rotti x

[lynneylou]

Hi our rotti x is 13 wks old now and I dont know whether because he is a x, it is necessary to get his tail docked, I don't want to.

[campbellking]

It's never necessary to dock any animal's tail unless it has been severely injured. It's done for fashion purposes only, and thankfully the British stopped this practice with horses some time ago, although this is widely seen in other European countries

[woofgang]

can I ask why you thought that you had to? In the UK if docking is done at all (I am anti myself) its done when the dog is days, not weeks old

[funnywebsite]

Vets are telling people not to have this done as it is unnesessary. It was done to make the dogs look harder but you obviously never got him for that reason so you should not get his tail removed as it is cruel.

[kaktus]

Don't do it. The tail is how a dog communicate. Besides it a docked tail looks ugly and why would it be necessary?

Thankfully it is forbidden in Denmark!

[Kimmiebear]

Tail docking can be done at the time of his neuter, but it is a very painful procedure. At work we label it as cosmetic (with a few exeptions of course) and do not preform them unless it is a purebred, that is going to be shown. Normally it is done when the pup is days old, but it can be done older. Because it is essentually an amputation, there are some heavy duty pain killers involved for the older dogs. It can be a nasty surgery and I would reccommend avoiding it. In Canada it is still allowed but many vets will only preform it on purebreds, and for medical reasons. Nasty thing to do if you ask me, right up there with declawing your cat, and cropping great dane ears. Foul!

[Eels]

Most UK vets, if they even dock tails at all, will only dock pups from working breeds (Rottweilers would not be included in this group) within a day or two of birth. The majority of vets won't even do that. It's also illegal for anyone other than a vet to dock tails. The RCVS (veterinary governing body) classes docking as an unnecessary mutilation. Vets which do dock tails therefore have to justify that docking is necessary for the animals' wellbeing. Docking, for most purposes, is extremely thin ice for vets.

In your case your dog absolutely does not need to be docked, even if you could find a vet daft enough to risk their career by doing it.