ear cropping and tail docking questions

I believe JRT have cropped tails for hunting purposes, getting in burrows and not having a tail get in the way.  According to JRT standards the tail should be left long enough for a hand to get around it as hunters would pull a JRT out of a hole by its tail .  Dasher's tail was docked when he was a day or two old.  I can honestly say that his lack of tail has not in any way hurt his ability to make quick turns!! (God knows he can turn on a dime!!)[] [8D] 

I also have a Cocker Spaniel with a docked tail.  He was that way when we got him from the shelter.  I assume someone spent a lot of money on him before he ended up there.  Anyway, when we got him home I looked up pictures on the internet of Cocker's without docked tails.  They actually look pretty cute but quite different.  I am not sure where I stand on the issue of ear and tail docking though.  I think that animals should remain in their natural state but I suppose if they are used to do a specific job that there might be cases where it could be acceptable.  I would have to think about it more.

Interesting subject and replys...What about taping or putting bubble gum on a dogs ear to make "tulip" ears? I was told to do so from the breeder that I bought a collie from a long time ago. And I did try both and found that it annoyed the poor pup and he didn't like it at all. I stoped and I feel like it's not worth annoying him over...it's like leaving a flea in his ear b/c it's cute.

Eclipse,
 
I own and breed Shelties. The old sheltie bloodlines did have natural tipped ears. Some of these ears tipped over too much, some too little. You used to find natural tipped ears, now you don't find it anywhere. With the head style changing to long and lean, the ears have to move higher on the head, closer together. This does not help the ear break over into a natural tip. I know what you mean by the glueing and taping. Bubble gum is not used by most breeders as it does not hold the ear in place. A fabric glue or a wonderful tape from Japan holds the ear in place and done properly, does not pull the hair or irritate the dog.
 
Seeing so many dogs with lovely tipped ears, I would never go back to pricked ears. There are very few shelties that can pull it off. Makes them look like some of the Border Collies or Border mixes.
 
Collies have a hard ear to tip. The ears are typically too thick, set high on the heads, and are not bred for natural tip as that went out the gene pool a long time ago. And you have to start very young, about 4-5 weeks. I start my shelties at about 5-6 weeks, depends upon how big the ears start looking at that age.
 
Kari

ORIGINAL: rwbeagles

Sometimes there's a connection with natural bob tails and spinal issues...something to watch for with any breed working towards that end.

Our Swedish Vallhund is a natural bob, but his tail is so short he can't even move it. I think it's only about 2 bones. The breeder was just a bit concerned, as she'd also bred manx cats in the past and experienced the spinal problems. She said she thought he'd be okay, but she wouldn't want it any shorter. I don't think it could get much shorter. She seemed to think if it had been any shorter he could have faced problems such as a malformed rectum.

Vallhunds come in normal tail, flag tail and bob tail. The bob tail was always the most popular, not sure why. Cosmetics, maybe. Once docking became illegal in Sweden and other parts of the UK, the flag tails became more fashionable.

Breeding specifically for bobs can exacerbate spinal problems and increase incidence of "open spine". It's like breeding for true hairlessness in Cresteds, you can use nice individuals in your program to increase the characteristic in nice lines without that feature, but you don't want to start trying to "fix" it with line breeding.

kalabria- TOTALLY hear you about the collie ears. Mal's ears are making me nuts- but he looks so gorgeous when they're tipped, now if they'd just STAY.

brook- I know some types of bobtail (such as some of the bulldog breeds) causes spinal deformities, but I've never read anything about it in Pems. *shrugs* The main study I've read is actually the Bruce Cattanach one, though, and he was just trying to isolate the gene and bring it into boxers, so there's probably more information that I haven't read.

No idea how it works in OES.

kalabria152-very useful infomation! Wish I knew this before.