Your dog loves to communicate, but unlike humans, he can't speak with his vocal cords. His primary means of expressing himself is through the motion of his tail. To amputate or dock a dog's tail, may be compared to cutting off a person's tongue. The dog is deprived of an important means of interacting not only with humans, but also with other dogs.
Here's how your pet conveys his feelings:
When holding its tail upright and waving it back and forth with slow sweeps, your dog is telling you he's content or pleased. A fast enthusiastic wag means he's excited, and looking forward to something good, perhaps playtime or a treat.
A tail that is horizontal, but not stiff shows that the animal is investigating something new and interesting. If the tail is horizontal but stiff, the dog is confronting something new but alarming, perhaps a stranger. Your pet is on guard.
A dog that is fearful, insecure or submissive will have its tail lowered and tucked between its hind legs.
If the tail is erect and motionless, beware. You are confronting an aggressive canine. Approach at your own risk.
Tail wagging is also the means of communicating with other dogs. A dominant dog will approach a strange dog with its tail held high and wagging slightly. He is signifying he's the leader. He will get to eat first, and explore new places first. A dog who ranks lower in the pack will begin the encounter with a lowered tail wagging only slightly.
Tail wagging also serves to spread the scent of canine hormones, called pheromones. They are produced by glands near the anus. The scent can be detected by other dogs, and it is as distinctive as a human fingerprint. It tells the sex and social status of its owner. This is yet another aspect of canine communication which necessitates having a tail.
Today, docking is mostly done for cosmetic purposes. It is performed when the puppy is under a week old. The tail is may be cut off with surgical scissors, or an orthodontic band is placed tightly around it to cut off the blood supply. The tail will fall off in two or three days. Both of these procedures are done without pain killers.
The tail is the end of the dog's vertebral column. It has six to twenty-three highly mobile vertebrae, muscles, tendons and all the nerves usually associated with the spinal column. To have the tail severed, or deprived of its blood supply must be extremely painful.
And, for any canine, life without a tail is not as fulfilling. Dogs use their tails for balance when running, or when walking on narrow surfaces. Tails make good rudders when swimming. They serve as a counterbalance when making turns. Arctic and Nordic dogs use their tails for insulation. They sleep with tails wrapped around their faces to keep out the cold.
Laws in Great Britain were changed in 2007 to outlaw the docking of tails in any dogs except working dogs, that is, those used for herding, in police work, or in some other capacity where tails might prove a disadvantage. In Canada and the United States, docking of dogs' tails is still unrestricted.
Is docking a dog's tail cruel? If you were deprived of your principal means of expressing emotions, of relating in a meaningful way to your peers, and of performing important physical activities as well as possible, would you not consider it cruelty?
The Lord made dogs with tails just as he made humans with tongues and vocal cords. He never makes mistakes. We should not try to improve his design by docking dogs' tails.