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The Vizsla - A Traditionally Docked Breed
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Tail Damage to a 2 year old Vizsla
The Hungarian Vizsla has always been a traditionally docked gundog breed.
Prior to tail docking being banned in Australia in 2004 it was always traditional to dock the last 1/3 or 1/4 off the end of the tail.
This was done to prevent the dogs from suffering recurring injuries later in life as their long waggy tails are quite prone to injury simply by hitting hard objects at the wrong angle.
The top photo shows the long slim tail on an undocked 4 month old pup. Since the introduction of the tail docking ban there have been cases of undocked vizslas injuring their tails and some even needing surgical amputation of a part of their tail as adults under a General Anesthetic. The 2nd photo shows injury to a 2 year old Vizsla which eventually resulted in surgical amputation of the end of his tail.
Tail docking was traditonally done when puppies were less than a week old. The tails heal up very well at this age and the puppies do not suffer any lasting affects. The tail docking ban was supposedly to protect our dogs from suffering. But it now appears that just the opposite is true. Tail injuries that are happening to members of this breed now range from splits (that are very difficult to heal), sores, bruising, to the tail actually breaking. This information is provided so that you are aware that this is now a potential problem for the Vizsla breed as well as any other traditionally docked breed.
We believe that the traditional tail docking of the Vizsla breed was done for humane reasons and definately not for cosmetic purposes as the animal welfare lobby would have you believe.
It defies logic to imagine that several hundred years ago when this and other hunting breeds were being developed, given the more primitive hygiene knowledge of those times, back when there were no vets or anti-biotics, that the breeder/hunters suddenly decided to remove the end of a pups tail because they liked the way it looked. This tradition came from the animal husbandry knowledge these early breeders of the Vizsla breed had. This is a high energy breed and when left undocked it has an extremely active, mobile and quite powerful tail which has a pre-disposition to injuries towards the the narrow more finely boned, very wippy, tail tip.
Due to the tail docking ban any pups we breed must have full length un-docked tails. It is not however, a crime to own a dog with a docked tail.
The Hungarian Vizsla Club of NSW has set up a data base and is recording all tail injuries to undocked Hungarian Vizslas in Australia. If you have an undocked Vizsla who has suffered any form of injury to the tail, please consider being part of this breed research. You can download a tail injury form from the clubs website.
For more information or to download the form you can contact the HVC of NSW via a link on our "Links" Page, where you will also find links to The Council for Docked Breeds (UK) & an article by Steve Peacock (NZ) "The Tail Docking Discussion & What it Means to You".
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