Dogs' tail-docking: the kindest cut?

JIM Clark's dogs are happy. You can tell that by their glossy coats, eager faces and wagging stumps. For all four of the springer spaniels jumping around at their master's feet have had their tails docked, although they certainly wag what is left of them furiously when being petted or given another treat.

To suggest these dogs have been treated cruelly is an insult not only to Mr Clark, but to hundreds of other dog owners around Scotland who have had their dogs' tails cut short as puppies.

Yet this is exactly what the Scottish Executive did yesterday, with a ban on the docking of dogs' tails, complete with the threat of a £5,000 fine and six months in jail for anyone found guilty of the offence.

Not since the ban on hunting with dogs has any issue so aptly illustrated the split between town and country.

With the closure of rural post offices looming over Scotland, the increasing burden of regulations from Brussels and the fight for services such as schools and hospitals, countryside campaigners said the ban was further evidence of the Scottish Parliament's lack of understanding of the ways of rural people.

The ban on tail docking is actually one of several animal welfare reforms to go through the Scottish Parliament without much question.

But it has caused a furore on the scale of the hunting ban, with gamekeepers protesting outside parliament that the Executive had been forced to delay bringing in the regulation. However, it seemed once again the Executive was not listening to the countryside.

Yesterday, Ross Finnie, the environment and rural development minister, announced that, after further consultation with vets and other interested parties, a ban would come in on 30 April this year - subject to almost certain approval by parliament.

"Tail-docking of dogs involves the removal of most or part of the tail, severing muscles, tendons, nerves and sometimes bone or cartilage," he said. "That cannot be justified because of a possibility that the dog may injure its tail in later life."

Police and local authority inspectors will use a range of powers under animal heath and welfare acts to enforce the law. It will also be illegal to transport breeding bitches to another country, including England, Ireland or Wales, where docking is still legal, with the intention of having puppies' tails removed.

"A ban on tail-docking is not a step which we have taken lightly," Mr Finnie said. "Tail-docking is opposed by the leading veterinary organisations, and I'm clear that ending tail-docking will improve animal welfare in Scotland."

However, Alex Hogg, the chairman of the Scottish Gamekeepers Association, said the law would do the opposite.

He said exuberant working dogs, such as spaniels, almost never stopped wagging their tails. This put them at risk of injury in dense cover or small spaces.

"The minister has failed in his obligation to protect the welfare of our working dogs and condemned many breeds to a life of pain in his attempt to curry favour with animal rights activists," he said.

Mr Hogg also said the breeding industry would lose out on income, as well as pedigree bloodlines, as docked puppies would be brought up from England and Wales, or even smuggled in dire conditions from Ireland, instead of being bred in Scotland.

"It is wee small things slicing away at us all the time," he said. "They [the Scottish Executive] are just listening to an urban voice. They are not listening to the rural voice."

Neil Rafferty, of the Scottish Countryside Alliance, said the ban showed a misunderstanding of the countryside. "Country people love animals, so when we support tail-docking it is because we know leaving tails long harms working dogs," he said.

"Scotland is an urban country and the Scottish Parliament is dominated by urban MSPs, so there is still an underlying deficiency when it comes to rural affairs. We want to close that gap. It is their duty to understand all the different ways of life in Scotland."

Mr Rafferty said he would not be surprised to see people who were passionate about working dogs vote according to the issue.

On a wider scale, he warned that all parties should be aware of countryside issues, such as concern over wind farms, field sports and business regulations, unless they wanted to be punished in May's Scottish parliamentary elections.

"It would be a stupid politician who ignored the countryside and its opinions," he said.

However, James Withers, deputy chief executive of the farming campaign group NFU Scotland, welcomed the measures that still allowed tail-docking, castration and horn removal of farm animals for welfare reasons.

He said: "In reality, issues such as fox hunting and tail-docking are a distraction. The key areas of concern for farmers in the coming elections are things like the powers of supermarkets and unnecessary red tape. That will do far more for the future industry than these other debates."

No pain for puppies

JIM Clark has seen days-old puppies have their tails docked without even waking up. "There is no pain whatsoever to the dogs, as opposed to what happens if they are left long," says the champion dog trainer.

The owner of four English springer spaniels has been keeping dogs for 14 years and every one has had its tail docked for welfare reasons.

Three-eighths of the tail is cut off while the puppies are a few days old, to take the curl out of the tail. If left long the constantly wagging tails of working dogs are more likely to be injured, often splitting, meaning painful amputation.

"People talk about dogs being mutilated. It is complete and utter nonsense. The people enforcing this law do not know about the dogs and they do not understand," he said.

The 63-year-old from Ladybank in Fife has twice won the British championships of field trials. The sport requires a close relationship between the dog and its trainer, and Mr Clark argued it would be impossible to form this bond if the owner was cruel.

"Dogs are part of your life when you are competing at that level; they have to love their owner," he said. "They would not do the work with you unless you had a relationship with them. They have to trust in you implicitly."

Mr Clark also breeds dogs, but he is now going to be forced to buy dogs from England, where tail-docking is legal.

"I would not compete with a dog without a docked tail. People competing will get their puppies down south," he said.

Although vets have officially given their backing to the ban, Mr Clark said most are still happy to dock the tails of working dogs for welfare reasons.

"These dogs are really, really happy dogs. This is what they are bred for and that is what they love to do, and for someone to turn around and say this cannot be done and put down a law against it is absolutely ridiculous.

"They are certainly not in full possession of the facts, or they just would not do it."