EON

Researchers in Canada Discover Practice Increases Aggressive Traits

Victoria, B.C.- Many people in the world of Dog Breeding are adherents to the practice of bobbing, or docking the tail on dogs. That is the practice of cutting the tail off or trimming it very short, for show purposes in many cases.

Researchers working in Victoria British Columbia have discovered that the practice robs the animal of the ability to communicate, and often leads to increased aggressive behaviors in the dog. They discovered that other dogs would deal with a docked tail with a lot more caution, as they cannot tell what is happening or the reaction of the first dog.

Graduate Student Steve Leaver, and biologist Tom Reimchen, both of the University of Victoria has found that the practice of bobbing a dog’s tail leads to more aggression and remote behaviors.

They studied 492 dogs and their reactions in a study in the summer of 2006. They used live dogs with bobbed tails, and also the reactions of dogs to a robotic dog with a bobbed tail, and interchangeably a regular tail.

The reactions of the dogs to a bobbed tail, with both the robot and with live bobbed tail dogs was nearly universal. The experiences with having a bobbed tail leads to much increased aggressive behavior in dogs, and to have an animal that is much more anti social.

The bobbed tail tends to be used in breeds that are bred for aggression, so it is an interesting factor that such breeds have a practice of having a bobbed tail. Dog breeds such as Rottweillers and Doberman Pinschers have normally docked tails, and this leads to interesting research as to when this first became a practice for the breed.