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Under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, which applies to England and Wales, restrictions have been put in place regarding tail docking of dogs. Removing the whole or any part of a dog’s tail (or allowing another person to) has been legally restricted to the following circumstances:
• It may only be performed by a veterinary surgeon and for medical reasons, or
• The dog is a certified working dog (as below) and is younger than 5 days old and is one of the breeds specified in the regulations.
A certified working dog is one that will be involved in…
(a) law enforcement
(b) activities of Her Majesty’s armed forces
(c) emergency rescue
(d) lawful pest control
(e) the lawful shooting of animals.
Certification is carried out by a Veterinary Surgeon in accordance with regulations made by Parliament for England or the Welsh National Assembly for Wales.
Under the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 tail docking has been completely banned, unless for medical reasons.
For more information about tail docking please enquire with the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) 08459 335577 or the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) 0207 222 2001.
For more information about the Animal Welfare Acts click here.