What kind of tails do yorkies have

The best time here is after ten weeks of life, where the surgical method can be the best option. During this age, they are strong enough to handle the procedure and the medication that involves using anesthesia. Some breeders are quite hesitant to perform docking to their Yorkies, and some owners still debate this.

Because there are some pros and cons attached to it, it is easily understood why you might be having trouble when you are deciding. The answer to this question is plain simple as it will always be dependent on your personal preference. First of all, think about the age of your Yorkie and do factor in some other things like local breeding and grooming regulations. If it is a local requirement to have your Yorkies tail docked, you need to go for it, and when it is done right, it is relatively risk-free.

Just make sure to get the timing right to avoid any serious complications. However, if you are raising your Yorkie in a place where docking is strictly prohibited, it is best to avoid it.

You should also probably avoid it if you are dealing with an older and sickly Yorkie. They do not possess the capacity to recover quickly as fast, and they can feel pain pretty intensely. In most cases, you might need a surgical method for this and the presence of anesthesia. In addition to that, they are going to be aware of their missing tail. As a result, they may start to have tantrums and bark at you, and no amount of their favorite treat may ever heal this scar.

In the very end, it will always boil down to personal preference and sometimes regional regulations. If you are not restricted by your local county or city and no plans of participating in any dog shows, then do not dock their tails at all. On the other hand, docking has no side effects either as it will not stunt the growth of your Yorkie, shorten the lifespan, affect their sleeping habit, or mess up their heat cycle. The price of what you need to pay when docking your Yorkies tail will depend on many factors.

The first one is the procedure that you choose for, with the simple banding, it can be free if you are skilled enough to do it yourself. As a matter of fact, the only investment you have to make is that you need to have a clean piece of thread. So, you should do the docking if you want to show your dog. The tail docking of Yorkies in not based on any health or happiness reasons.

The docking is applied only for the purposes of aesthetics and nothing more. You have no reason to dock the tail of your Yorkie if you are not planning to show the pet on dog shows, unless you prefer the dog to match as close as possible the breed standard conformation. Many potential Yorkie owners have had no chance to decide this for themselves, since many puppies for sale have already gone through the procedure.

This is not something unusual. This poll shows that almost half of the purebred Yorkshire Terrier owners have chosen to have a dog which tail is natural. Discomfort is caused by any procedure that is like this one. The docking makes the tail of the dog to be erect and straight. There is no medical reason to dock the tail of a Yorkie dog.

The main reason that Yorkie tails are docked are for aesthetic purposes. The natural tail is long and sticks up beyond the height of the head. A docked Yorkie has a tail that sticks straight up below the level of the head, which creates clean lines when the hair is worn at show length.

Yorkie dogs can be docked in two different ways. One method is done by the owner soon after birth. The tradition of tail docking was taken up again in modern Western civilization, although this time for different reasons.

However, there are references of veterinary opposition to the practice particularly with regard to cosmetic purposes going back as far as in The Dog by Youatt and Lewis. While these days, Yorkies are classified as a companion breed, back during their heyday as a working breed in industrial England, Yorkshire terriers were tough little dock dogs whose main purpose was to catch and kill the many rats that plagued the many factories and shipyards.

Back then, there were no antibiotics or good healthcare treatments available for dogs, so a dog that was bitten by a rat could develop an infection and die. It was important that the rats be given as little opportunity as possible to bite the dog before the dog could bite and kill the rat.

Because of this working necessity and in mimicry of European dogfighting and war dog breeds that also sported docked tails in order to avoid a disadvantage or injury during a fight , owners of working Yorkshire terriers began docking their tails so that the rats would not have an easy target to bite down on. The AKC also notes that some dogs that were bred to hunt burrowing animals in the ground, such as the Airedale Terrier, have a strong base of the tail.

Strong enough so that it can be used to pull the dog to safety if needed. However the tip of their tail is much weaker and prone to splitting or breaking, therefore it is safer for it to be removed.

They also note that breeds that have weak tails with wispy hair are more likely to be injured when running through brambles or thick brush. Because tail docking has been around for such a long time in human history and has been done for so many reasons and probably because it is a controversial and strongly-contested practice , there are many myths surrounding it. Here are some of the myths and corresponding facts about tail docking dogs:. Fact: Tail docking on puppies even just a day old has been shown by veterinary studies to inflict intense amounts of pain, and it is theorized that it is even more painful for a day-old puppy to have their tail amputated than an older dog due to slower conduction of neurological impulses in the unmyelinated fibers of their still-developing nervous system.

Fact: Show dog appearance standards have changed throughout the years as dog-related cosmetic trends change, and new breeds are added all the time. The decision to not allow long-tailed dogs in any show dog standard is an arbitrary one purely related to human aesthetical preference. Fact: Historically, tail docking actually came about as the result of working animal practices. Yorkshire terriers and other common companion dog breeds were not originally pets, and tail docking was seen as a way to protect them on the job.

Fact: While some vets will administer a local numbing agent or put older animals under anesthesia to amputate a damaged tail, tail docking in newborn puppies is done while the puppy is completely conscious, as newborn puppies are too small and fragile to undergo anesthesia.

Fact: Tail docking can cause chronic nerve damage or give rise to the formation of a neuroma or pinched nerve at the amputation site, which is extremely painful to the dog. Docked tails are so commonplace on Yorkies that many people have never even seen a Yorkie without one. It is cut short, usually to only a few inches long, if it is cut in accordance with the breed standard. This is in order to avoid mats and tangles since Yorkshire terriers are a non-shedding breed. A docked tail on a Yorkie requires special medical care.

Experts recommend keeping the tail wound clean using warm water and a clean rag. Daily cleaning of the site and application of a non-toxic antibiotic ointment can help to promote quick healing. Once the wound from a docked tail heals, the hair will grow over the spot where the amputation wound once was. Once the docked tail is completely healed, the only difference in care is that the docked tail fur is less difficult to groom than it would be on a longhaired Yorkie.

While Yorkies that undergo tail docking need initial care, afterward they are just like any other undocked Yorkie aside from differences in appearance.