Earlier, the German shorthaired pointer’s tail had to be docked but from 1989 onwards the tail docking was banned. However, with tail injuries becoming a common thing, the Swedish German Pointer Club decided to get deeper into the matter.

It was found out that out of an odd 300 dogs, 81 suffered from tail injuries, which meant 27% of these dogs were affected. The male dogs are always more affected than the female of the species.

The tail injuries occurred mostly during hunting and the sledding dogs got injured whilst they were being trained.

The kinds of tail injuries that have occurred in the last few years are more or less of the same type, for example:

• Inflamed and infected tails.

• Lameness injuries and water tails

• Bleeding and damaged tail tips

• Broken tails

There were cases when the tail injuries had been so severe that nothing but amputation could save the dog from further harm.

The German shorthaired pointer is a heavyset dog with the ability to run fast even on rough terrains.

However, this dog was allowed to be amputated only till the 31st of December 1988, after which docking of the tails had been banned in Sweden.

In the autumn of 1990, 27% of the dogs aged between 1-1.5 yrs suffered from tail injuries and another year later, every third German Pointer had a tail injury and the causes were broken tails and swollen or wounded and bleeding tips that refused to heal.

The occurrence of tail injuries increased until 1991. The severity of the tail injuries is directly proportional to the liveliness of the dogs, the type of terrain they worked in and how much the dogs worked.

These were the observations with regard to the injuries:

• The more the dog is used for difficult work, like the German Pointer, which is used for hunting.

• The more lively and abrupt the dog, the male of the species being more prone to getting hurt.

• The more difficult the terrain the dog works in.

However, it has been decided upon, that docking the tails of these dogs, soon after their birth is now an absolute necessity.