MERRIT CLIFTON SPINNING A YARN ABOUT TAIL DOCKING

Dogfighters as veterinary innovators

Tail-docking was originally done to keep fighting dogs from signaling intent to prospective opponents that they meant to avoid a fight.  The first tail-dockers appear to have been dogfighters of the Elizabethan era,  who also introduced ear-cropping,  lest their dogs lose fights due to ear bleeding.   Cropping and docking spread from fighting dogs to other breeds through emulation of the “fancy,”  which today means exhibitors of show dogs,  but as recently as the early 20th century was a a word used by The New York Times and other major newspapers chiefly in reference to gambling on dogfights.

Ironically,  dogfighters largely stopped cropping ears and docking tails by the mid-20th century,  to avoid being conspicuous,  after dogfighting was banned in most of the U.S.

Dogfighters preparing cats and kittens for use as live bait in training dogs may have become the first practitioners of onychectomy,  as the standard declawing operation is formally called.  Newspaper veterinary columns began trying to popularize declawing as early as 1950,  when one Herb Jacobs recommended the procedure,  but it apparently was not formally described in veterinary literature until 1966.

Helen Keller with her Boston terrier.

Helen Keller

Helen Keller,  though deaf and blind,  spoke out against the cruelty inherent in ear-cropping and tail-docking more than 100 years ago,  and backed attempts to outlaw both procedures.  She probably would have opposed declawing too,  had she known about it.

Anti-ear-cropping and tail-docking bills were approved by the legislatures of various states as early as 1913,  but were repeatedly vetoed by governors under pressure from the “dog fancy.”  Pennsylvania finally passed an anti-ear-cropping bill that took effect in 1933.  The Western Pennsylvania Humane Society won a conviction under the new law just two months later.  Bitterly opposed by veterinarians,  the law was later repealed,  then partially reinstated in 2009 as part of a law which allows only licensed veterinarians to perform ear-cropping,  and allows dog breeders to dock the tails of puppies only within five days of birth and then only under veterinary supervision.

Veterinary views changing at glacial speed

There is evidence that veterinary attitudes are changing––but entire glaciers in the Cascades,  Andes, and Himalayas have melted in the interim.  Ear-cropping and tail-docking remain lucrative,  but the British Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in November 1992 asked Parliament to ban tail-docking;  Parliament complied in 2007.  The American Veterinary Medical Association executive board in November 2008 resolved that the AVMA “opposes ear cropping and tail docking of dogs,”  when done for cosmetic reasons,  and asked breed fanciers “to remove mention of the procedures from their standards.”  The American Animal Hospital Association and the Canadian Veterinary Association had adopted similar resolutions earlier,  as had the AVMA House of Delegates in 1999.

Also in 2009,  Banfield pet hospital vice president for medical quality advancement Karen Faunt announced that the 730 Banfield locations and 2,000 Banfield veterinarians would no longer crop ears,  dock tails, or debark dogs.  Debarking,  another common but often controversial surgical mutilation,  like tail-docking tends to inhibit the ability of dogs to signal intent,  and appears to increase the risk that dogs may bite.  “After thoughtful consideration and reviewing medical research, we have determined it is in the best interest of the pets we treat,  as well as the overall practice,  to discontinue performing these unnecessary cosmetic procedures,” Faunt told Elizabeth Weise of USA Today.  Banfield recommends against declawing,  but still does onychectomies if a cat keeper insists that it must be done.