to the robo-dog, with tail and without.
They found dogs approached a dog with a docked tail more nervously than with the full tail attached.
These findings, whilst it has to be said can’t be considered conclusive given the use of a robo-dog in the first place, tend to bear out what many canine behaviour experts have thought for decades - that a dog’s tail is an essential tool in its ability yo communicate properly with other canines.
The university’s biologist Tom Reimchen said
“Think of it this way, what type of teenager would you get if everyone approached him saying, ‘I don’t trust you’? What type of personality would emerge from that? It could be the same in dogs.”
Many dogs are docked for no other reason than to meet a breed standard. In other words, there is no particular medical or safety reason for the dock, it is purely cosmetic. This research would give more weight to the suggestion that docked dogs are at a disadvantage when it comes to their ability to convey their emotions to other animals and indeed people.
“Our research does show a possible connection between losing that signal and losing the ability to communicate with a potential increase in aggression,” said Reimchen.
Britain has banned tail docking under the 2006 Animal Welfare Act, although there is still a provision with that act which states:
32. (Its is) an offence to show a dog at an event to which a fee-paying public is admitted if the dog has had its tail removed. It will be irrelevant, for these purposes, whether the dog’s tail was removed in England and Wales or elsewhere. This ban on showing will apply to all dogs whose tail was removed after the date on which this section comes into force.
33. Subsection (10) provides an exemption to that ban if a certified working dog is being shown only for the purpose of demonstrating its working ability. Subsection (11) ensures that a person would not be liable to conviction if he could show that he reasonably believed either that the dog was docked before the section came into force, that the fee paying public was not being admitted or that the dog was a certified working dog demonstrating its working abilities.
The tail docking legislation of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 comes under the category ‘Mutilation’. However, it would appear, it is not cruel or ‘mutilating’ for a dog’s tail to be docked provided people are not paying to see the dog show.
Even in 2006, we still appear to be saddled with some weird and wacky canine legislation!
Still, perhaps not quite as weird and wacky as….
Hartford, Connecticut
It is illegal to educate dogs.Northbrook, Illinois
It is illegal for dogs to bark for more than fifteen minutes.Zion, Illinois
It is illegal for anyone to give lighted cigars to dogs, cats, and other domesticated animals kept as pets.
Oh, a let us not forget this ‘hillarious’ piece of legislation which has seen many, many innocent dogs killed because of how they look. No, let us NOT forget that one.
RELATED LINKS:
RSPCA Issues Initial Response To Draft Animal Welfare Bill
K9 Magazine Special Report: The Animal Welfare Bill
Kennel Club Stance on Animal Welfare Bill
Tail Docking Debate Rages On
Dog Charity Condemns Tail Docking As ‘Cruel’ and ‘Unnecessary’
Council of Docked Breeds Attack ‘Parliament Propaganda’ Over Tail Docking Issue
Ryan O'Meara is editor-in-chief of K9 Magazine, the lifestyle magazine for dog lovers. He lives in the East Midlands with his own two dogs, Mia and Chloe. - See this author's webpage
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Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 at 1:36 am and is filed under Animal Welfare, Dog News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
The article states: “However, it would appear, it is not cruel or ‘mutilating’ for a dog’s tail to be docked provided people are not paying to see the dog show.”
This is wrong.
Animal Welfare Act 2006
Section 6(1):
“A person commits an offence if—
(a) he removes the whole or any part of a dog’s tail, otherwise than for the purpose of its medical treatment;
(b) he causes the whole or any part of a dog’s tail to be removed by another person, otherwise than for the purpose of its medical treatment.”
See http://snipurl.com/22jpx for the full Act.
What appears to be missed in the scientific approach to tails (robot dog) is the fact that the robot dog did not have supra caudal scent glands. These glands appear one third the way down from the base of the tail of the Canis lupus familiaris; the hair is often coarser, sparser and of different colour where the glands are sited. It is believed that these glands possibly exude pheromones during the movement of the tail. Docked dogs often have their tails removed above this point and therefore it is possible that it affects their attitude towards other dogs and vice versa.