I read an article from a woman breeder/trainer/vet in Sporting Classics mag. a couple of months ago.Seems she had a new client looking for a dog as he had not been w/o one for several years,ust lost interest. Then he told her his story.He had taken his son + lab. out on the Chesapeake for some duck hunting.Long story short,the lab could'nt get out of the water onto the ice so he went back to the truck for a rope + when he got back the lab was gone + so was his son.Her comment was that had the dew claws remained the dog could have pulled himself out of the frozen water.She knows more than I do but something to consider.

I have no idea why people have them cut off. Insane. That would be like cutting off your own thumbs.

Seems hard to believe that a lab could pull himself out of the ice with the extra pulling power from two small dew claws grabbing onto the ice. I've been told it's to prevent injury to the dew claws when going through the brush.

Once you have seen a Dew Claw ripped on an Upland shooting dog and the amount of blood it can produce you will think hard about wanting them removed from your next dog

I recommend reading the article. I am only repeating what I have read. They are there for a reason. (let us forget about our wisdom teeth)

I hear also if you dock the momma dog's tail while she's pregnant the puppies come out with docked tails.

Several years ago there were a series of vet books written by "Doc Green" who we later found out was no vet at all but he wrote damn good stories.One of which was when some lawyer moved to town + was too cheap to get Doc to dock his dogs tail but was trying to get him to tell him how to do it himself for free.So Doc tells him the secret is to cut it off an inch at a time.Great joke in a way but I pity the poor dog.

quote:

Originally posted by NormanConquest:
Several years ago there were a series of vet books written by "Doc Green" who we later found out was no vet at all but he wrote damn good stories.One of which was when some lawyer moved to town + was too cheap to get Doc to dock his dogs tail but was trying to get him to tell him how to do it himself for free.So Doc tells him the secret is to cut it off an inch at a time.Great joke in a way but I pity the poor dog.

I've had a few that would probably do that. I will tell you that in this line of work, you never know what's waiting for you on the other side of the door. I sincerely plan on writing a collection of short stories and memoirs later on in my career.