Brutal beauty ideal & painful practiceDocking in dogs

Many dogs suffer from people's absurd aesthetic ideas. For example, they shorten the ears and tails of some dog breeds because they think it is beautiful. This so-called docking is a form of animal cruelty that is now banned for dogs in Germany.

Shortened tails, pointed ears: In the past, such mutilations were standard practice in dog breeds such as Dobermans, Boxers, Schnauzers, Great Danes and Pinschers. Docking involves surgically shortening the auricle or tail of dogs. Even if the procedure is performed under anesthesia, it is still associated with severe pain for the animals afterwards. For this reason, the docking of dogs is now illegal in this country. Unfortunately, some people ignore and circumvent the ban.

The partial or complete amputation of body parts has been prohibited in Germany for more than 20 years under Section 6 (1) sentence 1 of the Animal Welfare Act . Ear docking has not been permitted since 1987. A later amendment to the Animal Welfare Act also included a ban on the docking of dog tails. Exceptions are only permitted if docking is medically necessary. This includes, for example, massive tail injuries that do not want to heal. There is a further exception for the tails of dogs used for hunting . This exception is criticized by the German Animal Welfare Federation.

Docking ban is partially circumvented

Breeders and pet owners travel abroad, for example to Eastern Europe, to circumvent the docking ban for dogs in this country. They then bring the dogs back to Germany. This practice is also known as docking tourism. In the illegal puppy trade, young animals with freshly docked ears are also repeatedly transported to Germany for sale. The German Animal Welfare Federation strictly rejects this behavior.

Ear cropping is usually performed under anesthesia. A template is used to shorten the ears and the protruding parts are cut off with a scalpel. Two to three weeks after the operation, the dogs wear adhesive tape on their ears to tie them up. In the case of the tail, the skin is incised in a circle, pulled back and the tissue between two vertebrae is cut. In both procedures, several blood vessels and nerve cords are severed. The pain lasts for several weeks after the operation.

Dogs suffer from cropped ears and tails

Dogs communicate with their ears and tails. If they have docked body parts, they are massively restricted in their expressive behavior. This can lead to behavioral problems and fights with other dogs. Aggressive behavior among dogs with docked tails is more common than in undocked dogs.¹ The procedure can also result in chronic health problems such as phantom pain.