Why do Aussies have their tails docked? Well, it's a bit of a mystery. The reasons normally given have never been all-convincing to me. I have pondered the question, but the truth, like so many truths, evades exactness. But that doesn't mean it can't be roused out to be looked at, with some effort.

Here are all the pro-taildocking arguments I have collected:

1. Historical. Aussies have always had their tails docked. The Founders docked tails and they surely knew what they were doing. We are honoring the time-tested traditions of our forefathers/mothers in the breed.

2. Identification. Docked tails are part of the "look" of the Aussie. When you see a herding type dog with a docked tail, you know it's an Aussie.

3. Aesthetics. It's just so cute, that fluffy waggy butt. Or: it's that cobby Quarterhorse, ranch dog look that's so cool.

4. Cleanliness. A plumed tail ends up collecting burrs. Even dogs that clean the burrs out of their feathers may ignore their tail. Docking decreases grooming time.

5. Reduces injury. Working stock is dangerous, and tails can get stepped on or slammed in gates.

6. Retains genetic diversity. Because Aussies have variable genes for tail length and tail carriage, there is no predicting how undocked tails will look. There are gay tails, low tails, half tails, stubs, crook tails, curled tails. If there was no docking, people would breed only to those dogs with "correct" tails (perhaps that would be short natural bobs, or maybe low sweeping plumes), and that would limit the gene pool tremendously.

7. Personal freedom. We don't like the government telling us what to do, and that includes limiting what can be done to our dogs' tails.

8. It doesn't cause any pain. Dogs are born at a quite undeveloped stage, when their nerves haven't really grown in yet. Docking at three to five days of age is a simple quick procedure and the puppies hardly seem to notice it.

9. It doesn't affect them adversely in any way. We've never noticed that docked dogs work less well or have any problems that undocked dogs don't.

Looked at dispassionately, each of the above has objections which can be legitimately be made to it.

1. Historical. Historically, people have done quite a few things to and with dogs that we have now decided were a bad idea, because they were inhumane or based on theories which proved false. There's no obvious reason docking should be exempt from such examination.

2. Identification. Amputating an appendage so that a breed can then be infallibly identified has some problems being convincing, both on humanitarian and factual grounds. The idea that a breed will become visually unrecognizable if cosmetic surgery is foregone is one that has a passionate following among those who practice such surgery — it is the one which those who have breeds whose ears are traditionally cropped use, since it's the only one available to them — yet it is demonstrably false. In European countries where cropping and docking have been banned, breeds formerly altered have flourished just the same — including Aussies. No one seems to have any problem recognizing them. While visiting Sweden I did a few double takes when I saw spaniels and terriers with long tails, but I quickly adjusted. Ear cropping in this country has become somewhat unpopular among pet owners, and I find Boxers, Dobermans, and Great Danes easily recognizable with natural ears; I can't believe I am the only person who does.

3. Aesthetics. This is simply taste, which is inarguable for or against. I don't think it can quite stand on its own as a rationale, however; saying "we cut our dogs' tails off because we like the way it looks" (which is what this argument amounts to) has an odd ring to the modern ear.

4. Cleanliness. Burrs are a problem for working dogs, there is no question about that. Tails may be the worst, but all areas with long hair collect them. Yet, the most obvious solution — shorter coats — is never proposed for Aussies. Border Collies bred for short coats are popular for cattle and sheep operations in Western states. There is no objective reason working-type Aussies couldn't be bred for shorter coats too. But even clipping the feathering of the tail off a few times a year would go far to eliminating this argument.

5. Reduces injury. If this is true, why is it that so many Border Collies, Kelpies, McNabbs, Hangin Tree Cowdogs and Curs working livestock operations have natural tails? In some areas of the country, any of these breeds may be docked, but at least as often, they aren't. These dogs are produced by practical people, for practical people. If long tails created such a problem, wouldn't docking be far more widespread, even universal?

6. Retains genetic diversity. This might be true for show dogs, where visual uniformity is of paramount importance. It is almost certainly not true for working dogs or pets, where it isn't. It would be a short-sighted working Aussie breeder who eliminated an excellent working dog from his program because his natural tail wasn't one he preferred.

