[OnyxGold1]

It would be tough to say if this would be true or not.

I have been asked in the past whether I could leave a tail on a pup for a pet home (and then dock the rest of the litter). My response was 'no' simply because tails must be docked (if you are docking them) between birth to 5 days.....I can't tell at that age whether pup A or pup B and so on is going to be show or pet quality. Frankly because my preference is the docked look I would not then want to be selling what could potentially be the most stunning puppy in a litter to a pet home simply because I left the tail on.

In Canada we can show dogs with natural or docked tails as our breed standard allows for both.....however I still believe that in the CKC conformation world the preference of a show judge would still likely lean towards a docked dog all other things being equal. As sad as it is to say....& I have seen many stunning natural tailed dogs shown here......normally they don't even place in their classes despite often times being better than their docked counterparts.

I have never heard of it being true that if one dog were left natural tailed and the remaining litter docked then both would be excused. Frankly how would a judge know if two dogs in the ring were from the same parentage/litter or not? I have never been asked for the parentage or litter information of any of my pups in the ring. I remember a show a few years ago where my (now retired) girl Jenna won BOB, her 7 month old daughter Caper won WB/BOW and 7 month old son Dennis won WD and the judge was stunned that he had given Breed/BOW/WD to a mother and two of her off spring.

I know there is a breeder in Ontario who sometimes (I THINK) docks some pups and leaves others natural in a litter. I believe she is possibly a member on this forum as well. So perhaps she could elaborate more if she reads this thread.....but I would highly doubt it would be a disqualification for there to be littermates, one natural and the second docked.

Heather Peters