Rotties were meant to pull carts and such, and that's the reason their tails are docked. My Rottie pulls sleds during the winter, he loves it. I couldn't see him with a tail, and I think if people want them to have their tails, they should be considered a different breed altogether, since they're no longer the dog they were bred to be.
I've had a litter of Min Pin pups, and I was there when they were docked. They were each happy while they were with mom, but when the vet took them, they cried, the vet took the tail off, they didn't cry any more than before he took it off, and as soon as he put the pup back with mom, the pup was quiet and happy, the stitches fell out a week later, and nobody ever knew what happened. On the other hand, I have seen a 3 year old Min Pin female with happy tail, hit her tail against the corner of a wall and break it, she screamed and screamed for 2 hours until she got to the vet, she was in shock by the time she got there, she ended up under general anesthesia, which isn't the safest of procedures, then spent 5 weeks chewing the bandages off of her stub, getting an infection, ending up on IV antibiotics, and basically going through a living hell. 5 months later, her tail was healed in the way it could have been when she was 5 days old. That person bragged that she told the breeder she wanted the tail natural. After all of this and a $2000 vet bill, she wished she hadn't been so high and mighty, and she realized there was a purpose behind the breed standard, even if she didn't realize what it was before. Which is more traumatic to the dog???
It can all come back to circumcision on human babies, that is surely more traumatic than docking a tail, but it is accepted as it's more healthy for the baby, and more healthy when that baby boy becomes an adult. I know it's not the same thing, but, it's also done when the nerves are not capable of transmitting what's going on to the brain. People who claim dogs are traumatized for life need to ask themselves, or their husbands, if they are traumatized for life because of something that happened at such a young age. Then they need to ask an adult male who has gotten an infection, if he would have been better off having had a procedure that he never would have even known about, or if that infection he just got over was a good experience for him?
As far as ear cropping, I feel completely different about that. In dobies it may prevent ear infections, which is a good thing (our rottie gets ear infections, and they're not pleasant for him or us,) BUT, in Min Pins, there is no medical reason for it, all of our babies ears stand naturally, so there's no problem with the ears holding moisture in and getting infections, plus, they crop the ears at an older age, and the dogs definitely feel what's going on and suffer as a result. However, if I could crop my rotties ears, and it would spare him the ear infections by making his ears erect and keeping them dry, I might be tempted to do it. He's not a happy boy when he gets an infection, and our vet's advice to prevent them is to try to fold his ears back whenever we get a chance, but in all logical senses, it's not practical to keep his ears folded back.
I've had a litter of Min Pin pups, and I was there when they were docked. They were each happy while they were with mom, but when the vet took them, they cried, the vet took the tail off, they didn't cry any more than before he took it off, and as soon as he put the pup back with mom, the pup was quiet and happy, the stitches fell out a week later, and nobody ever knew what happened. On the other hand, I have seen a 3 year old Min Pin female with happy tail, hit her tail against the corner of a wall and break it, she screamed and screamed for 2 hours until she got to the vet, she was in shock by the time she got there, she ended up under general anesthesia, which isn't the safest of procedures, then spent 5 weeks chewing the bandages off of her stub, getting an infection, ending up on IV antibiotics, and basically going through a living hell. 5 months later, her tail was healed in the way it could have been when she was 5 days old. That person bragged that she told the breeder she wanted the tail natural. After all of this and a $2000 vet bill, she wished she hadn't been so high and mighty, and she realized there was a purpose behind the breed standard, even if she didn't realize what it was before. Which is more traumatic to the dog???
It can all come back to circumcision on human babies, that is surely more traumatic than docking a tail, but it is accepted as it's more healthy for the baby, and more healthy when that baby boy becomes an adult. I know it's not the same thing, but, it's also done when the nerves are not capable of transmitting what's going on to the brain. People who claim dogs are traumatized for life need to ask themselves, or their husbands, if they are traumatized for life because of something that happened at such a young age. Then they need to ask an adult male who has gotten an infection, if he would have been better off having had a procedure that he never would have even known about, or if that infection he just got over was a good experience for him?
As far as ear cropping, I feel completely different about that. In dobies it may prevent ear infections, which is a good thing (our rottie gets ear infections, and they're not pleasant for him or us,) BUT, in Min Pins, there is no medical reason for it, all of our babies ears stand naturally, so there's no problem with the ears holding moisture in and getting infections, plus, they crop the ears at an older age, and the dogs definitely feel what's going on and suffer as a result. However, if I could crop my rotties ears, and it would spare him the ear infections by making his ears erect and keeping them dry, I might be tempted to do it. He's not a happy boy when he gets an infection, and our vet's advice to prevent them is to try to fold his ears back whenever we get a chance, but in all logical senses, it's not practical to keep his ears folded back.
