Working Spaniels with undocked tails?

[Scranny_Ann]

I've recently 'acquired' (i.e. given to me as he was unwanted

) a gorgeous 12 month old black and white springer spaniel called Jake.

Lovely dog but has been passed from pillar to post since he was born

and is very timid to say the least, very thin and was full of worms/fleas when he first arrived

but nevertheless very sweet indeed having taken him out on several occasions for a 1-to-1 to allow him to get to know me he is showing great potential for retrieving!

All 8 of our dogs are working, 3 of them are mine and are used for picking up.

He's apparently been very difficult in the past, but i think this is more down to people attempting to train him for working but having no idea what they are doing, losing their temper and hitting him

, i am his fourth owner

Seems to me he's a female's dog as he's really starting to 'relax' around me now. Wouldnt make eye contact or anything at first and skulked everywhere whereas now he's pinging around like a spaniel should!!

Anyway after all that babble... what i really want to know is your opinion/personal experiences on working dogs with a full length tail???

I've personally never had one, ours have always been docked. I know of a few people with undocked spaniels and they are permanently in the vets with bleeding/infected tails after shoot days etc. I'm hoping i will be one of the lucky ones, but he does wag his tail ALOT when he's in cover which is usually when they get so damaged

Any info greatly appreciated.

Thanks for getting this far!!

p.s. photo's of Jake to follow soon, hopefully this weekend.

xx

 

[peanut]

My sister has a working spaniel which lost its undocked tail in undergrowth. She wouldn't have docked out of choice.

 

[kirstyhen]

Otto is undocked, I wouldn't have had that through choice, but he was the dog I wanted.

He has yet to properly work, but our walks take us through some pretty heavy cover. He has a fairly long tail, however he carries it very low, so I was hopeful....

I have no lost count of the number of times he has come back with a split tail

He wags it very hard, it hits his ribcage either side.

I have been advised to keep the feathering short enough to protect, but not long enough to get caught. Also try Vetwrap - on www.nobs.org.uk there is a forum, and has been a post on how best to wrap the tail.

Unfortuantely you will probably find that these steps will just postpone the inevitable.

 

[ScotPonio]

sometimes dogs are prone to getting them caught but most working labradors have theirs un docked so i don't see it could be a problem, remember if it does become very bad the vet can dock for the health and happiness of the dog

 

[kirstyhen]

[ QUOTE ]
sometimes dogs are prone to getting them caught but most working labradors have theirs un docked so i don't see it could be a problem, remember if it does become very bad the vet can dock for the health and happiness of the dog

[/ QUOTE ]

Labradors and Spaniels do two very different job, which is why it is not a problem for Labs.

Most Vets will only dock as a last resort, so wou will have months of splitting and infection first.