Tobi's TAIL!!!!!!!!!! HELP!!!!!!

[WooVols]

Okay, so my wife and I adopted Tobi a few months ago. We fell in love immediately and he has been a great addition to our family. The breeder/owner did not have his tail docked because he said he didnt believe in it. I've had other boxers growing up and they all had docked tails. I talked to my vet and he said the docking would actually be an amputation at this point and cosmetic only. I agreed until recently. Tobi is almost 7 months old and as you all know is extremely hyper when i get home from work or when visitors come over. I'm really worried about this tail now. It wacks everything extrememly hard and non stop. WHAT SHOULD I DO??????

 

[gmacleod]

Your vet is quite right - surgical removal of his tail now would be a full amputation. No different from removing a limb.

The reason docking is done within the first 3 days of life is that it is thought that the nerves are not fully developed at that point, and cutting the tail off won't significantly impact the dog (in the long term).

This does NOT hold true beyond those first few days of life. His nerves are most certainly properly developed and it would be both a major surgery (the tail is an extension of the spine - so you're not talking about some minor bit of the dog here) and a very painful one, with a significant recovery time. Ask any human amputee and you'll find that it rarely ends there - many report ongoing problems, including 'phantom pain' in the non-existent body part for the rest of their lives.

I do not think it is reasonable to consider an amputation without a strong medical reason for it (that is, an irreparable injury). Unscheduled coffee table clearances via tails don't count

Young boxers take time to learn to calm down, especially when people arrive home. You can help by ignoring him when you first get in - for a good 10 minutes or more, until after he's calmed down. If you give him attention, you increase his excitement. On the other hand, if he never even gets greeted until he's calm, he'll learn to calm down faster. It won't change things in 5 minutes, but over time almost certainly will.

 

[BetsyB]

NO Do not dock now--for all reasons already mentioned above! Why risk a potentially deadly surgery just for cosmetic reasons?? In the rescue I was previously fostering for, someone adopted a seemingly healthy male approx 9 months old. They decided to dock his tail because they didn't like the looks of it on a Boxer, even though they chose to adopt him WITH his tail. He died on the table due to a hemorrage at the amputation site...

 

[joeys mom]

I would not dock for ALL the reasons above. All other dogs with long tails that whip around and hit stuff hard ,are all ok.

 

[DyckDogs]

All I can say is, no, no, no, no, no.
Don't put your boxer through the surgery or the pain afterwards.
I agree with joeys mom. There are all kinds of dogs with long tails that whip around the house. You just need to make sure all breakables are out of reach of his tail. No worse than having a toddler around.

 

[Caney Creek]

I agree with all others. Although I can't imagine having a boxer with a tail (I imagine one would be lethal ) it would be wrong to dock him now unless it is absolutely necessary.

 

[butlersmom]

ABSOLUTELY do not dock the tail now unless there is a medical reason. My first boxer came to us with a docked tail, but it was a very poor dock. She came from a BYB before I knew better. Over the years she had constant problems with the tail; would develop sores that took a long time to heal and would bleed. She was a mast cell factory and eventually ended up with one on the end of her tail. We had to re-dock her tail when she was about 7 years old. The experience was traumatic for her and she never truly recovered from it. My heart still breaks when I think of the pain she went through. Think of removing a digit from your finger, or toe - same thing. With a little discipline and consistant training you should be able to learn to cope with the tail. Until then, remove everything within "tail's reach". Boxers tails are really no different than other dogs with long tails. They all wag them ferociously. We're just used to seeing boxers with docked tails.

 

[bucca]

please dont dock the tail, when we were looking to adopt another boxer after chloe my husband and i acutally were talking about tails on boxers and what if we found one with a tail the answer was, cool its different it doesnt matter if he or she has a long tail or not its the dog that counts. i know what you mean about the tail though our great dane had a tail like a whip boy could it hurt you.

 

[karen mambo]

It is now illegal to dock tails in Australia so all boxers born recently should have full tails. My 2 have and personally I love it. You are right though - it can be like a deadly weapon but as everyone else has mentioned best not to do anything now other than learn to live with it.

I purposely do not pay attention to my dogs when I get home from being out so as not to cause separation anxiety (I did have a dog that suffered from this once). I just wander in, put my bag down, kiss the hubby (if he is home) casually say hi to the dogs and give it about 5 minutes before giving them their hugs. It has definetely worked with my older dog (17 months) but the young one (5 months) is just at that age where he is becoming really excited at seeing me when I get home. It is hard to ignore them but I can really see the value in what it teaches. I expect in the next couple of months my young one will respond in similar fashion to the older one.

I think we selfishly all love our pets to go wild when they see us - it makes us feel good! But the alternative helps the animal in the long run (including any damage down with a wild whipping tail).

 

[ehayes21]

I am with the others. NO.