# Concern About Puppy's Docked Tail



## Mrbo (Mar 12, 2018)

Hi everyone,

I recently looked at the tip of my (almost) 6 mo old puppy's tail. He was docked as a newborn and it seems like I can see the bone. It feels like and looks like bone, except that it is black. It doesn't bother him--he doesn't bite or lick it and we can touch it without any reactions (doesn't even look at us when we touch it). So it doesn't seem to be causing any issues for him, it just looks bad. 

Is it supposed to be like that (black and boney)? Or is something wrong and we should take him to the vet? It's looked this way for at least the last month and, again, it doesn't appear to bother him at all.

This is our first poodle, so this may be completely normal and we are concerned over nothing. 

Thanks!

Pics for funsies


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Every once in a while there can be problems with the dock. If not enough skin was left to heal over the tip of the tail the bone might put pressure and wear the tip away. It can be surgically fixed without big issues. Since you didn't show a specific picture of the concern I would ask the vet (Better safe than sorry).


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## zooeysmom (Jan 3, 2014)

Viking Queen had this problem with her girl, Poppy. Hopefully you can get it taken care of when your pup is neutered (if vet deems it necessary).


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## Viking Queen (Nov 12, 2014)

Yes, indeed, we did have this same issue with Poppy's tail. As she grew the tip of the bone came through the skin on the tip of the tail. The vet said it was an issue with how the tail was docked, leaving no "meaty" cushion on the tip. Poppy would spin and try to chew the tip, mostly in cold weather after being outside. Were it not for that we would have left it alone. I decided to have it fixed at 14 months as it was becoming increasingly sensitive. She also had a tiny dew claw that was growing back weirdly. So, I had her spayed, dew claw removed and tail fixed. He took off the partial vertabrae that was at the tip plus one more, less than a half inch total. We have never had an issue since.

My groomer's poodle had the same surgery and managed to repopen, chew open, his tippy tail 3 times during recovery and thus had 4 repairs on the tail. I was determined to avoid that and we did.

The surgery is very minor, however they do obsess about the bandage on the tail...it must feel funny to them.

Poppy had a really hilarious haircut on her tail, but it is beautiful now....and she sure wags it a lot.

Don't worry about the surgery, if you have to do it, but do be vigilent about recovery.

Silly tail picture


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Now that VQ wrote about Poppy's tail it reminds me of a related situation with one of my cats ages ago. Her tail got crushed in a door where she and her sister were playing. It needed to be amputated proximal to the injury. Like Poppy she tried very hard to get at that wound. Since she was long in body (Maine ****) she was able to reach around all sizes of cat cones of shame. After three trips to the vet we finally rigged a dog cone (and not a small one at that) and she no longer could reach. I am certain she would have pulled out all of the sutures and we would have had to start over. Her tail looked ridiculous for quite a while, but eventually fluffed out nicely.


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## chinchillafuzzy (Feb 11, 2017)

My girl doesn’t grow hair on the very tip of her docked tail and it doesn’t look good. It does feel like the skin is stretched right across her last vertebrae and it is very skinny at the tip - skinnier than it should be. But as far as I can tell, I don’t think the bone broke through. It doesn’t seem to bother her at all, so I don’t plan to have anything done unless it starts to bother her. It is unfortunate that these things happen, even with experienced people doing the docking.


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## Johanna (Jun 21, 2017)

There is a trick to docking tails that some vets don't know: you push the skin back toward the body before cutting between vertebrae. This allows some skin to cover the tip of the tail. Most experienced breeders do tail docking themselves to ensure that the tail is a proper length and that it will heal well. Vets tend to cut tails way too short.



When done at about 3 days of age the puppies usually do not even squeak - I don't think the nervous system is very well developed at that point.


Dewclaws are more difficult to do than tails. Most vets do know how to remove dewclaws properly.


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## Mrbo (Mar 12, 2018)

Thanks everyone for the advice/similar stories. Because it isn't bothering him, I'll ask the vet next time we go...I'm assuming we will have another appointment before he is neutered in 2019 in case he needs the surgery (so it could be completed at the same time). 

Thanks again for the advice and reassurance!


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