The College position was set out in appendix 3 of the 1993 edition of the RCVS Guide to Professional Conduct describing in lay terms when prophylactic docking could not be considered to be acceptable. Veterinary Surgeons who read the Guide carefully and followed the guidelines were under no threat from the College when exercising their professional judgement in deciding to dock. A survey of more than 500 individual clients in three practices, one in Scotland, one in South West England, and one in South East England, carried out in the summer of 1995, showed an overwhelming support for the end of docking. For over a year now, it has been illegal for anyone other than a vet to do this. Our Governing body, the RCVS, has advised vets not to do this except where it is beneficial to the individual dog.
Many reasons are advanced for docking.
There is a reference to one reason dating from medieval times, to protect the Lord of the Manors ground game, which presumably is no longer relevant. The CDB advances a variety of reasons to justify docking, most of which centre round hygiene and possible future injury. All the evidence considered by the working party indicates that the vast majority of pups are docked for cosmetic purposes and most customarily docked breeds are docked because they have always been docked. The working party believes that removal of a tail deprives the dog of a means of expression and an organ of balance, and it is an unacceptable mutilation. A retrospective survey carried out at the Edinburgh Veterinary School showed that out of 12,129 clinical cases seen at the small animal practice there between January 1977 and October 1984, the incidence of tail problems were not significantly different between docked and undocked breeds.