Help!! Should I dock my Pembroke puppies tails?

Hello everyone,

I know it is late to be thinking of this as I have six, beautiful, two day old AKC Registrable Pembrokes <3 Mom & pups are doing great :) I had planned all along to dock their tails to the breed standard. Now they are here & I have fallen in love with their little tails! I have one day to decide what to do! I don't want to hurt them :( I don't want Adella to hate me for hurting her pups :(

I have done tons of research & work closely with Adella's breeder. She docks her puppies tails, not to conform with breed standard but to prevent infections later in life. Evidently, they like to curl their tails around their body & are prone to be not very clean.

Does anybody have any experience with pems with tails? Any advice? I don't know what to do!?

Thanks, will post pictures soon :)

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Permalink Reply by Teresa Gilpin on July 8, 2012 at 5:59pm

Your puppies are precious! I am glad you decided to keep their beautiful tails. Good luck with these little angels and please post more pictures!

Permalink Reply by Jennifer on July 9, 2012 at 1:30am

I think that docking a tail is a personal preference, especially when they aren't headed for a show/competition ring. In my area, you see many corgi's as working dogs and none with a tail.

I have a litter of 7 - 3/4 corgi and 1/4 poodle puppies that were two weeks old last Friday. On day 3, I took them in and had their tails docked. When they were done, mom and I sat in the lobby and they went to the back for about 20 minutes and came back none the worse for wear. They have had no infections, experienced no visible discomfort and have healed marvelously. I will say that I doubted whether to do it or not for weeks, even before they were born. I consulted a breeder - someone who bred the Pem, not for show, but for farm/ranch work and they said to dock them. Would I do it differently now? I don't know, but it's done now. My pups are already slated to go to a very reputable local dog breeder who will take them when they're old enough and home them for me. I will NOT put them in the paper or on any online list... btdt with kittens and around here, at best it's a 50/50 as to whether they'll actually appreciate the work you've put into the babies to make them good pets.

As for why I bred my corgi/poodle... I didn't. Sally was a rescue who'd only been with me a few days. A "good samaritan" came by my house one evening walking her male Pem, while Sally was out in the front of the house (I'd walked to the back yard for a minute and when I came back, she was gone - I live in a small town of about 300 - drove for nearly an hour, up and down every street calling for her until it got too dark). ) This person claimed that Sally followed her 7 blocks home and even crossed a highway to be with her. They put her in with their male who "wasn't supposed to be able to breed"(he was a rescue too, 3 years ago that had never been fixed). They placed an ad on a local radio station the next morning, I called, and picked her up on the way home from work.

I never thought anything about it - until she started gaining weight. By the time that I realized what had really happened, she was too far along to abort without putting her at risk. I am not an irresponsible pet owner but merely doing my best to make the best of a bad situation. Sally will be fixed as soon as she's able.

Permalink Reply by Chris, Kadi & Brodie on July 10, 2012 at 10:55am

I'm glad you decided not to dock. I have one Pem who was docked and another who wasn't and I love his tail! He has no health problems because of it. I've seen tons of posts on this site of people looking for pups from breeders who don't dock, so I'm sure that will help you find homes for those you don't wish to keep.

Now, just a word about breeding--I know the prevailing philosophy is that only show dogs should be bred, but in truth that does limit the gene pool and it also raises the price of pups to often prevent people from having dogs. While uneducated breeding can cause problems in breeds--for example this is why labs have so much hip dysplasia--it doesn't have to be the case. It isn't so much the lack of show dogs being bred that cause these problems as it is when breeds become popular and puppy mills start mass producing dogs. Our Kadi comes from a farm home where her parents have been matched several times and she is a wonderful little corgi. They work their dogs on a farm and she is tough as nails. Had I been constrained to buying from show quality dogs, I would probably not have a corgi because I would not have been able to justify the cost.

So, my point here is that it's not ALWAYS irresponsible to breed dogs that aren't from some established kennel that has been around for eons and has all sorts of ribbons to show for it.

Permalink Reply by Tomi and Story on July 12, 2012 at 7:43pm