Wow! Things around here have been busy, busy, and it has been quite a while since I posted! More puppies have left our German Boxer nest since then. Speaking of puppies, a number of people have asked why our latest pups have been left with tails intact. There are several reasons why we chose to not dock this time around. Because our dogs are of European descent, the ones we have imported in the past 10 years have had tails. Much of Europe bans both tail docking and ear cropping. Although it seemed strange to us at first, we have now become accustomed to our long tailed Boxers, and actually like how expressive the tails are. It is very easy to "read" the dogs' mind set by their tails. And who knew how much a happy Boxer (and they are almost ALWAYS happy) wags his tail!! So when you see a tail on a Boxer, it can denote their European heritage, opposed to American breeding lines. And because some of the people that acquire dogs from us compete internationally, having a tail on their dog will not limit their ability to compete in docked tail "banned" countries.
Another reason the tails were left on is, frankly, because docking them has always been a pain, literally AND figuratively. Regardless of whether we had them stitched, superglued, or stapled, the Momma dogs just never could leave those stump ends alone, and invariably chewed the ends open on one or more pups, meaning more trips to the vet and the threat of infection. Not to mention a few pups ending up with Rottweiler stumps as the Momma dogs chewed the already short tails even shorter!
But there has been a lot of resistance among some potential puppy buyers. In fact, several people have passed on one of these exceptionally talented young Boxers simply because of the long tails! That's too bad, because these are some of the finest puppies we have produced in our 20 plus years of breeding German Boxers. But their loss is someone else's gain.
So will I leave the tails on next time I breed a litter of German Boxers? That remains to be seen.
