Born last night Good parents but bitches paperwork is missing. Sire's paperwork available - field champions in recent past - owned by professional gamekeeper.

Will have docked tails very soon.

Fantastically agile slim liver mother, loves kids. Working black & whit sire.

8 currently available - two liver and 6 black & white.

under £200 each - not decided yet.

Congrats to the proud grandparents.


Should only be allowed for working dogs.

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Good in straight lines
2001 X1 "The Tart's Handbag"
2001 FZS1000 "The Fridge"

There's the paradox Norm! Best get them done before it's to late and more stressfull for the little bueats

Well done SNB.

N.

Yeah, I know. Used to do hundreds of piglets, they'd squeal like a bastid when they were first done but had pretty much stopped before they were even put down. It's a 2 second job on very young dogs, compared to full anaesthetic operations when they get a bit older.

There's enough people who have had problems with spaniels getting their tails damaged that it's pretty clear working dogs need to be docked but my instinctive reaction is that it's wrong, in general, to alter a dog's appearance for the vanity, perceptions and misconceptions of the owners.

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Good in straight lines
2001 X1 "The Tart's Handbag"
2001 FZS1000 "The Fridge"

Didn't Digger once know a girl like that...?

the docking thing, is a big issue.

It was hard (for the mrs.) to find a vet to do it and she (the vet) requires written confirmation from a gamekeeper and landowner where they are 'working'.

We want them to go to working homes - if only because they will have a better quality of life. As some you obviously know very well, a working dog has a great life. It is literally what they are bred for.

They will also be 'chipped'.

I'm looking forward to the next 8 weeks with the little critters.

I think a couple may have homes already.

My springer has his whole tail and it is lovely ... so why dock them ??

Speaking of animal cruelty, here's some welcome news....

Yours is not a working dog.

Whilst the CDB are not exactly neutral on the issue, have a look at this one example.

The difficulty is deciding at 3 days whether they will be working dogs. I much prefer the look of a full-tailed spaniel but I've also had several dogs which have damaged their tails and getting it sorted once they are a couple of years old is, as Nate points out, a big issue.

I keep coming back here because I'm soooo tempted to get one of those dogs. Sorry to have distracted with the docking thing, shudders.

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Good in straight lines
2001 X1 "The Tart's Handbag"
2001 FZS1000 "The Fridge"

That's a nice litter you've got there. Post another photie when they get a bit older
Sadly I have to agree about the docking of working dogs but I much prefer seeing them with a full tail.
My bro and sis in law are both vets and they reluctantly still dock tails, saying that if they don't do it, then someone less skilled will probably do it and expose the pups to great risk

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That's a nice looking litter SNB, I don't fully understand the docking thing, why are the tails docked for working animals......does it improve their quality of life at work? Is it a bit of a fashion thing....."Tail tidy"...?

Nothing to do with fashion. Working dogs frequently and painfully damage their tails. It's quite difficult to explain how, since there are many different ways in which they manage it, you really need to see one working (especially a Spaniel) to get the full picture.
Labs, Retrievers etc seem a little less prone to damage. Our local keeper, who has an extremely intelligent Springador, has kept his tail

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If your dreams don't scare you, they are not big enough.

at "tail tidy"!

Working dogs is a broad definition, covering just about anything not solely a pet. They could be gundogs to guide dogs, sled dogs to sheep dogs - the actual uses are immensely varied.

When spaniels are used as working dogs, that usually means field dogs or gun dogs, running through crops, brush, trees etc. They are exuberant in their approach to work, and their tails can, and do, get severely damaged in a way that doesn't often happen to either spaniels which are pets or used for search, rescue or other forms of detection work.

When an adult dog's tail is damaged it can be a serious issue for the dog. Anaesthesia is not as routine for mutts as it is for humans, for instance, and you can't prescribe bed rest to a spaniel. Docking a pup is really straight forward and the chances of a problem are slight.

So yes, in brief, it does improve the quality of life of a working dog but for pets, etc, it is mostly about the vanity. And the decision has to be made in the first three days.

That said, our Lab damaged his tail wagging it against a door frame when I came home from work. Just one of the ways that damage can occur in a house. When in woodlands, there are a million more ways an enthusiastic spaniel can beat itself up.

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Good in straight lines
2001 X1 "The Tart's Handbag"
2001 FZS1000 "The Fridge"

Our dog is docked and had it's dew-claws removed. I always understood these to be 'preventative' because dogs can damage these in a domestic environment and, as others have pointed out, this can become very serious to Adult dogs.

When a dog does damage it's tail by banging it or ripping it on sat heavy bramble/thorn the trouble is that wound never heals.
Just when it ia about healed the dog opens it up again and so on.
For pets dogs this may not expose them to many threats from infection but it will sure piss the owners off when the home is constantly splattered with blood.
Thats when they start to question their previous moral high ground stance!
Wolves have had millions of years to adapt, spaniels ain't so must help them.

Love them pups.

N.