7. Personal freedom. The interesting thing about docking is that either way there is little personal freedom. If there is no law against it, custom enforces it. If there is a law against it, then the law enforces its cessation. There's no individual choice involved, except the choice to be punished, one way or another, for disobeying. But more about this below.

8. It doesn't cause any pain. In lieu of objective and conclusive scientific research, this must remain debatable. We don't know much about pain measurement, particularly in species other than our own. I have witnessed the home docking of puppies, and it does seem to be relatively minor. But I am wary of making assumptions of this kind. It is all too easy to be blind to the pain of others where it serves us not to see.

9. It doesn't adversely affect them in any way. Here too, the hard data is lacking, and the best objective guess would have to be that it does, at least in subtle ways. It is a fact that dogs, like wolves, use their tails to communicate with each other, and for balance. M.Christine Zink DVM PhD, the well-known canine sports medicine consultant, researcher and writer, is one expert who holds this view:

"I continue to believe that without the counterbalance of a tail, Aussies and other tailless breeds need to use their rear legs and spines differently to corner (in particular) and that can put them at risk for injuries. My belief is based on a knowledge of structure and movement." (personal communication)

Although dogs clearly can get along quite well without their tails, that doesn't mean they wouldn't be better off retaining them.

There are indeed excellent and compelling reasons for docking. They don't seem to make it to the level of common discussion much, though. To explore what they might be, just imagine that you are an Aussie breeder (if you aren't), and you've just decided to stop docking your puppies' tails. Now let the scenario unfold in your mind.

Breeders interact with two very different sets of people: the community of other breeders and aficianados, and the general public. Each set is going to find your decision suspicious and troubling. The reaction of the breeder community would depend in large part on how much standing you had accumulated previously. Those with a long exemplary history in the breed might still be accepted (albeit as oddballs), particularly among those breeding working Aussies, where variable appearance is accepted as normal. Even so, they would be the subject of a good deal of gossip.

A newcomer would have a much more difficult time, and would probably be indelibly labeled as someone without the motivation to learn how to adhere to the tenets of Aussie breeding: misguided at best, a whacko loser at worst. Anyone within the community who purchased a pup from you or bred to one of your dogs would risk being tarred with the same brush. It would get pretty lonely.

The general public would also legitimately wonder if you were a serious, ethical breeder, since you were flouting a universal practice. What other things have you possibly omitted doing, that you haven't told us about? Are these really purebred Aussies? Do you expect us to pay full price for dogs that don't even look like Aussies?

You see the problem.

Being accepted by the peers that matter, and marketing a trustworthy-appearing, recognizable product to the public, are, in my opinion, the most powerful motivations for continuing to dock Aussies' tails today. Only an enormous conviction of moral rectitude could give most people the courage to brave the wave of social mistrust they would face, and although the reasons FOR docking are fairly weak, the reasons AGAINST docking are not exactly overwhelming either. Thus, the status quo.

If tail docking was made illegal in the United States, unlikely but hardly impossible, suddenly it would become normal to have Aussies with different lengths and carriages of tail, as it is now in most of Europe, and in Australia and New Zealand. What is now an act of neglect, eccentricity, or defiance would vanish into a waving forest of natural tails.

If you believe that the essence of the Aussie is a specific look, and this look simply has to include a docked tail, then this change would feel cataclysmic. You might give up breeding Aussies altogether. However, if you believe that the essence of an Aussie lies mainly in their inner nature, then it would be merely a procedure you could now thankfully skip. Probably most people who breed and own Aussies have feelings somewhere in between these extremes.

Myself, I rather like tails on dogs, all dogs. I find it easier to read what they are thinking and feeling, and I have a strong preference for the "natural" anyway, whatever that is. While I hardly agree with the impassioned arguments against tail docking one reads, which are often a mixture of hysteria, sentiment, and wild exaggeration, I do think tails are worth the added work of combing or clipping. The variation inherent to Aussie tail genetics doesn't bother me in the slightest. I'm in good company: God too, apparently does not appreciate uniformity, since He made so little of it.

Whether this means, if I ever do breed a litter of Aussies, that I will choose to not dock their tails, is another matter. After all, a big part of succeeding at any venture is picking battles you can win.