The Pros And Cons Of Animal Docking

Canine cosmetic surgery has become an epidemic. “Over 130,000 puppies undergo this unnecessary cosmetic surgery, every year in the United States, (Broughton, par. 1). While some breeders feel these cosmetic procedures are acceptable. Further studies performed by Michigan State University have shown that there is no medical benefit to performing either procedure. There are approximately 70 breed of dogs that are subjected to unnecessary tail docking. Some advocates that feel this is justifiable. They feel by docking a dog’s tail there will be a decrease risk for injury during hunting and working. However, there is no significant statistical data that indicates this to be true. In fact, a dog is placed at more harm when the docking procedure is performed. .Docking is

Sometimes the veterinarian may place a band on the dog’s tail preventing blood flow to the distal end, after three days, the tail will then die and fall off. With tail docking there is also secondary health risks that may occur such as nerve growths, scar tissue and infections, hemorrhage and even death. Most advocates of these try to downplay the amount of pain these animals experience. Anatomically all animals including dogs have neurotransmitters in their nervous system and are well aware of the pain they endure. Often you will see docking performed on puppies as young as two to five days old, and this is usually done without anesthesia, (Broughton, par. 2). It is horrible to know these young puppies receive no anesthesia and then their tails are cut off with a scalpel. While these puppies may react differently to the pain, they are well aware of the pain that is inflicted upon them. Studies show that these newborn puppies have the same amount of neurons, (nerve cells) as an adult dog. I feel this is procedure is unnecessary and inhumane tail docking causes these dogs severs pain and distress. There are also other associated risks such as hemorrhage anesthesia reactions (if