Tail Docking Causes Communication Challenges and Pain

Docking dogs's tails cause them to have chronic or heightened pain and difficulty communicating friendliness to other dogs. Christiane S Hartl/Shutterstock

Q: Our Rottweiler has a docked tail, as do many dogs in the United States. While watching a British dog show on television, I noticed that all the show dogs had natural, undocked tails. Why?

A: Many countries ban cosmetic tail docking, or amputation of the tail, because the risks of long-term problems are greater than any perceived cosmetic benefit.