??must be un-docked for agility

[Eceni]

I may be naive - but if the dog is legally docked, what's the legal basis for banning it from shows of any sort, paying or non-paying....

has anyone considered mounting a legal challenge? (I don't have strong feelings about docking, but I do hate the perpetual interference with the small stuff that really doesn't matter, when there's no restriction at all on, for  instance, brother-sister matings, father/daughter, mother/son (banned in Sweden, or at least, not registrable) or the almost criminal over-breeding of dogs.)

If the Powers that Be spent less time sweating the small stuff and stood back and looked, they might get a grasp of the larger picture and be able to do something useful.

sigh

e

[crazyspaniels]

I have no issues with the new rules, I work my dogs and compete at agility and will be entering 2 Crufts team qualifiers this year. If I get another young dog and it is docked then I would not be able to go to Crufts, simple as. It is a blanket rule that covers the show dogs and that only affects a small number of agility dogs because not many will end up at Crufts or Olympia that start out training with a novice handler. It affects the gamekeepers ring at Crufts etc which is more relevant because how many serious agility people actually work their dogs properly - very few! Beating once or twice a year doesnt really count as having a "working gundog" which is what the docking laws refer to.
My dogs are rescues and my next dog will be a rescue, if its docked then that just means no Crufts for me (If I ever qualify).
I am not anti docking as I can see boh sides, but when it comes to agility I dont see how anyone can think the rules unfair because you are getting to make an active choice, its not being forced upon you - take a dog with a docked tail and you cant go to the big shows. As I said, very few folk with docked agility dogs actually have serious working gundogs.