As you may be aware, tail docking has been banned in Victoria since
1st April 2004.  All other States in Australia have now outlawed tail docking.

This decision was brought about largely by ill-informed politicians and
minority animal activist groups and also the RSPCA.

Most of the politicians and the members of the animal activist groups
have never witnessed a tail docking procedure carried out by a qualified
veterinary surgeon and I am sure if they had, they would be quite surprised.

It is a quick and painless procedure and the puppies are back with
their dam and happily suckling immediately after.



In 33 years of owning and breeding 15 litters of Weimaraners,
we have never lost a single puppy to the tail docking procedure.
Having witnessed, firsthand, injuries to tails to three adult, undocked
dogs working in the field, I can assure you it is a shocking sight.
One dog sustained a broken tail and endured extreme pain
whilst being transported to the nearest vet surgery (some two hours away)
for emergency surgery.  The other two dogs were working in heavy
cover and the tips of their tail were shredded and ended up a
dreadful mess.  One of these dogs had to have his tail amputated.
This is a major operation in an adult dog, requiring a general
anaesthetic and a lengthy and painful recovery period.

These are just some of the awful incidents which can happen to
a traditionally docked breed and I am sure there are many
hundreds more stories to tell.

The majority of Silvasheen-bred dogs have gone to people who
use their dogs in the field - i.e. hunted over.



We feel very strongly about the tail docking issue and prefer our
Weimaraners to be docked, however we will
begrudgingly adhere to the law of not docking our puppies,
albeit with very strong reservations.

It is interesting to note that a puppy from our first undocked litter
in 30+ years, whelped in January 2010, has sustained an injury
to his tail and may require docking in the future.
(see photos below)

             
 
Above:  Blood on the walls from Zak's damaged tail....
Zak's tail was injured by hitting it against the door..
                 
Above:  Zak with his bandaged tail.  Thankfully, it didn't require
amputation, however Zak's tail was bandaged for 5 weeks and
it required constant attention, as one whack against anything
would have triggered the bleeding off again.
It is interesting to see that the vet has bandaged Zak's tail
commencing at what is considered to be the natural docking point
in Weimaraners !


Up until Zak's injury, we have never had a docked puppy injure its tail -
very much food for thought here we think.

Please note:  the above comments are from a purely personal
opinion perspective.  We are quite happy to discuss any
aspect of tail docking with anyone at any time.

DIANNE & CHRIS BROWN - SILVASHEEN WEIMARANERS