Do Cavapoos Have Docked Tails? -

As a crossbreed between the King Charles Cavalier Spaniel and the Poodle, a Cavapoo always has long, sleek ears and an equally lengthy soft, fluffy tail – or at least, they should have.

Yet many people who visit a breeder’s kennels are surprised to be greeted with 100% purebred Cavapoo puppies with short, stumpy tails. What is going on? Is this normal? Can Cavapoos have docked tails?

What is Tail Docking in Cavapoos?

First of all, what is tail docking in Cavapoos? What does this mysterious process of shortening a Cavapoo’s tail involve?

Well, in general, tail docking refers to the act of removing part or all of a dog’s tail. This procedure was usually carried out while the dog is still an extremely young puppy, at around 2 to 5 days old!

In some cases, breeders would have used scissors to simply cut off the unwanted amount of their Cavapoos’ tails!

In other cases, people would have instead used a tight, thick rubber band to cut off the blood supply to a Cavapoo puppy’s tail and the end piece would simply drop off much later. This is the more common method.

Though once a completely acceptable happening, today, most people regard the practice of docking puppies’ tails as a cruel and unnecessary procedure.

It is illegal in most countries, and carrying it out can land you with a hefty fine. So, why did people get their Cavapoo puppy’s tail docked in the first place?

Why do People Dock Cavapoo Tails?

So, why would anyone cut off a Cavapoo puppy’s lovely tail? Well, up until very recently, this was the convention. It was regarded as a completely normal thing to do to the tails of puppies in just over 70 dog breeds.

The main reasons for docking a Cavapoo’s tail in most recent years have been aesthetic reasons – people docked their Cavapoo’s tails just for them to look nice.

However, people have also docked their dog’s tails because they were working dogs – hunting dogs would have had their tails removed to differentiate them from the prey they were hunting and to prevent their tail from getting injured in the chase while herding dogs got their tails shortened to avoid them getting snagged in hedges and brambles.

When it comes to other reasons, if you ask people why they would dock their Cavapoo’s tails today, owners often give the reason that their Cavapoo’s tail might get injured somehow – they themselves might step on their Cavapoo’s tail, for example, or their Cavapoo’s tail could collide with people and objects in the course of the lapdog’s daily life.

Back in more ancient times, the Ancient Roman shepherds thought that if you removed the top part of a puppy’s tail, this would prevent them from developing rabies.

But do Cavapoos today with un-docked tails actually sustain many injuries? If so, how common are Cavapoo tail injuries?

How Common are Cavapoo Tail Injuries?

As we previously mentioned, many people think it’s a good idea to get their Cavapoo’s tail docked, in case they get injured while living as a pet. Is this so? Does getting a Cavapoo’s tail docked to prevent injury?

Actually, in a study from 2010, there was found to be only a slight difference in the incidence of injuries to the tails of docked and undocked tails.

For docking to prevent injuries, 500 dogs would need to get their tails docked to prevent a single tail injury.

The study did show that there was a slightly higher risk of tail injuries in undocked Spaniels when compared with the other dogs in the study, like Labradors and Retrievers.

This is something to bear in mind for the Cavapoo. Still, though, this is quite negligible.

Is it Legal to Dock a Cavapoo’s Tail?

In many places, it has either a long time ago or very recently become illegal to dock the tails of most dogs – Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, for example.

However, did you know that in the UK, licensed veterinarians are still permitted to carry out docking today? This may be because a vet can carry out the procedure in safer conditions.

However, you are still completely allowed to dock the tails of working dogs in most countries.

Do People Still Dock Cavapoo’s Tails?

The Cavapoo generally lives as a pet dog, rather than having any role as a working dog. And as we previously mentioned, in modern times, people really only dock the tails of working dogs, for very sensible non-cosmetic reasons.

But however, even today, many prospective Cavapoo owners visit a breeders’ and encounter Cavapoo puppies at the premises who already have short stumpy tails, and bring them home none the wiser.

Why Shouldn’t You Dock a Cavapoo’s Tail?

All dogs wag their tails. For most dogs, including the Cavapoo, the tail is an important communication tool that gives all the dogs around your Cavapoo a good, in-depth picture of how your Cavapoo is feeling.

In a study by Steven Leaver and Tom Reimchen of the University of Victoria in British Columbia, the pair placed a long-tailed dummy robot model dog in the middle of an open, off-leash area of a dog park.

The pair found that when the long-tailed robot dog’s tail was wagging, other dogs would walk up to the dummy in a playful way – bowing, and expecting to be chased.

Whereas when the researchers rendered the long-tailed dummy’s tail completely motionless and stiff, as you might have guessed, all the other dogs in the park completely avoided the threatening-looking pooch.

But when the dummy dog’s long tail was replaced by a shorter, “docked”, 3.5-inch tail, the other dogs in the park were now much more curious about the unfamiliar dog.

However, they were equally as cautious, walking up in a hesitant and slow manner. It appears they weren’t sure whether the robot dog would act aggressively towards them.

What’s more is, the dogs in the park acted the same towards the dummy dog with a docked tail regardless of whether the robot’s tail was wagging or not, implying that the dogs couldn’t understand the actions of a dog with a shorter tail.

Of course, there are plenty of other ways that your Cavapoo can express themselves to other dogs. They can show body language to other dogs and use their voice, too. But a Cavapoo’s undocked tail

is still an incredibly expressive tool they can use to easily communicate with you and with other dogs. Why deprive them of this unnecessarily?

As well as this, the argument that docking a Cavapoo’s tail is going to prevent injury falls flat when you consider that docking a Cavapoo’s tail actually means that the Cavapoo will be walking around with a small wound for quite some time.

On top of this, in the long term, docking opens your Cavapoo up too much worse conditions, like infections, incontinence, nerve damage, and even neuromas!

So, Do Cavapoos Have Docked Tails?

So, in conclusion, Cavapoos do not have naturally docked or bobbed tails, though it’s not currently unusual to see very young Cavapoos with their tails docked already. Hopefully though, in the coming years, there will be fewer and fewer Cavapoos with docked tails.

If you like this then read our Complete Cavapoo Guide: Must Read Facts here.

For more about Cavapoos see my other articles below

By Michelle McDaid.