Docking used to be legal for dogs that were bred to work as it reduces the chance of a tail injury or getting trapped when they’re rooting about in the brambles for shot game. Has the law changed? Iggy was docked at 2 days old and I have the certificate of lawful docking the breeder got from the vet. He came from a proper gun dog breeder and in fact all but two of siblings went on to work for a living. The other one (another male) went to a Japanese couple who unfortunately had recently found out they couldn’t have kids - apparently he’s treated like a baby and lives a life of absolute luxury. His tail isn’t severely shortened and it looks really good, plus with it being shorter, it has the appearance of wagging much faster and it’s pretty cute and comical, as when I go to stroke him while he’s sitting or lying down, the flag/feathers on the end vibrate like the tip of a rattlesnake.
I will tread carefully here as i dont want to upset good owners but i get the same with cockapoo's. 90% of them seem to be complete yapping pita twats. And again its almost always down to the owner. Sorry if anyone has a cockapoo!
Yep. I’m sorry to say I’ve had the same experience. One of my cricket teammates has one and it’s a nervy, angry fucker. It used to go for Iggy every time he saw him, but one day he grew some stones and stood up for himself so the CP keeps his distance nowadays. I imagine it’s a combination of puppy farming leading to poor early socialisation and the type of owner they attract.
There was an old lady i got to know over the fields largely because she shares the same name as my mum and i have the same name as her son and she had this cockapoo that literally yapped in her face as we walked/talked, kept trying to mount/dominate my scooby and she did absolutely nothing about it. She even had the nerve to tell me one day that her neighbours moaned about her dog barking when she went out - "i think theyre making something out of nothing". Completely fucking oblivious to how intrusive it was. (She outed herself as a massive tory eventually so we dont go any further than a cursory nod these days)
I don’t understand the attraction tbh. For one thing, they all look exactly the same and the dense curly fur hides their facial expressions, which, for me is one of the most endearing things about a dog. And despite being half cocker, they almost never seem to inherit the happy-go-lucky, affectionate spaniel character either.
I think tail docking is illegal here but feel free to correct me. I’m just back from North America where I saw a lot of cropped ears on big fearsome looking dogs. Fucking awful practice imo and always makes me wince when I see it…
My understanding is this…. For tail docking to be legal, the following conditions must be met: It must only be carried out by a qualified vet. It must only be performed in puppies under five days old who are going to be working dogs, e.g. dogs in the armed forces or used for legal pest control.
Ear docking is a horrible practice and I feel taking a set of shears to the owner when I see it. Like you say, it’s big in that Americky as they don’t half love to fuck about with nature and puff up their machismo by making their dogs look demonic.
Also legal if the dog will be used for the lawful shooting of game. Pheasants aren’t pests, though my auntie who lives in N Yorkshire might beg to differ as she was telling me last week that she got attacked by one the week before in the car park of a National Trust property where she volunteers as a gardener.
Yep. But (iirc) even for those breeds mentioned, there still has to be the 'used for/as working' element. It's not enough to be one of those breeds, but just be a pet. You're the legal guy though, so (for ease ) I'll bow to your interpretation. The Docking of Working Dogs’ Tails (England) Regulations 2007 (legislation.gov.uk) seems pretty clear to me.
The f'cker that bounced off my helmet when I hit it at around 50mph was definitely a f'kin pest I was VERY lucky that day
Oi! I shoot occasionally. But I know what you mean - the stag do/corporate bonding jolly crowd are very annoying, not to mention sometimes dangerous. Even though Iggy was bred as a gundog, he’s not trained for it and tbh would probably be useless as he’s really hard-headed, easily distracted and he doesn’t like other dogs very much either. I’ve taken him clay pigeon shooting a few times to acclimatise him to the sound of gunfire (totally unphased - likewise with fireworks), but I decided that I don’t shoot game often enough to make it worthwhile training him for it, or, much more likely, having to pay someone to do it for me. You can send your dog away on a kind of boot camp and apparently when you get them back, they’re ready to go, but not only is it really expensive, we’ve never spent more than a couple days apart and I think a month’s separation would traumatise us both. I also reckon the trainer would need to be really quite harsh with him as he’s so wilful and doesn’t stick to tasks, and I don’t have the heart to put him through that.
There is nothing quite like the sound of gunfire on a Sunday morning to upset moi. That combined with some of their other annoying antics. My understanding is it’s a very real shooting party on private land and not a bunch on a jolly.
Had a while to think about this properly and I’d honestly let my dogs have a run and play with the XL bully dog iowners I see over the park than those doodle dogs. Always responsible (the ones I’ve met anyway). There’s a couple of aggressive GSD’s over there too but their owners always without fail behave responsibly and take you into consideration. (And I think a lot of it stems fro lockdown personally. )
