Manitoba vets vote to end tail docking

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This article was published 27/01/2025 (246 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The province’s veterinarians can no longer dock dog tails after the Manitoba Veterinary Medical Association voted overwhelmingly to sever the practice many call antiquated and inhumane.

The association voted 125-17 in favour of the ban at their annual general meeting on Friday.

“One of the takeaways from this vote is that Manitoba’s veterinary community, overall, do not enjoy surgically amputating the tail of neo-natal puppies,” said Brittany Semeniuk, a veterinary technologist at Grant Park Animal Hospital.

“Modern society has shifted to where we now see our dogs as our companion animals and family members. We’re not seeing them used in the way they were once bred to perform.

“It doesn’t apply in 2025. It doesn’t make sense to dock the tails of potentially thousands of dogs in our province to address a hypothetical tail injury that may or may not occur to a very, very small number who may be working as they were once intended to.”

Semeniuk, specializing in emergency and exotic animal medicine, proposed outlawing the practice.

“(Vets) don’t feel it’s a necessary surgery, and they would like to start moving away from that,” she said. “This vote will help them do exactly that.”

Tail docking, which most often occurs within the first few days of a puppy’s life, dates back to Roman times when the practice was thought to help stave off rabies.

It has since evolved, with some proponents suggesting it helps prevent injuries later in life, including in working dogs that hunt, herd or guard.

However, a 2010 study in the United Kingdom suggested fewer than one per cent of dogs are spared from later injury.

“I think the arguments about this being in a dog’s best interest have all been debunked a long time ago,” said Kaitlyn Mitchell, director of legal advocacy with Animal Justice. “This is not about dogs’ welfare. This is just about breed standards and human aesthetics.”

The federally incorporated not-for-profit dedicated to advocating for humane animal treatment applauded the decision.

“Most tail docking is done by veterinarians, so this move is really exciting because it prevents doing this in Manitoba,” Mitchell said.

Manitoba is the eighth province to have its veterinary association outlaw the practice.

Mitchell said in some of those regions where associations have taken the first step, the provinces end up banning tail docking outright, by vets and breeders alike.

Manitoba’s Animal Care Act reads: “No person shall inflict upon an animal acute suffering, serious injury or harm, or extreme anxiety or distress that significantly impairs its health or well-being.”

Animal Justice wants to see language in the Act to specifically ban “cosmetic mutilations.”

Minister of Municipal and Northern Relations Glen Simard said Monday the practice is “essentially banned” in the province and some breeders have been fined for tail docking in the past.

Fines vary from case to case, but come in around $1,300 per animal.

Some vets who spoke Monday said they’ve heard stories of breeders going to the U.S. or flying their dogs to Toronto for procedures.

Not every breeder agrees with the ruling.

A former breeder who bred cocker spaniels for more than 50 years said dogs’ tails can easily be injured in certain settings.

“They’re happy to work, so when that tail gets whacked back and forth against bushes and trees, etc., it smashed the tail, and it’s just blood and ick when they come back,” the breeder, who asked not to be named, said.

The breeder said some dogs are docked or have their ears cropped (which has been outlawed in Manitoba for more than a decade) to look more formidable or stylish.

“But that’s not in the sporting breed,” they said.

Vets who spoke to the Free Press argue most working dog breeds aren’t being used for those purposes, and the ones that do — specifically border collies on the Prairies — get by just fine with their tails.

“In reality, tails are part of the functionality of a dog,” one vet said. “It helps the dog swim, have balance, help the dog socialize and communicate.”

Cosmetic alteration for some breeds — including Rottweilers, Doberman Pinchers and schnauzers — is recognized as an acceptable practice by the American Kennel Club.

The Canadian Kennel Club updated their breed standards in 2023 to allow freedom of choice regarding docking, ear cropping and declawing.

Canada’s club encouraged its members and American counterparts in advance of last week’s meeting, listing several points to consider, including the continued allowance for licensed veterinarians to perform the procedure, and to highlight that “tail docking is performed for safety reasons and to humanely prevent harm and unnecessary suffering in sporting and working breeds as a result of tail breakage, as well as to support hygienic animal husbandry.”

Semeniuk rejects that claim.

“I appreciate the work that the Canadian Kennel Club does; they have their own reason and motivations,” Semeniuk said. “But the veterinary professionals should be the ones deciding what procedures should or should not happen to dogs, not the breeders themselves.”

Semeniuk, meanwhile, said she doesn’t want to make it seem like vets and breeders are at odds.

“Veterinarians don’t hate dog breeders at all,” she said. “They have really good relationships with dog breeders. This is just one specific procedure that we can move on from in a progressive society.”

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca