Docked

All the puppies have had their tails docked.
Some people might not agree with this. I'm pretty ambivalent about it really. As they were bred to be working dogs (all except ours that is) they have had most of their tails cut off. This is to avoid having them injured in future when they are out in the field working their way through thickets and suchlike when flushing out game. I read somewhere that Springers have a thick weatherproof and thornproof coat (a bit like a barbour jacket, also designed for shooting). It would appear that their tails are not thornproof and the working Springers with tails spend time at the vet having injuries to their tails treated. You could argue that since our dog is going to be a family pet, it could have kept its tail. But since we haven't chosen our dog yet, all four in the litter have been docked and we'll choose ours when we visit this coming weekend.
There will be photographs after the weekend. Prepare for cute!