Gun Dog Forum

One of my younger co-workers sent me this photo, cute pup. (believe the dogs 5 weeks) He went to a breeder thinking he was going to get a liver female but ended up with this little man. Question on the tail, it should have been docked correct? I can only find a few GSP with tail photos. The terrain here in the Tetons is not something i would want my dog throttling through with a huge tail sticking up.

Thoughts?

Worst part is I can see this dog end up being adopted. I asked if he planned to hunt with the dog and it didn't seem like it.

Normally they are docked. Dog can still manage fine with a long tail, just a labs do. Guy doesn't have to hunt, but unless that dog get good running exercise it will drive him crazy in the house.
Breeder should never release a dog at 5 weeks - pup misses out on all the socialization his Mom and siblings can give.
I'd like to see that tail on point.

No way is that a photo of a 5 week old puppy.
The dog will do fine with a long tail. That will be the least of his problems........Cj

I kinda like the little guy. Tail or no tail The picture makes him look much older then 5 weeks. The coffee mug does bring him into perspective . ~ Comparing his head to the size of the cup.
He's a beautiful pup !
If I were there I'd be trying to hug on that little guy and enjoying the odd yet pleasant smell coming out of his little head !

That is not a 5 week old pup.
It is a little odd that the breeder did not have the tail docked to be honest.
I wonder if the breeder even had the dew claws removed.
he is a cute pup! I wish your friend the best of luck with him.

Here in BC the Vet assoc. voted to ban all tail docking.

Grant

thanks team. Appreciate the feedback.

I wonder on the dew claws, I wasn't paying attention. But just seems weird all around, however I guess some people breed these dogs to make a buck. I just pray he is able to grow up fast (the owner) that is.

UPDATE:

Dogs is 11 weeks old, asked if the dew claws had been removed his reply "no not yet"

I think in some country's in Europe tail docking is also illegal. Having seen so many GSP's with docked tails, it's strange looking at one with a tail. Did the dew claws get taken off? Tails and dew claws are taken off at the same time, three to five days.

Max2 wrote:I kinda like the little guy. Tail or no tail The picture makes him look much older then 5 weeks. The coffee mug does bring him into perspective . ~ Comparing his head to the size of the cup.
He's a beautiful pup !
If I were there I'd be trying to hug on that little guy and enjoying the odd yet pleasant smell coming out of his little head !

Good point about comparing him to the cup size- could well be 5 weeks old.... not all breeders believe in removing dew claws.

I've always had Setters and hunted all kind of ground, including the Tetons with them and never had any problems with their tails. You do have to watch then when you close doors and mine did seem to like knocking over bottles of beer ( I think they did it on purpose to get the beer).

Why is it that so many American bred gundogs tails are docked? Particularly pointing dogs like GSP, and Brittanies. I can see some argument for rabbit dogs like Springers and Cockers in Britain, Ireland, Scotland and Europe where they are used for Pheasant and Rabbits, but is there some reason, other than tradition, convention, or habit for North American Breeders to continue the practice?

I think this guy looks great with a tail. Wonder how he'll hold it when he points?

Been looking for a Brittany with a tail for several years. Maybe I should be looking at Canadian Breeders.............

I saw a breeder in Holland or Denmark that was selling a DD/GWP with no tail docked because it was against the law there. In the UK, you won't see any of the dogs at Crufts with docked tails, as its illegal to show dogs with docked tails if they sell tickets. I saw a Vizsla imported from Australia of all places with its tail.

This situation sounds like a backyard breeder though. The nice thing with GSPs is that you could probably buy one off craigslist and get a dog that would hunt and point just fine.

you can still have the dogs tail docked they will have to put the dog to sleep to do it and the dog will have some pain but pup looks good with the tail to me but you might check into it

My son bought a pup that was docked but probably still had 75% left.
He read on it. Talked to the vet, who suggested leaving it at that point. He decided not to have it shortened. We all got use to it.

We had a tail docking ban in place in Scotland for many years. I owned one GSP bitch with an undocked tail and trained a vizsla for a friend that also had an undocked tail. Neither dog suffered tail damage while working but this was not the case with some of the working spaniels here. Some of their tails had very bad damage that cost a fortune at the vet and which prevented them from working while the tails healed.....and then the tails got damaged again next time they hunted !

I think spaniels thrash their tails about far more furiously while working than HPR's do plus spaniels are used far more among very heavy cover.

Personally I prefer the look of docked tails on dogs like GSP's but that's just me.

Bill T.