Docking

Equus Leather

Equus Leather

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Ok, we have an Italian Spinone, she is 10 and is docked. We are looking at getting another one, and have sourced a well-bred litter.

We are aware of the legislation from 2007....we would be using the puppy for working, and would require it to be docked. However the breeder is against this as they show alot of their dogs at crufts...which means they can't dock...paying public and all that.

It's very hard to find spinone litters....is there anyway round this?
 
I don't remember all the ins and outs of the docking issue, but I thougt that only the breeder can make this decision and that the pups had to be docked by a vet within a few days of being born. I'm sure they have to claim that the dogs are working, hence if you are buying from a show breeder then they won't do this. You would have to find a breeder who breeds dogs for the working market I'd imagine.

Sounds like it is out of your hands and if you really must have a docked dog then you are going to have to try to find a breeder who will do this for you.
 
We had our full litter of GWPs docked in June although not all have gone to working homes. We had to provide at least 2 pieces of evidence that at least some of the pups were intended for working homes and they had to be done within 3 days of birth.
We could have chosen to have only some docked but pre 3 days old buyers didn't want to choose their pups.
 
I had a litter of 4 cocker spaniels of which I had homes for 2 of them before they were even born. Both of these homes decided to keep the tails on their puppies which was fine but they had to choose their pups before they were 3 days old so that I could get the others docked.

I found that slthough the puppies owners had to choose their puppies early they bonded really well because they knew their puppy for 8 weeks before taking them home.
 
We dock our patterdale terrier litters.
Our vet knows my husband very well and also that we work ours around the farm but they also required to see and take a copy of his shot gun license, also all pups had to be microchipped before they went to their new homes. We could have some or all of them done, but we chose to have all done and as said above it is within 3 or 5 days old.
Patterdales are not KC recognised so we were OK on that front, as they are never going to be shown at a KC show!!
I would have thought that if you were happy to choose a pup that early on and the breeders vet was happy to do it provided you had proof you were going to work the pup, I can't see why the breeder would have a problem getting just one pup docked!
 
i'm pretty sure they can be docked when older but it's more of an operation that a quick 'dock'

Our local vets will actually dock ... but only if you have the entire littler chipped also.
 
You may very well get away with working a Spinone without a docked tail anyway - its not a dead cert that they will split their tail which would be so much more common in a spaniel which spends its life in the undergrowth!!

I don't know much about Spinone's but of the ones I have seen at the gundog scurries - I am very impressed, they seem to be very intelligent and useful.

I can see your dilemma, they are not very common but if you think you have found a good pup it may be worth taking the chance even if it is undocked.

I have just found this link - although the adverts are quite old perhaps you could contact the breeders that are advertising docked ones to see if they are having any more litters in the near future

http://www.thegundogclub.co.uk/Classifieds/puppies/spinone.htm
 
Thanks for all the replies.

The response I got from the breeders was less than favourable. Along the lines of we're not docking as it will ruin the years and years of hard work of breeding championship winners etc etc. I've emailed back to ask if we could choose one and have it docked at the early stage, but no response.

Tbh, having a spinone in the house with an undocked tail would also be a liability as much as it would be in the field. They are exceptionally waggy dogs!

Will see what they say.

Thanks for the link, but i've already contacted everyone on the list! Like I said, litters are really hard to come by
frown.gif


Fingers crossed!
 
It's only a problem within a show home if you enter a dog docked after April 07 at a show where the public has to pay to gain entry, i.e you wouldn't be able to enter at Crufts. However, as has already been said, you have to be able to prove that the pups are from working stock.

Someone we know had a puppy that wasn't docked and she injured her tail resulting in it have to be docked later on, she applied for permission from the KC to show the dog.

Mum's friend has Spins, I'll ask her for you
 
Thanks. The breeder is a top shower at Crufts (and is judging spins next year there), so understand that she can't dock her spins that go for showing. However, we have all the requisite licences for shooting to prove the dog would be working....just means we would have to pick the pup at an early age....

Still not heard back from the breeder. Hope I haven't blown it with them, it's taken us ages to find a litter.
 
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